USC Morning Buzz: The Fickle Nature Of Fans With Coaches

Posted on by

HELTON.UTAH

It’s nice to see USC interim coach Clay Helton get support from fans this week to be the Trojans’ next head coach. But wasn’t it just a few weeks ago people were irate because USC threw three straight passes against Washington in the fourth quarter when running the ball worked? And two weeks ago that people were furious for losing to Notre Dame?

But a victory over Cal on Saturday should give Helton a big boost toward his aspirations at USC and make him an even bigger fan favorite.

50 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: The Fickle Nature Of Fans With Coaches”

  1. Great way to start another anti USC dissension post… It was my impression watching the game that ego-maniac alky-sark took over play calling after Helton’s successful run calls and it was sark who called the 3 straight passes against UW. No one was mad at Helton for losing to ND, Disappointed for the game for sure – but everybody knows it takes more than one week to turn the Sarkiffan 6 year cluster-eff around.

    • What we can see in results is that these coaches are developing the players now.Huge for coming games and seasons to come.There’s five games play. Before there’s even a chance Helton is serious candidate, development needs to multiply, and five victories occur.
      SW continuing his TMZ type reports ,past Sark reports, and his “inside” the past takes away the stories developing. Which is the direction of future starting with CAL.
      Now its about the players. In
      five games the real coaching conversations begin.

    • Arthur, You are obviously Correct !

      And it goes without saying !!

      Clay Helton was “not” in control but the previous Head Coach was !

      Throw out the Washington game, that’s just common sense but keep in mind common sense is a lost art…

      FightOn

  2. Most fans know nothing about the inner workings of a college football program, so they respond to the flavor of the month, which happens to be Clay Helton right now. Pat Haden has the same philosophy, which is why he hired Andy Enfield, and why the whole athletic department has suffered under his supervision.

  3. Those 3 straight passes in the uw game were a terrible call, do do we know that was Helton? The Utah game was the most complete game USC has played in a long while, I hope it was a sign of things to come and not just a fluke

    • Definitely not a fluke USC is good enough to beat anybody in college it’s the staying motivated all the time thing with them

  4. Helton isn’t the man for USC. There’s a guy at Houston who might be the guy, but he says things that aren’t PC like…

    “I was fired up about speaking at Houston’s commencement. I spoke without notes. I spoke from the heart. I told a story about the kids we’re raising in society, and how all these soccer moms from Dublin, Ohio, don’t want to keep score in kids’ games. They were looking at me like I was jerk because I said that I taught my kid to keep score. Are you kidding me? I’m not the one who is messed up here. They’re going to keep score in life. It’s O.K. I’ve failed hundreds of thousands of times. I probably failed 100 times today. But winning is not supposed to matter to me? I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to grasp that. Forget the awards. You should want to be the best at whatever your chosen field is. I want my kids to win. Winners get the corner office, the big house, the whole nine. I said that at commencement. Then I said that the people who don’t win, they get cubicles, the hoopty ride, the not-so-hot wife. “

  5. A little more Tom Herman

    “Right when we got here, we needed to overhaul not just the motivation, but also the psychology of motivation. It’s one thing that Urban is the best at, and I learned a ton from him about how to motivate players. I think I can be good at it, too, but I’ve had to change. I was the fun guy. I wanted everyone to like me.

    One thing that not enough coaches know how to do—but the thing I learned from Urban that is fantastic—is how to use public praise and criticism. By public, I mean within the team, where you can say to one of your best players, “You stunk today,” or, “What you’re doing is unacceptable.” It’s something they didn’t have around here. We run the program like a family. Families are honest, families are open. When you mess up, you’re going to know it and so are all your brothers. You test positive for a drug test, the entire team—trainers, coaches, everyone—will know, there’s no whispering behind each other’s back. And you can’t always criticize the second-team outside linebacker and not the quarterback.

    One of our best players is William Jackson III, a defensive back from Houston. Earlier this spring, I called out our cornerbacks: “Last time I checked, William can’t play left corner and right corner in the same game. So, someone in that group has to step up.” Not long after, one of the corners showed up 45 minutes late for one of our summer workouts (where we can work with the kids for two hours a week). I went over, stopped the corners’ drills and ripped the whole group, not just the kid who was late—ripped the position coach and William Jackson, too. Then I went over to the safeties and told them that their group had no leadership. I told the defensive backs that I don’t trust William Jackson. I learned from Urban, who is just a phenomenal motivator, what truly inspires someone—he digs deep into that. William Jackson wants to be a great leader. I promise you he does, and when you call him out in front of his team and his peers, William Jackson has two ways to go. Either he goes in the tank or he responds. Later that day I had a meeting with him and built him up and told him how much I love him. That’s a little peek behind the curtain.

    One thing that I’ve gotten much better at is confrontation with my assistant coaches. I’ve learned that it’s O.K., you just can’t ever make it personal. I think that’s one thing that you learn from someone like Urban, or if you’ve heard Nick Saban talk. It’s never personal. It’s never, “You stupid jerk, why did I hire you?” The way to handle it is, “You’re not doing your job. This is what we need you to do. Get it done. These are the expectations.”

    • That is what I am talking about, a leader, teacher, mentor, motivator, and football qualified HC. Just what USC needs.

    • At some point next year, one or more of the players will say something to this effect—“we thought we were working hard and were a team, but coach has brought us to a new level. He has shown us we have so much more within ourselves and only we can bring it out.” No matter who the coach is, the culture and accountability will change–and a few of the players will not survive

  7. By the way, don’t be surprised if Lane Kiffen makes an inquiry about the University of Minnesota football head coaching position. Because Jerry kill resigned yesterday because of health issues, and he already set the table for some success. Kiffen grew up and attend high school in the area , and Im sure the administration don’t expect national championships, but rather a competitive team, along with decent bowl games .

    • I remember Kiffin saying he hated living in Minnesota and how he despises cold weather. As a coach’s son who always moved everywhere, he said Minnesota was the worst. Maybe his agent starts dropping his name around but I don’t see Lane headed up that way.

      • Maybe he’ll change his mind since he’s not in a position to be choosy, and trying to rebuild his reputation . You’d be surprised how quick your perspective will change under those conditions.

    • Fred, I would be suprised if anyone talked to Kiffen for several more years. He still has a lot to learn. Thankfully he has a good teacher and he is way away from here.

  8. It’s pretty presumptive to think this Helton guy can get out of his current contract just because big rich SC comes calling.

  9. The important thing is to get into Pat Haden’s head he better hire the right head coach this time around!

  10. Lots of fans are idiots, and we have our share on here. Helton may have a small shot at the job, but USC should have their sights set on a PROVEN qualified head coach that knows how to lead, teach, and motivate, and had done so in the past. Some dummies wanted Helton hired after beating Utah. How stupid is that. Fickle? For sure.

  11. it’s 2013 all over again! Helton won’t win out, and won’t get the job. Just like OOOOOO.

  12. Its crazy how we change on a teams outlook week to week. Bewting Utah was great but we have done stuff like that before in the last few years. Its the ability to consistently play at that level that has constantly been the problem, so we need to wait until we see the entire body of work before determining Heltons future. There are starting to be a lot of openings in College Football USC, South Carolina, Miami, Minnesota , Maryland, UCF , already. Hopefully, Haden is fully focused on the coaching search and not the College Football Playoff Committee.

  15. Nobody wants Helton as the next coach except Rival fans and apparently you. He was the QB coach all those years when Barkley regressed and Kessler and Wittek looked like they couldn’t start for a juco team.

    • Another thing is that when he was the OC under Orgeron those 8 games in 2013 the offense was beyond horrible against ND and UCLA

  17. Yesterday I thought we were looking for a minority coach. I was thinking Kennedy Polamalo for the offensive minded folks. Or Ken Norton Jr,, for those who want a defensive coach. But no we’ll stick with the guy we have. Whatever….

Comments are closed.