Sunday Night With Clay Helton

Got some new artwork from last night to capture Clay Helton.

And now for some awful comments by him.

“It’s a team that cares for each other and cares for our team’s success. Now it’s our job as coaches to identify those mistakes from last night and correct them”

“It’s early in the season, I hope people will see us all the way through the season.”

Graham Harrell on Saturday night: “I think that (Stanford) wanted to make the tackle more than we wanted to make some blocks a couple of times.”

106 thoughts on “Sunday Night With Clay Helton

    1. Also, same shitty comment year after year: “Just wait. This is a championship team.” Or, “Come see us in November.” It’s all old and tiring. Time to move on!

      Liked by 6 people

    2. Now now boys, like our coach says, “it is only the beginning of the season” Plus, we are still undefeated in the south division! Like the offensive genius coach Harrell says, “if we increase the desire to make some blocks couple of times” we can fix what ever went wrong on Saturday night.

      Keep the faith Trojans and Fight on!

      Like

    3. Folt and Bohn will act like the Saturday Night Massacre never even happened.

      They don’t have to answer to Trojan fans, alumni, students, boosters, donors, media or the players, they couldn’t care less what any of them think.

      Folt and Bohn have learned that no matter how many times they’re asked why Helton hasn’t been fired, they know they don’t have to provide an explanation and they never have. They’ll just continue to ignore the question if or when it comes up.

      Helton is still the head coach because Rick Caruso, C.L. Max Nikias and the Board of Trustees want him as the head coach.

      Those aforementioned idiots have more important things to worry about than USC Football, Clay Helton is the least of their problems.

      Liked by 1 person

    4. Scott: Please run the new, improved portrait of Clay, inside black borders, without comment when Clay gets scratched from the lineup….

      Like

  1. USC football under new management: Kiff
    USC football under new management: Sark
    USC football under new management: Helton

    Time to find a good manager. Now in the 12th year of waiting for that person to be hired.

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Kiff got a raw deal. He walked into a dumpster fire. He was immature and didn’t help his cause, but nobody would have been successful trying to fight through the sanctions.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. HC at USC , even with sanctions was way better than anything else Kiff was going to score after being fired from the Raiders, so I wouldn’t call it a raw deal. He def was very immature then, has grown up a lot, and I hope he succeeds in the SEC, and that 50-0 over Neuheisel was something else.

        I saw Neuheisel and his wife at the Pacific Palisades farmer’s market the next morning after the 50-0, and Neuheisel was totally shell-shocked. She almost had to put a leash on him and tell him where to go. He may as well have been catatonic.

        Liked by 4 people

      2. BS Kiffy is a creepy pile of garbage that had enough to not lose 10-7 to a pathetic Wazzu team at home, to a run only Georgia Tech team, and lose by 60 to ASU when he got tarmaced. When your an ahole like Goatboy Kiffy, you cannot afford any slip ups or your gone. Better off being a phony arse kidding fraud like Suck and Gomer, that will give you a few extra years to really show how bad you are.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. And don’t forget Kiff and his otherwise not so helpful father (as DC) brought Coach O back from Rocky Top and they made a lot of hay in recruiting top shelf talent in spite of the the crippling sanctions – only reason the USC boat continued to be sailable at all over the past decade. Made a lot of mistakes, highly questionable in-game coaching decisions, immature, etc etc…but not Helton…Sark had elements of both…

      Liked by 3 people

  2. I have no problem with Clay Heltons sincerity. I think that he really wants to succeed. He’s just not a great coach. You can’t pay a coach 5 mil a year because he’s sincere. Looking at his resume, I see no reason why they should have hired him in the first place. He has nothing on his resume to qualify him to be the HC at SC. But the thing that is even more confusing is that they have held on to him for 7 years now. As far as the old speech about “wait until the end of the year”. I’ve heard that before. We are long past that stage. The ‘247 sports’ study that they do every year where they rank the teams in the NCAA according to their talent still has them rated the 10th most talented team in the country(that has fallen under CH). Yet the AP has them rated 30th and the coaches poll has them rated 27th. They are 10th in the nation talentwise and not in the top 25 as far as the ratings. That’s a big waste of talent.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Sincerity and fake sincerity are hard to separate, particularly when a $4.6 million salary is up for grabs. Clay will say anything now, with appropriate facial expressions, tears, hugs, whatever he needs to do to keep his job. But no two ways about it, we all know this is over. What could have been if he had been canned after the Holiday bowl debacle (49-25), and adding insult to Slovis’s elbow injury, Clay said in his presser “we are on the cusp of something very special here!”

      Liked by 4 people

      1. Like I said, it’s really hard to believe that he has lasted 7 years. Sark only lasted 5 years at Washington. But neither one are great coaches. Texas made a mistake.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Clay Helton is all about Clay Helton. He’s a fraud. He’s not a nice guy. He’s selfish. He’s never once demonstrated superior coaching. USC has always won despite Helton’s influence. If he cared one iota about USC, it’s tradition, the players or alumni, he would resign. But he continues to degrade the football program with his selfishness and hiding behind whoever to shield himself. He’s a selfish prick that needs to be tarmacked.

      Liked by 5 people

    3. As far as the fans are concerned, there really is an answer to all of this……stop going to the games until they put a great product on the field. If the company that used to make UGO’s came back into existence, they wouldn’t sell many of their vehicles, at least not in the USA. The UGO was not a very good car. Don’t buy season tickets as long as their product is a dud. The only thing these big corporations(and SC is a corporation) understand is the all mighty dollar. Hit them in the pocket book and they’ll react like you stuck a needle in their butt. When they start getting 15,000 fans per game, they’ll do something.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Yep – vote with your feet (ie wallet) – only thing that will register … the post-remodel empty seats/lost revenue evidently isn’t enough…but it is the only way to signal our displeasure with even minimal impact…the people responsible clearly don’t care, and it’s hard to envision what it would take for them to change their attitude…

        Liked by 1 person

    4. Clay Helton sincerely cares about Clay Helton and noone else. He destroyed the program by stocking the coaching staff with syncophants that were not capable of a national championship, because he thought it gave him more power. Of course, he wasnt smart enough to even fathom that it would result in progressively worse teams, until SC cant even dominate the Pac-12. But noone ever accused Clay of being sharp.

      At this point, the coaching staff will tear itself apart if Helton is not removed. Coaches will leave the sinking ship as soon as they can. And no decent coach will come to work for Helton, so there is really only one way out of this now. Firing Helton asap.

      Helton has probably lost the trust of the players at this time. There will be no new recruiting commitments and probably some top players will drop their commitments. We will sink down to the 50th position or lower in recruiting for 2022.

      Will Helton get fired this week? I dont know, but there is no way this team is able to beat teams like Notre Dame and Utah, even if they are not very good. UCLA will beat us for sure. ASU probably beat us. Even if we find a way to win, it is going to continue to be not much fun to watch this team.

      If Helton and Harrell stick around, then my guess is they throw Slovis under the bus and put in Dart as a hail mary for the program. This risks destroying Dart, putting all that pressure on him before he is ready. Just like the destroyed JT Daniels. And Helton will sleep fine after he destroys another player’s future, because Helton only cares about Helton.

      Like

      1. Exactly! Helton is about Helton and hides behind his players to shield himself from criticism. He is a coward and a fraud. People like Clay Helton are absolutely awful to deal with. They give mealy-mouthed, emotion-laden responses to actual problems. He’s either too inept or self-consumed, if not both, to identify and fix problems. Clay Heltons are the worst people for any organization. They demoralize good people and rot out the organization. Helton is qualified to sit on the board of the local HOA where he can interfere with few and make meaningless decisions.

        I was glad to see USC get beat badly on Saturday. If they played the usual Helton boring, undisciplined brand of football and won by 3, change would not happen. Now we are closer to that buffoon being a footnote in USC football history.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. So farewell to the much vaunted Men of Troy. Does anyone get it. Unranked Stanford just gave USC an Ass Whopping. Fire the dopey coach and pay off his ludicrous contract.
    Wow. How embarrassing.

    Liked by 3 people

  4. Should have said we failed as coaches on Saturday, and need to get the players better prepared. We were totally out coached.

    He is always asking everyone to give him, and his coaching staff the whole season before you make judgements like he knows he could be fired at any time.

    Sorry, coach your making 5 million dollars per year there is no room for the consistent failure over the last 4 years you have been there. We have been patient either perform or resign. This type of failure is accepted at Kansas, Western Kentucky, Memphis, and Houston but not here at USC where the standards set before you along with the annual expectations for this football program are very high.

    Earn you paycheck wins some games or your robbing this university by being overpaid. The hour glass is just about empty 1 more loss to a smaller program and you are gone. Coach Helton you have had plenty of chances this is not a country club.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. No sane corporation would keep Clay in management — for 10 years he’s used “love of corporate family” as his excuse for failure to meet corporate goals. That’s usually the kind of crap talk that gets you thrown out of the boardroom.
      It’s impossible to list the number of ways in which Clay’s teams demonstrate lack of discipline & incompetence….which is why Folt looks absolutely demonic for forcing Bohn to keep him….
      #FoltHasObviouslyTriedToCastrateBohn….
      #…WhyDoesn’tHeHangOnToHisDick&Resign?

      Liked by 4 people

  5. We made all the right moves, and all the right calls. It’s not my fault these kids don’t execute the game plan. Don’t you see me working the headset on the sidelines? I guess it’s time to give Folt and Bohn some games balls

    Liked by 3 people

  6. Graham Harrell (after his offense got their asses handed to them by the worst defense in Pac 12 North)–“They wanted to tackle more than we wanted to block.”
    Ken Norton (after George Foreman knocked him out in 2 rounds) –“I guess he hits harder than I do.”
    #OuttaTheMouthsOfBabes

    Liked by 2 people

    1. The shine has come off the Graham Harrell coaching career. He is arrogant and ignorant, the worst possible combination for a person who needs to deliver results.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. P. S.
    Harrell: “My advice to team: Run faster, get to the green grass before they do and be sure to want to block more than they want to tackle. I hate to get so technical!”

    Liked by 3 people

      1. P. S.
        When Harrell sez “they wanted to tackle more than we wanted to block”, he’s shrewdly putting the loss on the players —he pretends not to understand that “they” wanted to tackle more than “we” wanted to block because “they” have coaches who inspire them to play football & “we” don’t…..

        Liked by 1 person

  8. Plaschke in LAT had a good story today along these lines. You know you are in trouble when you find yourself on the same side as Plaschke, and he happens to be right for once. The line from Apocalypse Now keeps ringing in my ears for what should be done with Clay Helton: “Terminate…with extreme prejudice.”

    Liked by 3 people

    1. The scenes with Willard reviewing the Kurtz dossier…one where he thinks “the bullshit piled up faster in Vietnam…” and the other where he thinks “the war was being run by a bunch of clowns and they were going to throw the whole circus away…” – and the dawning awareness as he begins to understand why they were actually sending him to terminate Kurtz. The bullshit piles up around USC faster then…

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Let’s take a look at Clay Helton’s, and Graham Harrell’s resumes before they came to USC:

    Helton, had a few years as an offensive coordinator at Memphis.
    Harrell, had a few average seasons at North Texas State

    Both are now millionaires yet the USC program has struggled under their leadership due to poor performances and execution by both coaches. Both hit the lotto by coming to USC, and the football program has struggled under their leadership.

    Stupid hires………..both were not qualified to have leadership positions in a major college football program. What’s really sad is our head coach in reality reports to Graham Harrell a guy who came from North Texas State. Give me a break a North Texas State offensive coordinator is now running the offense at former super power USC.

    Notre Dame once hired a football coach named Gerry Faust who came from Moeller High School in Cincy with no college football coaching experience. After 2 years Notre Dame admiited they made the wrong decision hiring a high school football coach, and fired Faust after 2 or 3 years because the university could no longer afford to be embarrassed as the program began to sink.

    USC has two Gerry Faust’s- Clay Helton, and Graham Harrell There is no substitute for experience in any profession. Hiring mistakes happen, but regardless of buy outs it is time USC dumps the Clay Helton era. Keeping both of them any longer will only cost the University more money in the long run, and it might never recover. Notre Dame turned to the very experienced Dan Devine to save the ship from sinking after the Faust era, and it worked because the change was made before it was too late. Mr. Bohn it is now time to make the change before the USC ship hits rock bottom just like the Titanic which has never been recovered.

    FIGHT ON NOW MEANS MAKES CHANGES NOW!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. ND in that era actually kept Faust through the end of that initial contract and didn’t renew it (Devine was Faust’s predecessor and had a successful, albeit not always adored, six year tenure…Lou Holtz was hired as his replacement). But your point is correct (in the future, even ND – eg Ty Willingham and almost with Brian Kelly, as Lynn Swann can explain better – will cut bait without waiting to avoid a buyout). Keeping Helton has been disastrous…really nothing comparable that one can point to…closest parallel that has always come back to me was Gary Gibbs succeeding Barry Switzer at Oklahoma, but he was operating under truly crippling sanctions and scrutiny, had several high points and a couple of decent teams that were commensurate with the talent available, and was never grossly incompetent (went on to be a DC and LB coach in the NFL for many years)…also undertook the monumental culture-shift task in step with the changing time (at same time Bill McCartney was likewise effecting such a change at Colorado) away from the wishbone towards a passing offense – wasn’t until Stoops arrived a decade later that it finally succeeded, but he did the early dirty work. Clay has done nothing of the sort at USC.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. The true measure of Clay: After we let him go he will NEVER coach again….anywhere.
        #NoOneWantsHim…
        #….WhyDoWe?
        #[Hint:CuzFoltHasADeathWishForFootball]

        Liked by 3 people

      2. #The tinker has split the arrow!”
        —Robin Hood
        [btw, that only means James hit the mark first —Maid Marian should present him with the Golden Arrow prize]…

        Liked by 2 people

      3. I always fancied a Maid Marian at some point in life – closet I ever got was watching her on screen, and the sub sandwiches they sold on military bases that were Robin Hood themed! But all of us long-time followers on this site (in the interest of not antagonizing, won’t name, but all including us are guilty) have seen this the same going back to various points (for me it was the debacle in Pullman in 2017…all downhill after that…

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Good call. Hadn’t thought about it in those terms…but, yes, that was the end of Trojan dominance. Notre Dame debacle, Ohio State debacle, Alabama debacle, BYU debacle, Iowa debacle …and the unforgiveable Stanford debacle all followed that signature loss…..

        Like

      5. btw,
        Maid Marian “shyly avoided looking directly into Robin’s eyes as she awarded him his prize.”
        Please contrast this with the video of Carol burning a hole in some guy’s butt by staring at it for 30 seconds straight….

        Liked by 1 person

  10. If Clay Helton looses five more games this season, then I’ll talk to Carol Folt about adding a few more years to his contract, because he’s maintained mediocrity just as Rick Caruso, and Folt desire 😃👍🏼

    Liked by 1 person

  11. After/if Gomer gets canned and gets no offers to coach again, he’ll pretend that he doesn’t want to coach anymore because he’s such a family man. And, he won’t need to because SC will have paid him over 25 million. He’ll live happily ever after in his house in Lunada Bay.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Yes, the unsung hero that the university needed during a tumultuous time. The man that rebuilt the foundation of SC football with his devout principles of faith, family, and football. The SC community will owe Clay Helton a debt of gratitude. The great man will always be in our hearts.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. @PJM what’s wrong with “faith, family and football” It is as classic as “God, corps, country”! It is a lot better than “Friendships, Relationships and Championships” Life isn’t about winning at all cost! I love the way our young men had sympathy on Stanford and their feelings. Had we be the Cardinal, David Shaw might have lost his job and the Stanford football would have been in dire straits and be winless. In this case everyone wins! Stanford wins because of their “win” over our boys and USC wins because our young men are people of character who has empathy for the other.

        Besides, most national champions have a loss or two in NCAA football. With our one loss, we are in line for the National Championship.

        #KeeptheFaith #FightOn

        Liked by 2 people

  12. I have not found one credible News source that is not calling for change in Helton’s case. Most are pointing out that in the last 8 games (that’s all last season) USC has not scored a touchdown in the third quarter. But is worse than that. In this era of instant news everything archived is a finger touch away. They can look up the platitudes he spewed in the past and check them against the spew from this most recent Helton loss.
    Every news outlet from the Daily Bulletin to the Times From ESPN to TBN is calling for Helton’s firing. The Administration is dead from the neck up. (Are they in Biden’s cabinet?)

    Liked by 1 person

  13. One problem is that Folt does not give a darn about what is happening. Bohn might care, but his hands are tied by Folt. With the other payouts to the people that were abused by the dr. and no one caring about sports from the Trustees, SC will never be the same that what we want and that is, a winning program. The former players and coaches that made SC a premier place to play have to be upset. I remember Don Lindsey, Nate Shaw, Dave Levy, Fertig, Corell, Goux, Tim Davis, and other coaches that made this place great. Thank you to all that created great memories for me.

    May USC football Rest In Peace.

    Just cut the program like Long Beach State, Fulletron, Cal Poly Pomona, and other and just play men’s soccer instead.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. As Carol will say (sooner or later): “We never lost faith in Clay as a man, as a prophet or as a saint —- we fired his ass cuz he sucks as a coach…”
      #[“AndToBeHonest,DeepDown,WeDon’tBelieveHe’sASaintEither’]

      Liked by 1 person

    1. We finally learned how FUCK YOU got his name.

      Before FUCK YOU’s supposed daddy left the trailer park when FUCK YOU was three and a half; daddy would yell over the volume of the TV set, ‘ oh FUCK YOU, change the channel.’
      Well FUCK YOU’s mommy would belt out, ‘FUCK YOU’

      And FUCK YOU heard this so often, he just knew they were y’all talking to him.

      #NoItWasNotInRialto
      #ButClose,ItWasFontuckey

      Like

  14. The fans want Helton gone. If there’s a media outlet that has made the case for giving him more time, I’m not aware of one. Harrell said the quiet part out loud, i.e. the kids aren’t paying any attention to the coaches. What’s it going to take? A fan boycott of the next home game?

    (Also, note the announced attendance at the Stanford game. I’m betting that includes a large number of tickets given away for free in addition to tickets actually sold. I’d be interested to see how many tickets/bar codes/QR codes were actually scanned at the gates. I think that would be your actual attendance.)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. According to sources thousands of homeless were personally handed $10 apiece by Bohn for the purpose of entering, and then immediately exiting, the Coliseum…..

      Like

  15. In the postgame presser, Clay Helton said something to the effect that “they watch the tape and clean up the mistakes.” I never watch those things but I did this time out of morbid curiosity.

    His response was a gigantic middle finger to anyone who cares about USC football. There were not mistakes made that need to be cleaned up. The entire program needs to be gutted because of the buffoon. The problem wasn’t a misread by Slovis or an LB assigned to the wrong gap.

    Clay Helton-style football is a root canal done with a jackhammer. It’s a shit show.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. No winners and losers ? Today is half over. Oh I get it we’re waiting for USC to announce the end of the Helton era.
    Don’t be stubborn Bohn do your job, pull the trigger. Dispatch the coach. End our misery.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Bohn: Clay, if you lose to Washington State I want you to announce your resignation right after the game.”
        Clay: “That doesn’t seem fair. What happens if it’s everybody else’s fault again?”

        Liked by 1 person

  17. Everyone wants Clay gone, the groundswell is huge. Local writers calling for his job now. Fans and alumni have been there for years. Do you think it’s worse right now than after the 5-7 season? The administration just ignored that mess, can they ignore this one? Normally I do not favor piling on, coaches and teams know when they are bad. But in this case I hope it is overwhelming and unrelenting.

    Come on Adam Maya, break the news but for real this time.

    Liked by 2 people

  18. Never trust a man who tries to sell you on his character, well before any questions about character are even asked, by offering up some well-practiced, jingle-ish catchphrase like “faith, family, football”. The way I see it, the only way someone would take the time, or feel the need to come up with some hokey bullshit saying is if they were continually being questioned about their character prior to. Questioned because their actions weren’t proof enough that they were fond of God, their kids, and the great game of football. . Like an alibi before considered a suspect… “Hey everyone! Look what a virtuous man I am! None of wbat I do is about me, it’s all about the kids! I’m as wholesome awshucks as they goshdarn come. And if you don’t like me, than you don’t like wholesome!!”

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Nobody wants to hear Clay’s excuses and platitudes, it’s worn beyond thin. Alicia deArtola has a script she has used for years for every Helton post game presser. It’s always the same nonsense.

      But “faith, family, football” works really well at Clemson. Dabo repeats that catchphrase all the time.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Watched a lot of Matlock way back when. Don’t know why, just did. Full disclosure: I had to look up sui juris. Guess that means a discount off my hourly.

        Liked by 2 people

  19. Mr. Mike Bohn: Were you not hired at USC with a huge salary to fix things?

    Well, it appears the football program despite your added so called resources is now worse than before you got here. Marketing 101 states you must first put out a quality product, and then hire a staff to build it. USC football is a bad product at the moment the added resources you hired in marketing are now a waste until you fix step 1 which is the product USC football.

    If you can’t obtain the approval from Carol Folt, and the Board your job becomes worthless, and it is time to move on to another university if they will hire you. USC needs a strong, powerful athletic director not a politican who like you does not understand what USC football means in the Los Angeles market.

    Speaking of resources the one coach who has done well at USC is Andy Enfield. He has successfully built USC into a national top program in basketball from rock bottom This is the last year of his contract, and your main goal should be to sign him to an EXTENSION WITH A RAISE. Are you trying to screw up the basketball program also. I can now understand why Mick Cronin left you at Cincy for UCLA. The USC basketball program is a good product at the moment, but if we lose Enfield because you did not extend his contract basketball will sink just like football.

    Do what’s right Mike or resign. Fire Clay Helton immediately, and extend the contract of Andy Enfield.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. List of candidates to replace Clay Helton -Interim Coach to be determined.

    We need a proven, dominent head coach with a background in teaching physical football including the running game. No more boy wonder offensive coordinators like Paul Hackett, Ted Tollner, Clay Helton, and Graham Harrell. Most of the time they fail.

    1) Irwin Meyer- he will soon miss college football after get spanked in Jacksonville.
    2)Chris Peterson
    2A Ed Ogeron
    3)Bob Stoops
    4) Gary Patterson
    5) Lane Kiffin with Maturity
    6) David Shaw

    Liked by 1 person

  21. There is a major problem when the AD does not say a thing after the press, fans, and how the fans non-support of Helton. His slience is creating a vacuum, doubt, and creating a dead program. He either comes out and supports helton or his silence is such that he either wants Helton to leave by being fired or wants him but he knows he will get roasted.

    He better have a talk with Folt about this. They have to act by either coming out and supporting him or by being silent and letting Helton take the heat.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That’s not the way ANYBODY currently working at USC sees their job, PT…..
      #Bohn: “BestToLayLowUntilHeat’sOff”
      #Carol: “I’mWayAheadYa,Mike”

      Like

    1. Scott must spring into action immediately to save Clay —he’s averaging a 125 hits an article!
      Rumor front: Bohn was seen interviewing Jeffrey Epstein for a half hour this morning. When informed by his secretary he was wasting his time talking to a corpse Bohn replied that it all seemed normal after so many talks with Clay and Carol.

      Like

  22. LANE KIFFIN- WOULD COME BACK TO USC IN A MINUTE HIS BEAUTIFUL WIFE LAYLA, AND KIDS STILL LIVE IN MANHATTAN BEACH..

    He is finally maturing into one of the better coaches in the country we just had him as head coach when he was very young. His offenses usually have a good balance between the pass and run.

    Kiffin probably would have worked out if we had the patience, and he wasn’t so immature at the time. Definitely better than anyone we have had since.

    Liked by 2 people

  23. Scott usually has his “Winners and Losers of the Week” post up Monday morning by 9 AM or so. Maybe he’s holding off posting because he’s hearing things and needs to take the time to track the sources down before he puts something up?

    Like

  24. Dear Santa, please show up early, like today and provide USC with a head coach like a Pete Carroll or a Nick Saban. I know it is early, but if you do this, then I won’t ask for anything until the following Christmas. Thank you Santa.

    It doesn’t hurt does it?

    Liked by 2 people

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