People I hardly even know in the athletic dept. have told me they also have heard the rumor about Mike Bohn wanting to resign. What they don’t think is a rumor is that Bohn is frustrated and angry over his portrayal in the retention of Clay Helton. “He looked a lot happier walking around before the announcement,” one employee tells me. “Some people avoid eye … Continue reading The Rumor That Won't Die

Way back about eight days ago, Mike Bohn made the following statement: “Heading into 2020, Coach Helton and I will work together to take a hard look at all aspects of the football enterprise and will make the tough decisions necessary to compete at a championship level.” That could mean anything. But after everything that happened, you might think USC would approach the Holiday Bowl … Continue reading USC Morning Buzz: Sleepy Start To Competing For Championship

Like I said a couple days ago, USC will start bowl practices Friday. Because the Trojans waited so long to get started they only have 11 practices. And Clay Helton will go 24 days without speaking to the media because he won’t actually have a press conference until Tuesday. This is frankly, more of the same, and Mike Bohn should be ashamed at how nothing’s … Continue reading USC Bowl Practice Schedule Is Light

Carol Folt and Mike Bohn haven’t exactly had a high profile since the Clay Helton announcement. Last week, USC had a Christmas party for some employees at Dignity Sports Park in Carson and Folt did not attend. Bohn’s done some media but avoided any public settings. One donor wondered today if USC will hold a recruiting dinner in February. What are the odds the Salute … Continue reading Do You Matter? Does USC Care?

Some former USC coaches are getting honors while the current one keeps holding the program hostage. LSU coach Ed Orgeron was named Home Depot College Football Coach of the Year. Tyson Helton was named Conference USA Coach of the Year. The Hilltoppers went 8-4 record in his debut season after going 3-9 last year. Do you think Clay Helton could have pulled this off? Remember … Continue reading Several Ex-USC Coaches Win Honors

It’s now a week since Mike Bohn kept Clay Helton and I don’t notice much difference in the anger level of the fans. Bohn hasn’t written a tweet since the announcement. He knows better. Bohn hasn’t even done one of his man-on-the-street tweets where he takes a picture with a university employee. He is beleaguered and angry. I hear before the Helton announcement, Bohn decided … Continue reading USC Morning Buzz: Mike Bohn Needs Help

LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda is talking to UNLV abot its vacant job, according to multiple reports. The reasons are supposedly that Aranda wants to be a head coach and would be near his native Redlands. I previously wrote about how Clay Helton ignored Aranda for Clancy Pendergast despite the local connection. More importantly, did Mike Bohn ever reach out to Aranda for the USC … Continue reading Dave Aranda To UNLV?

In this week’s podcast, we talk about how fans remain furious with athletic director Mike Bohn and his decision to retain Clay Helton. We also talk about whether USC will be motivated to play in the Holiday Bowl and how many fans will drive down to San Diego. Continue reading USC Podcast Time!

I’m told the main reason Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer fell short as USC coaching candidates is because Carol Folt wanted a football coach she could control. There was no doubt she would retain complete control if Clay Helton were hired. Maybe a bigger mystery is why Mike Bohn ever took the job if he wasn’t able to hire someone he wanted? Continue reading Carol Folt Wants A Coach She Can Control

There’s been some consternation that Iowa’s already held several bowl practices and USC’s not held an official practice since the UCLA game. There was a player-run 7-on-7 practice Monday at Howard Jones Field. USC is supposed to have its first official bowl practice Friday. It might squeeze in 12-13 practices before the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27. I’m glad I don’t get the Pac-12 Network … Continue reading When Do USC Bowl Practices Start?

The rumor going around Heritage Hall on Monday was that athletic director Mike Bohn might resign. Say what?!?!? According to sources, Bohn feels betrayed by USC president Carol Folt because he merely followed orders in keeping Clay Helton but was taking the brunt of the criticism from the fans. Bohn went from hero to zero in less than a month. Now it could be that … Continue reading USC Morning Buzz: Now This Is Quite A Rumor

Did you expect to hear this? The national title game on Jan. 13 in New Orleans will feature Pac-12 officials. When you think about it, since the Pac-12 is so bad, its officials are always available because they don’t really participate in the College Football Playoff. The Holiday Bowl will have ACC officials. Continue reading Pac-12 Officials For National Title Game!

Urban Meyer sure sounded today like he would take the USC job. Colin Cowherd offered one of his weird theories that there are not many great jobs but a lot of glamour jobs. “I think USC is not a glamour job, I think that’s an elite, elite job,” Meyer said. “Why? Within two hours of your campus you’ve got the best players in America. Or … Continue reading Urban Meyer Sounds Like He Wanted USC Job

I see a few people are trying to tell those unhappy with Clay Helton to “get with the program” and support USC again. What they don’t realize is that there needs be a certain level of intolerance when it comes to USC. A standard. Otherwise, you allow poor coaches (Helton) or poor administrators (Lynn Swann) to simply exist with no repercussion. Mike Bohn and Carol … Continue reading The Fans Must Continue To Protest

Defensive end Kyle Juergens of St. Margaret’s High School decommitted from USC on Sunday night. Juergens, a three-star recruit who was expected to become an offensive guard in college, joins offensive lineman Joey Wright, who decommitted last week. It sure looks like Clay Helton is dropping verbally committed prospects so he can sign someone else. Helton does this year every year quite regularly. I wonder … Continue reading USC Morning Buzz: Is The Man Of Integrity Dropping Recruits?

Iowa has opened as a 2.5-point favorite over USC in the Holiday Bowl per BetOnline. Continue reading USC-Iowa Latest Line

You all know Ed Orgeron had Marcus Allen speak to the Tigers the night before LSU played Texas A&M. A USC assistant coach tells me the night before the USC-UCLA game, Clay Helton had a former equipment manager speak to the Trojans. Continue reading The Difference Between Clay Helton And Ed Orgeron

Count the cliches in this Clay Helton statement on going to the Holiday Bowl: Continue reading Clay Helton's Holiday Bowl Statement Is As Bad As Imagined

USC has accepted a bid to play Iowa in the Holiday Bowl. It will be USC’s third Holiday Bowl in the past six years. USC did not deserve to go to the Alamo Bowl but how many times should it be playing in the Holiday Bowl? Maybe this was a good year to decline a bowl bid. A decrepit stadium on a cold December night … Continue reading It's Official: USC In Holiday Bowl Again And Again And Again

USC should find out its bowl fate around 1-2 p.m. (PT) today. It looks like the Trojans will face Iowa in the Holiday Bowl. I know Iowa travels extremely well. USC has a good reputation for traveling to bowl games but this is a different animal this year. I’ve already had fans tell me they won’t go to the game and they hope USC loses … Continue reading Morning Buzz: It's Bowling Season And USC Fans Aren't Having It

Orgeron, John Robinson, and Marcus Allen… all on the LSU sidelines. My head just exploded. #fighton — janewells (@janewells) December 8, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js My head actually exploded Wednesday. I’m sure Marcus Allen will be on the sideline at the Holiday Bowl. Florida State is hiring Memphis coach Mike Norvell. Maybe Memphis can make a run at Clay Helton. At least Florida State took care of … Continue reading How Many Times Did Your Head Explode This Week?

Why does Mike Bohn sometimes look like he is in a hostage video when talking about Clay Helton? Almost as though Helton has something on him. The Alamo Bowl said it is still considering USC. Do they realize USC fans will not travel to San Antonio to support Helton? If you see John Robinson on TV today, just remember he was fired by USC last … Continue reading USC Afternoon Notes: Beware Spin

If Mike Bohn wants to tout Clay Helton’s integrity, he should call Tee Martin, and ask him what it was like when Helton would call plays during games and then tell the media only Martin called plays. It took a lot of heat off Helton when the offense struggled as he threw Martin under the bus and Martin never told the truth to the media. Continue reading About That Integrity . . .

A former USC coach sent me this text: “When you think about it, the president (Carol Folt) has zero football experience and (Mike) Bohn has never been anywhere where football was great. So how do they really know what to do at an elite football school?” The problem now is will they know anything more in a year? In non-USC news, here is my story … Continue reading Morning Buzz: Was Moment Too Big For USC Administration?

What a fitting end to a disappointing week. USC to its third Holiday Bowl since 2014, which is played in one of the worst stadiums in the country. And it gets really cold in there at night. The opponent should be Iowa or Michigan. Imagine if USC loses to a Big Ten team. What will Mike Bohn have to say about the program then? “We … Continue reading USC To Holiday Bowl?

An NFL coach gave me his take on the USC situation. “They didn’t like who was available and they decided to wait a year and see who is out there.” The problem with that is it assumes they will fire Clay Helton next year. Especially if USC wins 8-9 games. Former USC star linebacker Chris Claiborne has resigned at Calabasas High School to explore college … Continue reading USC Night Notes

USC athletic director Mike Bohn did an interview with the campus TV station today and made a pretty amazing statement: “We also picked up four commitments that haven’t been announced yet . . . in the last four or five days and so I’m inspired by that.” Since when does an A.D. mention commitments? I’m not even sure NCAA rules allow him to mention silent … Continue reading Mike Bohn Keeps Pushing Recruiting

Keyshawn Johnson asked me this morning if Mike Bohn and Carol Folt might fire Clay Helton if USC gets routed in a bowl game. I said I didn’t think that would happen because they would be admitting they made a terrible mistake retaining Helton. What do you think? I do know if USC loses its bowl game, even by 1 point, the atmosphere will be … Continue reading Could USC Still Fire Clay Helton?

Remember this Mike Bohn quote Tuesday: Recruiting is going dramatically better than anybody wants to admit.” Joey Wright, a three-star offensive lineman from Reno, decommitted this morning. It’s possible USC dropped him and I predicted some of these offensive line commits would never show up. But Clay Helton took his commitment! So he gets to own the “more bad news” look from this decommitment. Especially … Continue reading Recruiting Is Going Dramatically Better: Offensive Lineman Decommits

I will be on with Keyshawn Johnson around 9:15 a.m. on 710-AM. That should be interesting. Now, I want to kind of tie everything together because Mike Bohn cannot be honest about anything this week and thinks he is at Cincinnati. Bohn was looking for another coach. He definitely spoke to Bob Stoops and eiher spoke to or put out feelers to Urban Meyer. Now … Continue reading Morning Buzz: USC Wanted New Coach But Wasn't Committed To Do It

I hear USC athletic director Mike Bohn is planning to hold small round-table discussions with members of donor groups in the near future. Sounds like a response to donations being cut by angry fans. Keep it up! Many of you already know the Trojan Athletic Fund website was shut down this week for a very coincidental “data transition.” That just happened to mean you couldn’t … Continue reading USC Athletic Dept. Feeling Heat?

Why are people asking JT Daniels (or his father) if he will return to USC next season? No player at USC is happier than Daniels over the return of his bodyguard, Clay Helton. He had complete control over the starting QB position as long as his protector was coaching the team. The time to ask Daniels if he will transfer is after Kedon Slovis starts … Continue reading Of Course JT Daniels Is Coming Back To USC

Here’s a Mike Bohn interview with the Pac-12 Network where he repeatedly puts his foot in his mouth (again). “The way Clay develops players,” Bohn said. “The way Clay recruits.” He also talks about how being ranked No. 22 shows what a “wonderful” job Helton did. Continue reading Bad Things Happen When Mike Bohn Speaks

I’m told USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell really wants the Texas offensive coordinator position. I’m also told that he has not been contacted by UNLV about their vacant head-coaching position. And below is where I said a mannequin would do a better job than Clay Helton. Scott Wolf (@InsideUSC) says a mannequin would've been a better option for USC than retaining Clay Helton as head … Continue reading Graham Harrell Update

I recommend listening to this radio appearance below I did with Sarah Spain, not for me but for the Mike Bohn comment played by the show. “I think it’s important to recognizethere was not unanimous support to make a change from our base and supporters. I think we have a lot of support.” Thanks to @InsideUSC for joining @SarahSpain and @jordancornette to discuss #USC keeping … Continue reading Here's An Amazing Mike Bohn Quote

Not everyone was upset with Mike Bohn’s blunder Wednesday. I hear the Arizona State coaching staff celebrated when they heard the news Clay Helton would return next season. I bet there were similar reactions at 10 other Pac-12 schools too. So when Bohn says not everyone wanted Helton fired, he is right. The other Pac-12 schools are prayed for his return. Continue reading USC Morning Buzz: Clay Helton Decision Met With Cheers

You can choose to believe Mike Bohn when he said he never spoke to other coaches, but even inside the McKay Center, the hot topic was former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops. Sources said USC spoke to Stoops but things broke down over how much money his coaching staff would be paid. If you’re going to hire Stoops, you don’t argue about coaches’ salaries. He is … Continue reading USC Struck Out With Bob Stoops

Look at this Mike Bohn quote: “Clay Helton deserves to have the right to continue to lead this program. He’s got the full grasp of his team. Recruiting is going dramatically better than anybody wants to admit.” Recruiting is going dramatically better? Where? When? How? Someone ship this guy back to Cincinnati, where being ranked No. 70 in recruiting is OK. How long can these … Continue reading Mike Bohn Also Thinks You're An Idiot

Here’s my thoughts on a disatrous day at USC. Continue reading Clay Helton Is Staying Podcast