FOOTBALL

Official: Clay Helton Will Return As USC Coach

USC just announced in an annoying statement that Clay Helton will return as coach next season. Start not renewing those season tickets now.

Clay Helton, even if all the coaches get fired, cannot lead the program. Lynn Swann released an arrogant statement which is below. “Let me be clear to everyone . . . Clay Helton is our head coach.”

Let me be clear: USC is a joke. Plain and simple.

 

And now Clay Helton:

45 thoughts on “Official: Clay Helton Will Return As USC Coach”

  1. Swann’s statement is arrogant and makes absolutely no sense. If “culture, staff, discipline, schemes, personnel” are all deficient, then what is left? Why keep the coach if virtually every component of a team is subpar?

    Swann has no business being an AD. Can’t he see what is coming down the pike? Next year’s schedule includes Oregon, Stanford, Washington, Utah, in addition to ND in South Bend.

    7-5 sounds about right for next year.

    This is what happens when you hire people who are not qualified for the jobs they are in.

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    1. Exactly right. Inexcusable. Anyone who spends a penny on this program until this regime is completely replaced is not only an enabler, but the equivalent of someone buying a ticket on the Titanic after it had sunk beneath the waves and was on the way down to its grave. Only one thing to do – don’t spend a penny on this nonsense. It is the only thing the people who are currently in charge will understand. Nothing will change until the seats are empty and the merch stops selling. Fans who think that USC will rebound just because…you are wrong. Alabama went through this and got Saban. Ohio State went through this and got Meyer. Texas got Brown previously, now Hermann. Oklahoma got Stoops previously, and now Riley. Nebraska fired Bo Pelini after far more success than Helton has had (to all of you who can’t control your spontaneous blurting of “Rose Bowl” and “Pac 12 Champs” please quit embarrassing yourself – winning the Rose Bowl in 2016 isn’t the equivalent of winning it in the pre-playoff era – recall USC didn’t even win its division that year and didn’t play Ohio State…and gave up seven straight touchdown drives to Penn State, and winning the Pac 12 is devoid of meaning). USC in its history has always gotten lucky and had a McKay or Carroll drop in its lap. Now it has this…

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      1. Well said, James. There is a lot of coaching talent out there that would love to be at SC. Haden made the mistake of hiring an HC with absolutely no track record, for one of the premier programs in the country, and how Swann is doubling down on that.

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      2. Clay totally earned this, congrats to him. Did you see how close they played ND!?

        Didn’t you guys hear on the telecast? Herby mentioned all the injuries coach had to overcome. Snakebit in 2018, but in 2019 he’ll get em bowl eligible. Exciting times ahead! Viva Clay!!!

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    2. Another subpar year with lucky to win 6 games. Add BYU to the mix for
      a loss. The team is boring offensively while top ones are scoring 50 – 60
      pts, against good teams. The school is only interested in saving money hiring low echelon coaches in the minor sports or keeping ineffective ones.

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      1. Steve, yes, I think my guess of 7-5 is too optimistic. The university is being penny-wise and pound-foolish. This will ultimately cost them way more $$ than if they made the necessary changes now.

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    3. wow, you are optimistic…they may beat Colorado, perhaps 1 Ariz school…maybe 1 other team…that is it…helton will not change the culture of soft practices loser spring ball, fall preparations and in season practices…shorts shorts shorts will again dominate and SC will again be dominated

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  2. How much are Bruin season tickets?

    I want to watch quality D1 Ball, not undisciplined intramural ball.

    Swann owns this mess and is willing to let it continue careening out of control over a cliff.

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  3. This is a disappointing decision by Swann …. The staff needs an over haul .. So let’s start with making Tee Martin and Johnny Nansen Recruiting Coordinators .. Maybe Martin is WR’s Coach … Make Drevino the full time O Line Coach … Go get an actual RB Coach … Go get Jedd Fisch or Kliff Klingsbury as OC!!! Both are great with developing QB’s …. Get rid of Bryan Ellis … It says Keary Colbert is in charge of inside WR’s and TE’s but we never use TE so get rid of him…. On Defense Helton loves Clancy so I don’t see him getting rid of him .. I hear good things about Udeze and he is a good recruiter .. Get rid of Bradford as our DB’s are not getting better but that could be scheme related … Get a LB coach and get a new Special Teams Coach … With this news they better make some progress in recruiting… I have doubts we will see improvement

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  4. Is this for real? Next season we get Washington and Oregon instead of Washington state and Oregon state. We get year 2 of chip Kelly, were going to win 4 games next year.

    In 2020 we get Alabama with either Helton as head coach or a coach in their first season. Why couldn’t Swann just stop the bleeding? This keeps us out of the playoffs until 2021 at the very least.

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  6. Trying to compare Helton with Kelly is “smoking gun” evidence Swann is seriously out of his depth as an AD. What a wimp. He couldn’t make the tough decision. He joins Haden as an object of derision in the Trojan Family.

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    1. Exactly. Kelly had won as a head coach at multiple stops before being hired to take over a ND team that had won maybe 15 games in the previous 5 years. Then he turned ND around and got them into the BCS championship (that they lost to Alabama but so does pretty much everybody).

      After all that success the combo of losing assistants and having juniors declare for the draft and 19year olds who start feeling entitled to winning sometimes hit in the same season and you get a bad year. That’s what happened to Kelly in 2016, but he is a good coach and turned it around. It also happened to Pete Carroll in 2009 (PC saw it coming after the 2008 season and went as far as to publicly say mark Sanchez shouldn’t declare for the draft), but PC was obviously a good coach too.

      Helton hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt that he’s a winner who had all the bad breaks hit in the same year. His teams have gotten progressively worse, he has never made halftime adjustments, and all of his player seem to peak as freshmen and regress as their careers continue under his watch.

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  7. Swann is the boss. Get used to it. Quit whining and start supporting this group of great young players if you dont like it get a life or buy your own team!

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  8. To have expected anything else from Swann, an empty suit of an AD, was foolish. After all, wasn’t he the one who gave Helton a five year extension? Then firing him would be admitting to that dunderheaded multi-million dollar move. Unless the new President comes in with a broom, we’re stuck with this bottomless mediocrity for the foreseeable future. Hopefully by then Fisher and Del Rio will no longer be part of the “replacement” conversation!

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  9. Lets be clear. Clue Helton is NOT BRIAN KELLY!!
    Next year he will be fired after a 0-3 start! How is this team going to beat
    fresno st. and BYU and ND

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  10. Look on the bright side, there will be smaller crowds at the concession stands, sit where ever u want, and be home in 30 minutes after the game is over. Now, on the bad side, SC will go 4-8 and the recruit talent will go from 5 star to 2 star recruits, the o line will be a cluster fire due to not getting the talent in, and Daniels looking like a deer looking into headlights. Good by to USC football that I know and hello to perpetual incompetence with the same results that we saw this year. Swann, u signed ur own death warrent

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    2. pretty accurate…I see maybe 3 wins…unless helton does a 180…which would be a miracle…And this yrs recruiting class will not even be #1 in Pac12…

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  11. Typical arrogant, USC athletic administration, this decision proves that Lynn Swann is either a fool, or a figurehead, no in between. Clay Helton is clearly not a head football coach, he has no leadership skills whatsoever, but the administration wants to pretend, why ? The four coaches who regularly show up for the NCAA football playoffs, could out coach Helton with their eyes closed, is a matter of fact, so can most of the coaches in the PAC 12

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    1. Swann was told by the inept adm. not to spend any money on buyouts. When SC only draws 30 k for attendance and the bill for the renovation comes in and SC is short of a $100 million, then they wake up and ask why they are short. SC football is DEAD. It died on 11-25-18. It was a great run, but people’s ideas of what it means to play football at usc has changed. U might as well dress the players in pink tutus and ballerina slippers. SC football is dead. I’m hoping Sc goes 0-12 next season and then hear from Swann that Helton and the program are on the right track.

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  12. If Helton is serious, then he needs full physical practices, change the offense to power, get rid of the dB coach, use the te more often, have Martin coach and teach the receivers to use both hands to hold onto the football

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  13. Tee bone is long gone … as is this program. Let Gomer take the fall next year. He will go 4-8 or better yet fired by mid October. This boob cannot change this failed culture in a year. Meanwhile, his boy blunder Daniels might even be worse next year.

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  14. The sole silver lining in this seemingly ridiculous decision by Swann is that he had no one lined up for the job let alone a 2nd and 3rd choice. Then again a good athletic director would have been seeking someone since last December’s Cotton Bowl massacre – Swann didn’t.

    ‘perhaps’ this can be laid at the feet of the gynecologist scandal coupled with the med director at County general that both exploded in early 2018 and led to Nikias being forced out – no one was designated as the responsible party to sign off on both a huge payout to Helton and staff as well as the salaries of the new staff. Problem is Swann never should have given Helton any extension save through the end of this year and maybe next (2019). He didn’t .

    USC is not alone in this quagmire of ‘top 10 legacy programs’ – Miami has had a bit more success under Richt but not much, Franklin is trying to get past both MI and esp. OH St. in the Big 10 East and Hurst seems to have NE headed back to some semblance of relevance. FL St. is going nowhere with Taggart.

    AL, OK and OH St. have hit it big time esp,. AL…..then there are new pretenders – Clemson and GA that seem to have found their footing to ascend to that level of legacy. Who can say about LSU?

    Now as to the irish, ‘the princess’ will be exposed fast if they get into any bowl – they looked average all night and they’ll face tougher foes than USC in any bowl scenario. and not playing a CCG is one major reason they’ll get trashed.

    All we can hope is that Swann is listening to some very intuitive people and it results in a move akin to what Garrett did when he snagged Pete Carroll. Better to force Swann to work hard moving forward than grabbing another from USC’s former graveyard (player/coach) and find the same mess 2+ years hence.

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    1. Wow, a fairly coherent and vague reference-free post by Ruskie!
      Then again, it’s fairly early for the vodka to start flowing.
      I’ll check in again after 6 when he starts with the vitamin V and the peckerwood references.
      Always entertaining.

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  15. Not renewing my 6 season tickets. Swann comes the Steelers culture, where they have that kind of mentality. They also have good coaches and disciplined teams. The NFL is very even athletically downs years happen. USC is not in the NFL. We have superior talent every year. Down year should e 10-2 or 9-3 not 5-7.

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  16. Very dispointing news! We can only pray that Swann hires a couple top notch assistance coaches and one can take over after we start off 0-3. Fight On!

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  17. The sad part about retaining Clay Helton is, I have never been wrong about my predictions with the failures of USC football coaches, since the day they hired Lane Kiffin. So look for mediocrity to continue while Helton leads the program, because he knows nothing else

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  19. This is exactly what happened to Oregon State im out . I will not support this coach and will no longer support a pompous ass AD. Good luck fight on im out

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  20. This is what happens when you bring in crafty politician types to run your athletic program. Obviously, Swann has learned well from all the dictators from the past who totally ignored the public’s desires and opinions to forcefully instill the system with their brutish resolve.

    I’m positive that most SC football fans will opt out of the program as of today, and it’ll certainly be a scene to behold at the Coli next year where there will be only a handful people consuming processed meats and expired beers.

    It’s a terrible day to be a Trojan. May our football program return to the former glory someday soon.

    I bid all of you a great holiday season!

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  22. Setting aside the wisdom of the decision, I’m glad it was reported promptly. I don’t even think it was a decision as much as it was a media creation and wishful thinking by the fans. For me, the benefit of the announcement is the end of uncertainty. With that said, I look forward to seeing Director Swann and Coach Helton act to drastically improve the areas that were indicated in the statement.

    My advice to coach Helton is that he hire the smartest football people he can find and not be afraid to potentially hire his own replacement. Hire people who think differently than you do and don’t be consumed with personality and comfort. Go bring in the 5 star coaches the way you would 5 star players. There are special people out there and their main qualification should be that they’re special and not that you know them. There’s no way this team should’ve looked the way it did this year and if the problem is not on your staff, then the problem IS you.

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    1. Well said sir – I wish Helton was gone ‘but’ if the replacement was another USC re-tread (former player, coach, coordinator etc.) back to square 1. The truly motivated individuals bid ‘adieu’ to their previous place of employment and move on to a more rewarding financially and control in their new earned position. Not saying that would have been the pick but Swann hasn’t the stones to make a shrewd but smart hire – he lacks basic ‘street cred’ in his demeanor – never been out of real work in his life.

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      1. I’m curious CL, what exactly what do you expect Swann to do if his superiors summarily vetoed Swann’s inclination to fire Helton and staff and expect Swann to take the heat for their decision.

        Should Swann jump up and down, stamp his feet, and pull his hair out? Maybe Swann should post a F**K the SUCC Administration rant to this blog and be fired; or, Swann should submit his resignation to satisfy the two-bit, Rah-Rah, Sunshine Pumpers FB frustration? How ’bout this, Swann commits Seppuku under the Tommy Toejam statue as the ultimate protest against the ruination of SUCCx FB? LOL.

        Be happy Commie Lush and enjoy the rid/slide down to FB irrelevance.

        As a sidebar CL, I wouldn’t be surprised if ND ended the rivalry. Last nights game was a lose/lose proposition for ND; they just barely escaped
        losing a CFB playoff invitation vs a 5 – 6 opponent.

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