Sometimes, I never get around to filling in some background on some situations.
With Kenechi Udeze getting hired as a defensive analyst at LSU, it’s a good reminder that being at USC was never a good fit despite the fact he was a Trojan great from the Pete Carroll era.
Clancy Pendergast was against the hire and insulted Udeze during their first season together when he stuck him in the back row of the pressbox with unimportant duties during games. This meant staffers who had less rank than Udeze and not even coaches sat in the first row and performed more important duties.
Udeze was unhappy but it has traditionally been hard to win over Pendergast, especially if you were not his hire. Sources said he was also undermined by Pete Jenkins, who was the defensive line coach in 2013 and still acts a consultant at USC.
Udeze finally got on the field in Year 3 (last season) and seemed to be doing better. But the trust issues remained and Pendergast was willing to get rid of anyone to save himself at the end of last season. Udeze was expendable, especially with criticism about the defensive line play and development.
But poor development tends to be overlooked when coaches are tight with each other and that was never the case with Udeze and Pendergast.
Whatever happens with Udeze, he should be better off with his old position coach, Ed Orgeron.
InsideUSC with Scott Wolf 
So once again Helton undertook Udeze as a social work project and foisted him on Pendergast. How insulting to Udeze by Helton. Too many on-the-job trainees on coaching staff last year: T Martin, Udeze, Ellis. And then there was the blind long snapper who Helton asked opposing teams to not block when brought into games and in return USC wouldn’t block the opposing team’s PAT’s. How do you remain competitive when your’e doing this stuff? It’s called mission creep. Football becomes secondary to Faith and social work projects.
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Agree 100% up till the last sentence. Helton doesn’t teach Faith or Commitment to Community either. Not really.
#HappyTalkOppurtunist
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RIP Coach Larry Smith, but if he was still with us, I’d take him as coach over Helton any day. Helton has made the team a complete joke.
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Agreed Ray. Coach Larry Smith did just fine rebuilding at Arizona, USC and Missouri. He couldn’t beat Notre Dame (although he got screwed over with one bad call after another in South Bend) but he did very well against UCLA. I’d love to see what Helton could do with three troubled programs in a row.
#Helton’s”TheDismantler”Not”TheRebuilder”
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If Coach Helton really did make an offer to the opposing team to lay off the blind snapper quid pro quo then that is totally unacceptable.
If he wanted to get the guy in there to get a varsity letter then he could have him snap a last second effort on a gimme knee.
#Couldn’tHaveDoneWorseThanThe1stStringCenter
#WeLoveYouCoachHelton
#ThePac11LovesYouBigNugget
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