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USC Morning Buzz: More Players Expected To Transfer?

Clay Helton told the players six weeks ago he would hire a strength coach in two weeks. But Aaron Ausmus will start Monday, one day before spring practice begins.

A small thing in the big picture of running the football program but it doesn’t add to his credibility with the team, does it? Especially when you need to improve your image with the team.

I spoke to a player who left the team and here is what he said: “More guys will transfer.”

That’s reassuring. But it’s really business as usual these days.

49 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: More Players Expected To Transfer?”

      2. I should add that Helton has ended up with 2 entirely different sets of players. (1) The ones who came to USC cuz they thought they could continue the glory of their high school days without any hard work (and for some reason probably related to his personality, Helton has ended up with an inordinate amount of these players). (2) The players who are ready to fight for anything and everything they can get outta the experience of top level college football. I’ve always wondered what it would look like if, inspite of himself, Helton was surrounded by ONLY the kind of players in category 2…….
        #IGuessNowI’mGonnaFindOut

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      3. SW seems to approve of all these players transferring. I understand if players dont like that Helton is playing favorites (if that is indeed the case). However, if these guys think that they are so great that they have to transfer, why not honor your word and ride it through until the end. If they are good enough to become pros, the scouts will find them and they will make a roster. Quitting is never the answer even if it is ok with SW.

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      4. You just hit on something pretty fricking important, Arturo. Whether Helton has the balls to these transfers the truth or not —-the fact remains everybody is gonna see them as guys who jumped ship when things didn’t look exactly the way they wanted them to. By telling them he loves them as they walk out the door 2 days before practice starts, Helton is once more acting the part of the false friend who tells everybody what they want to hear. A Real Coach would tell them they’re getting their reputations and their careers off to the wrong start….
        #…ButThatWouldTakeGuts….
        #…It’sEasierToHugThem

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  2. First of all, as everyone knows, ONE day is all you need to get ready for Spring Practice. Sure, it has to be a well structured, 10 hour workout —but if properly handled ONE day is more than enough. Lots of other programs subscribe to this theory —such as, um, ………. well, I’m not sure of the exact names of such programs but there must be some —-or at least one —-but, then again, maybe not……..
    On the slightly more serious side, Helton needs to bring some talent IN through the portal. If there aren’t ANY unhappy 4 stars from Wisconsin or Florida or Auburn that want to join USC —if the portal transfer ONLY works against USC, then Helton is in REAL SERIOUS TROUBLE.
    #We’llKnowTheAnswerSoon

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    1. Just out of curiosity…who was it that hired our interim strength coach? Les Miles? I’m guessing that if he wasn’t up to snuff, Les might’ve passed on him. Anyway, between his leaving and the arrival of Ausmus is about 3 days? Hardly an eternity.

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      1. I hear you, Pudly. (But) I think you might be letting Coach Helton off the hook a little too easily here. When there is a WIDESPREAD impression that your program is crumbling, you don’t want there to be ANY time during which it looks like you’re without the services of a RESPECTED Strength Coach. [I don’t know whether it’s his lack of awareness or his lack of contacts that makes Helton move so glacier-like].

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      2. Here’s a video of the new S&C coach:

        Seems to me like Belton delayed his leaving to coincide with the arrival of the new head coach doesn’t it? Belton new weeks ago he wouldn’t be retained but stayed. Sounds like someone had a plan to me. This gave Helton time to interview people and bring in a new guy. Or does anybody have information that this wasn’t the plan. As with the hiring of Graham Harrell, just because there was no news doesn’t mean there was no action does it?

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      3. Pudly —-I used to train trial lawyers and law students for litigation and I got to know the difference between winners and losers and also-rans. Winners are prepared, they don’t settle for approximations and b.s. and, most of all, they don’t waste your time telling stories of past cock ups. I hate to say this, but is it too late to fire this guy before he infects the troops?
        #ThisIsEXACTLYWhatTheProgramDoesn’tNeedRightNow
        #WhatTheFuckIsWrongWithHelton?
        #ThereWasn’tSomeIntenseHighSchoolCoachAvailable?

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      4. Micheal, I posted that video after viewing it and wondering pretty much the same thing. Didn’t seem like he had much fire, did he?

        Liked by 2 people

      5. Pudly –I REALLY wanted to give this guy the benefit of the doubt (mainly because so many of the professional Helton and USC haters were ragging on him). But WTF?! He’s a bullshitter. Helton is WAY more clueless than I ever imagined if he thinks this guy is gonna help us get where we’re going. I’m amazed.

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      6. Typical Clay Helton late to hit any deadline. It’s an indication that he’s unorganized and lacks managment skill. What company would put up with a CEO who devalues the organization. No excuse for the 6 weeks lapse to hire a S&C coach or the 2 months it took to hire an OC.

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      7. Cardinal & Gold —-This is below “typical.” Have you watched the video of our new S & C coach posted by Pudly? Shit —it’s like an Andy Kaufman routine. The only thing the guy didn’t do is roll up in a ball on stage at the end and wait for people to start booing.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. I suspect there will be more leaving, both after spring and then again during/after fall practices. The new transfer portal has grown legs and will change the face of college football without modification by the ncaa.
    BTW, remember James Franklin, who scottie championed as a much better alternative to Helton?? Well guess wh has more players in the portal than Clay? And some of our (2) were suspended for disciplinary reasons.

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    1. Sup with you brown nosing Helton so much? Have you been watching the same Trojans as the rest of us during his tenure? The dude is a joke.

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      1. I don’t suspect it matters, but mentioning scottie was wrong hardly condones Helton. Or is it that the truth has no place in your world? Truth is Franklin sucks, his Heisman candidate QB was asked to work out as a DB at the combine yesterday. As bad as you want to criticize there should still be room for the truth. Opinions are just how you spin it.

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      2. I guess, but more often than not Scottie seems to be giving a more honest picture of the status of sc football 2019. It’s a dumpster fire lit by Helton and fanned by Swann. So many players have bailed that the team is a few injuries from starting walk ons at DB and WO, and there has been no real S/C coach in place to help the remaining players prevent those injuries, that’s the truth.

        It might also be true that Ivan Lewis and the interim guy were good at their jobs, they were hired by big name coaches – but that also begs the question- why couldn’t helton either retain them or communicate what he needed to prevent all the past injuries?

        And franklin isn’t the best coach ever, but he would have done more with SC’s teams than Helton has – helton never wins if he’s the underdog and rarely beats the spread. Franklin has done both a few times. I want wittingham, but Franklin isn’t so awful.

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      3. I’m not sure about scottie being all that right about the team. But that’s just our opinions and you’re welcome to yours.
        As far as retaining Belton, it’s a fact that Belton was turned away and not that he rejected the job. In fact, like with Orgeron and Helton too, the players tried to intercede on his behalf. I’m not sure what was up with that, or why Ausmus was chosen.
        And since his Rose Bowl season, Franklins teams have taken a nose dive, IMO. Again, whether he’d be a better solution than Helton (and I’m not saying Helton is) is disputable. What difference would it make if he won a couple more games here or there, when that’s clearly not the big prize everyone is after. Firing one guy and bringing in another mediocre guy is hardly the solution, no matter how much people hate this guy. It just prolongs the misery.

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  5. Aaron Ausmus complete joke. I’m mean Jesus look at him…just a big guy with a gut! Doesn’t look like a guy who practices what he should be preaching! When he gives speeches about himself, how he got his start, what he preaches, he reads from a notebook. If he has been doing this for twenty years or more shouldn’t he be able to say things right off the top of his head and from the heart. Why does he have to have a notebook to read from. He is a bad hire. When he was let go at USC the first time around there was a good reason for that, not just the switching of coaches!

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    1. Jason —where can we find the video of Ausmus reading from notes? I saw him interviewed and he seemed like the kind of coach who could motivate players —-but, if there is recent footage of him READING FROM NOTES as he speaks about his OWN history and philosophy, that would not be a good sign….
      #..IMeanWTF?!

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  7. Wolf, that photo you took of scoundrels Swann and Nikias at Pauley Pavilion is super creeper status. But we thank you for doing it to get us the scoop!!
    I can picture how you got: they got up from their court side seats, you got up from your nosebleed seats; they moved a few feet to the right, you ran several feet to the right; they stopped to talk to a friend, you ran down 12 flights of stairs; they looked over in your direction, you whistled and had your hands in your pockets and people thought you were playing pocket pool; they turned their backs to you to speak to someone else and in that glorious moment you snapped a great pic of the back of their head and of a barely discernible Max. Thanks, Wolf! You da man.

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    1. Very clever & funny piece [but the photo was actually taken by Coach Helton —-who was borrowing Wanda Austin’s cell phone].
      #”Max?WhenWeHavePostersMade,WillYouAutographThem?”

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    1. That is grossly unfair, Dave. Scott has imaginatively invented just as many conversations with present players as he has with players who’ve left or graduated.

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      3. Which deceased Trojan player or coach would you like Scott to interview? I’d love to hear John McKays’ opinion of Huggs and Lynn Swann’s performance.

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      4. gt —Personally, I would like the “seance interview” to become a regular feature of InsideUSC. First Up? Marv Goux (but it might be a short feature cuz, after one question, Marv might decide to keep Scott in the afterlife)……
        #ISawSomethingLikeThisHappenInLordOfTheRings

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  10. Lots of humor here…all tragedies contain varied amounts with irony…maybe it will make a good book or play someday…it is after all quite unbelievable …like some fantastic nightmare, a new ‘Fall Of Troy’.

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    1. Yes, Tim —–“Fall of Troy” Starring Graham Harrell as Aeneas —–ready to create a lasting, new empire out of the ashes of the old.

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      1. Michael, the question is: is this Fall of Troy orchestrated by the Obama loving President Wanda to de-emphasize male sexist patriarchal football, run off the older tradition-bound alumni and turn USC into “The Stanford of the West”?

        Liked by 3 people

    1. Owns —You know I appreciate you sense of humor —-but you’re sounding a bit like the villain in Man Hunter today…….

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  13. I think Helton is recruiting borderline 4 stars who have some 3 star ratings but who have something to prove instead of primadonnas who don’t want to work. Choosing 5 stars who will create their own destinys because they are willing to work hard. The cream rises to the top.

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    1. Cal75 —Blinding lights appeared in my room the moment after I typed “appreciate”…..
      #ItWasHorrible…
      #…PleaseDon’tMakeMeReliveIt
      #WhileWe’reCorrectingMe—-TheTitleofMovieIsOneWord…
      #….”Manhunter”(FilmVersionOfTheRedDragon)
      #YouShouldHavePickedThisUp

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