“We have a man with undisputed integrity”, Haden said. He is a fantastic person and he is real. “Clay is a terrific communicator”. He pointed out having six-year relationships with the program’s redshirt seniors, like Kessler, who played their last games at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum this past month. He earned this opportunity.
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“We have seen him handle incredible adversity from crippling NCAA sanctions, to coaching changes and uncertainties”, Haden said.
“We were all pushing for him to be the head coach”, receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said. Football is his family business.
Helton’s hiring leaves 14 FBS football openings for head coaches: Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri, Virginia, Miami, Syracuse, Maryland, Rutgers, Memphis, Tulane, Central Florida, North Texas, Toledo and Louisiana-Monroe. The former college benchwarmer opened his arms to anyone with enough devotion to put on a Trojans uniform.
“Clay was not hired because his team defeated UCLA Saturday”.
The move comes as a bit of a surprise, as the Trojans were expected to be able to make just about any hire they wanted. And Stanford, the leader of the Pac, ended Notre Dame’s playoff hopes with a game-winning field goal, and will head into the Pac-12 Championship Game will momentum.
Clay Helton has twice taken charge of the USC football program in moments of crisis and steadied the Trojans with calm leadership.
Helton, who previously served as the Trojans’ offensive coordinator, first came on as interim head coach on October 12 after the school fired Steve Sarkisian, who was let go after reports of his problems with alcohol became public. “I totally understand that I’m not a flashy name”.
Prior to the announcement, veteran linebacker Su’a Cravens told the LA Times, “We want Coach Helton, plain and simple … everybody on this team would give an arm and a leg for Coach Helton”. Oklahoma appears to be in good shape because it doesn’t have to play in a conference title game, and the victor of the Big Ten championship between Iowa and Michigan State would figure to be a lock. It’s part of offensive line coach Bob Connelly’s contingency plan with so many injuries at the center position. “We look forward to representing the Pac-12 South in Santa Clara this Saturday”.
Helton enjoyed strong support from the team since taking over for Sarkisian and compiling a 5-2 record.
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Finally, Sports Illustrated’s Lindsay Schnell says the Trojans got it right with this hire because Helton won’t bring an off-the-field spotlight the way the last two coaches did. He had been an assistant coach at USC since 2010. His father, Kim, was a longtime assistant coach in college and the National Football League, and was head coach at the University of Houston.
