Helton has never been a head coach at any level. USC’s team meeting still erupted into raucous celebrations on Monday when Haden told the players about Helton’s promotion. The Trojans face the Stanford Cardinals this Saturday for a right to be Pac-12 Champions, and it will be interesting to see how the Trojans play under Helton in his first official game as permanent head coach.
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Saturday’s win over UCLA capped a 5-2 regular season for Helton, whose victories include wins over Utah and UCLA and a Pac-12 South divisional title. He is a coach on the rise and he will be coaching a team on the rise.
Helton is also an entrenched USC recruiter. The Trojans lost two of their first three Pac-12 games and coach Steve Sarkisian was sacked, leaving the program in disarray.
The 43-year-old Helton has been an assistant with USC since 2010, working under both Lane Kiffin and Sarkisian. Helton, who has been still serving as offensive coordinator during his time as interim, has said he won’t made any decisions about his future staff until the season has concluded.
With the coaching situation now settled, USC turns to the Pac-12 Championship this weekend where they will try to avenge their early loss to Stanford.
In two stints as interim, the six-year Trojans veteran assistant coach has won a bowl game, won all of his home games, beaten UCLA and has led the Trojans from chaos to within one victory of reaching the Rose Bowl.
USC has their man and his name is Clay Helton.
“You realize that this place was founded on a blue-collar toughness, a toughness that I hope to emulate with my time here, ” Helton said. Stars like defensive back Su’a Cravens and quarterback Cody Kessler to walk-ons like Robby Kolanz and Connor Spears openly campaigned for Helton to win the head coaching job. We have a man with unquestioned integrity. I totally understand the high bar of excellence and expectations that come with the job. “But to play them the same year, you guard against thinking the same thing that worked last time is going to work this time”. When Orgeron learned he would not be considered for the job, he resigned and left the team in Helton’s hands for the Las Vegas Bowl, which they won.
“We were all pushing for him to be the head coach”, receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said. His observations over the past several years echo the opinions of many teammates: In the wild world of elite college football, Helton is an island of stability. “I can’t control what’s written”, Kelly said.
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Largely thanks to McCaffrey, solid play from Kevin Hogan – an All-Conference selection – at quarterback and the typically impressive defense, Stanford is 8-1 in its last nine games with an outside shot, still, at the College Football Playoff.
