USC named Clay Helton permanent football coach this morning.
“After weeks of searching the collegiate and pro ranks, interviewing candidates, and speaking with head coaches, athletic directors, NFL executives, and very knowledgeable football people, and after observing Clay in action the past seven weeks, it became abundantly clear that what we were searching for in a coach was right here in front of us,” said Haden. “Choosing a coach is an inexact science. In Clay’s case, there is exactness. We have a man with unquestioned integrity. He is a fantastic person and he is real. Clay is a leader of young men. He is a terrific communicator. He brings high character, stability, continuity, consistency, toughness and resiliency to our program.
“We have known Clay well for the past six years. He earned this opportunity. He has been positive and upbeat handling adversity. He was built to be a head coach. Football is his family business. He is a coach on the rise and he will be coaching a team on the rise. As our interim head coach, Clay brought back USC’s style of physical football. I have been impressed with how hard and how inspired our team has played for him, as well as the support they have shown for him.”
REACTION: Weeks of searching and interviewing candidates? I’m happy for Clay Helton, a genuine nice guy who deserves an opportunity to be a head coach. But Pat Haden looks like he never wanted to do a real coaching search.
Already beat you to it Scott. BUT, Haden is a FOOL
whoa Nellie!
Congrats Clay, now the fun begins. Don’t screw the pooch.
Let’s see if he has the guts to make changes on that staff .
I am confident he will, Fred. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt, until proven otherwise. The OL coach and DC are the first that need to go.
Good luck selling stadium seat lic & recruiting. Dumb move at this point. Should have waited.
Winning cures everything……
So does money
Tell that to Charlie Sheen……
Not EVERTHING
Actually recruits love Helton. Look for some major commitments now that the HC is finalized.
Is that the case? I hope so. I’ve seen most of his pressers, and he seems to be able to talk the media – I would imagine it would translate.
Pray we don’t get killed Sat.
Waited for who? The guy has been at USC for six years. The players love him. If Craven stays that would be huge. With his own staff I think he will do very well.
Good. Let’s let the students pick the President and Professors. Moron
Why is USC hiring a guy that is not qualified to coach Cal Poly?
We weren’t going to hire Urban Meyer, or Nick Saban, let alone Les Miles or Mark Richt……nothing is guaranteed just by hiring a splashy, high profile name……..
Yes they need to go, but lets finish the season out first
I agree… it’s nice to see that loyalty still counts for something…….
We could have done far worse. Even though he wouldn’t have been my first pick for head coach, it’s nice to see his loyalty rewarded. The team should play inspire football against Stanford this weekend. Fight the f*ck on, baby!
This was done in the name of stability. These kids have had too many people to listen to the last four years; Kiffin, Ogeron, Helton, Sarkisian, and back to Helton. I bet this was also done on the premise that staff changes will be made.
….and I am willing to bet Helton insisted on such changes. He’s been the main reason the tide has turned because it sure wasn’t the knuckleheads that Sarkisian brought with him from WA – smash mouth football has been our legacy and what has led to such great players in the NFL – it’s why the kids flock to USC to play.
Haden just made the rest of the Pac 12 very happy. What a joke of a hire!
That statement from Pat Haden is such a farce. Where was it after the Oregon game? Like to know who turned him down before his selection of Helton. Orgeron did the same thing except beat ucla,
and was by passed in a flash by the AD. Wonder if there is any stipulations on who must go for the current assistant coaches . I hope Clay becomes the man again emulating Carroll on the field with that success.
This is a worse hire than Kifffin and Sark.
No, it’s not…..
Hey so-caled USC fan aka – lover of Bruins – go and come back with another ‘id’ or better yet…..
ask Mora if he’s happy with this news
I don’t remember USC being known for an amazing offense the last few years with Helton there. This is a terrible hire and USC fans cannot spin it any other way. Why wasn’t hired after the ND or Oregon game. He could work out but why does USC make chicken s*** hires when they are class of the west in football. This hire is very UCLA like!
Bruins may like it, but they’d be wise to be careful what they’re wishing for. This interim HC just ate their lunch.
Hey he did beat UCLA, that counts a lot around SC common he just got hired seconds after beating UCLA.. .
Wrong. Kiffin at the outset was an OK hire. He proved to be incompetent. Sarkisian was a horrible hire. A pox on Haden for that.
USC jumped the gun on this one, in my opinion. Helton is a great guy, but I just don’t know if he is ready for the pressure cooker that is bein the head coach at USC. He had a free pass this year, but next year he won’t.
Waiting for the NFL season to end to go after an overpriced head coach may have adversely impacted recruiting, as well as the mindset of the team, in my opinion….
I would guess this is also Pat Haden’s ‘swan song’ – it is a glide pattern to move on with this pick and permit a new AD into Heritage Hall.
Well, at least he hired an adult this time. Beat Stanford !!
ohhhh that’s a good one!
I wish Clay Helton nothing but success. At a minimum he will restore stability to a program long in need of adult leadership. In his stint as interim Helton has shown a flexibility and willingness to adjust that was lacking under Sark. I suspect he will rebuild the staff to more suit his style. With the hire of Helton I don’t think recruiting will take too much of a hit–if any.
Haden can put a bigger DOWNER on the UCLA victory than Scott!
Its done lets get behind him and fight on
Look like Christmas came early for the Helton Family……Fight on!
In the end this was the smart move especially with the pressure building per the game upcoming this Saturday against Stanford. Pressure is now strictly towards the game and not wondering if the job is possible.
It also eliminates all the chaos in going through on finding a new coach esp. as Miles was retained by LSU and Richt does not seem to be in any rush to return immediately to coaching. Lastly Kelly is reportedly bound and determined to stay the course at PHIL.
Here’s to Helton taking down Stanford.
My question is…Did Jack B. know about this? He seems pretty wired in on all things SC. Just wondering if this comes as a surprise or not and what he thinks about it. Because as much as I can get into a back and forth with him at times, JB is the Ultimate Trojan from what I can see…and no…I don’t mean that sarcastically.
Character wise, best hire ever- the program needed someone running the program that people like. However, he has to demonstrate that he can hire a quality staff to replace the chuckle heads Sark had. They still can’t tackle consistently, and need to be able to make in game adjustments- something the current coordinators are incapable of doing.
I’m happy for Helton tho, as he is a class act- unlike the other 2 bozo’s
At a minimum they need to get a new nutrionist to get those overweight porcine OL ready to blow holes through the opponet’s DL for 4 quarters
Touche! I’ve been saying for years these guys look out of shape- they cant get out and pull etc.
If you look at David Shaw’s resume. He doesn’t have that much on Clay Helton before he got his chance and the same age too.
And what’s HE won?
Shaw never won anything
Man that is true! No BCS or current CFP entree to the national championship game – nada.
Thanks Haden: Welcome back TROLLS
Us so-called trolls can only say SC deserved the win and congrats! Nobody has an idea what kind of head coach Helton will turn out to be. He seems like a dedicated guy that the kids like to play for. Recruiting won’t miss a beat. Perhaps in a year or two, Sark may return as HIS OC. Or, Mora will hire Sark at UCLA for his OC. Stranger things have happened, Billy.
Agree, however, this should be one of the BEST jobs in America and Helton is all we can get? BTW, I like Helton AND he’s cute. But it’s like UCLA hiring a 2nd tier coach for BB
UCLA DID hire a 2nd tier coach for basketball.
I don’t know what to think of Clay Helton. It isn’t a Steve Lavin hire, because Helton has experience. The players like him and he will maintain SC’s recruiting, at least for this year if not beyond. I think it is the safe hire. SC was embarrassed these last few years off the field. This ends that.
For once I agree with Haden on his comments. I believe Helton ,after the Oregon debacle,and slow start at ucla took over the reins,and being stuck with this staff made changes on both sides of the ball…there was a drastic difference the rest of the game.Hope SC is back…game vs Stanford will be indicator…two real good teams having at it.
Lulz. I told you SC wasn’t spending $10M on a coach.
I like Clay as a coach, but I wonder if he can pull those big time swing recruits, like Adoree Jackson. Those guys on the fence that could go either way. Can he pull those guys like Sark and Kiffin?
Evidence so far indicates he can bring the big recruits in. The bigger question is how did Kiffin do it? He seems so aloof.
SC will get big recruits by virtue of simply being USC. The question is, can he swing those big names SITTING ON THE FENCE. Would he have been able to get Adoree? I don’t know… NSD will be very interesting this year.
Contact the athletic department to voice your discontent.
Heather Dunn (dunnh@usc.edu). Executive assistant to Haden. Apparently, she answers messages for him.
#firehaden
#firehaden
Helton hire not unlike the promotion of John McKay.
Please do not confuse the brain dead with the truth. Helton brought back USC Football to USC
We got embarrassed by an average Oregon team that struggled to beat a bottom feeder in Oregon State this past weekend.
Jack knows his Trojan history quite well and probably knows more about what happens in the athletic department than you realize.
The uncertainty of the length of Hadens tenure i am sure made it difficult for him to hire the right guy.