It finally happened.
Nearly six years after his unexpected appointment as USC head coach, Clay Helton’s term in Los Angeles has ended. Athletic director Mike Bohn’s decision to cut the bait just two games into the 2021 season is a recognition of what most people watching the Trojans have understood for years: Helton would never restore USC as a consistent national power.
It’s as obvious that it was Monday as 2018 when Helton coached the Trojans in the first losing season since 2000, but the reality is that the work was always too big. Had it not been for Steve Sarkisian’s dismissal in the first season in 2015 while battling alcohol abuse, Helton would never have been given the opportunity to direct a program close to the caliber of USC. His technical resume would not have allowed it.
At the time, however, Helton was the adult in the room, and that was what USC needed to navigate the rest of that tumultuous year without further embarrassment off the field. As an interim coach, he made sense and did as well as he could, winning five of seven games before Pat Haden removed the interim tag and turned him into the permanent coach. Haden’s decision was baffling in the sense that he made no serious attempt to take the job with an outside candidate and was ahead of his own resignation announcement in just two months.
It’s easy to say that Haden shouldn’t have been the one who hired, if it weren’t for the ineptitude of his replacement, Lynn Swann.
To understand Helton’s tenure, it’s important to know how much he liked those around him. The list of people who do not respect his football acumen is long, but as a person? It’s almost impossible to find someone who has interacted with him who has something bad to say.
It is true that it can be argued whether this should take into account the job security of the coach, but this – and some fortuitous moments – is the main reason why it lasted so long.
If Helton had never been successful, his nice person wouldn’t have mattered, but he did. USC won the Rose Bowl in its first season as a permanent head coach and finished in No. 3 spot in the AP poll. The Trojans won the Pac-12 the following year. This kind of success in the early years of the purchase would gain any coach some time, even if it masked the disproportionate losses in Alabama (52-6), Stanford (27-10), Notre Dame (49-14) and Ohio State (24-7)) during those two years.
The third year in charge of Helton was an absolute disaster. Going 5-7 at USC while the Pac-12 was in a collective recession was an offense, but Swann did not have the cruelty that a coach would have had to be fired a year after winning the conference.
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Keyshawn Johnson explains why the loss of USC recruits for out-of-state programs was a major reason the program split from coach Clay Helton.
Swann felt compelled to issue a statement defending Helton’s retention and extended his contract two months later, saying that Helton “has shown that he can lead our team with integrity and stability and that he has the ability to win championships. national and conference events “.
The following September, Swann followed Haden through the door and it wasn’t until November 2019, when there was one game left for the regular season, that Bohn was hired. Once again, Bohn would have been justified in making a change (he would certainly have been ungrateful to the school’s proud fan base), but there was a fear of rushing into a process that needed to be right.
Ultimately, Bohn wanted more time to evaluate what he inherited, so when it came to making a change, he was better equipped to find the right coach.
Then came the pandemic. Nothing in the 2020 season, especially at the Pac-12 and in Los Angeles, was nearly normal, so it makes no sense to appreciate what happened on the field. He wasn’t going to be fired after he went 5-1 up with that loss in the conference title, which brings us here.
In firing Helton after just two games, Bohn issued a statement that USC fans had been waiting for a long time. The mediocre is not good enough. Explosion losses at home will not be tolerated. As soon as Stanford’s leadership was unsurpassed, he assured that Helton’s job situation would be the main topic of discussion for the rest of the season. Unless, of course, he let go of Helton.
Time helps on two fronts: first, it will allow USC fans to be optimistic again. The Savior’s speculation can be amusing. Second, it gives Bohn, who has certainly had candidates in mind since he arrived, to do the search methodically.
Despite the relative lack of success since the departure of Pete Carroll, USC remains a place where winning big should be the expectation. Check out all the boxes that have always been needed to compete for national championships and now, with the introduction of rules of name, image and likeness, you are even better positioned to attract the best talent in the country.
Let the speculation begin.