By Jordan Long
The University of Southern California (USC) started the football season 1-1. On September 4th, they beat San Jose State 30-7. This past Saturday, USC fell to Stanford in their 1st PAC 12 conference game 42-28. USC decided after that effort it was time to part ways with Head Coach Clay Helton.
Helton had been the USC Head Coach since 2013. USC has played pretty good football under Helton. His overall record is 46-24, a winning percentage of .657. USC managed to earn 5 bowl game appearances. Their record in those games was 2-3.
This year USC was supposed to compete for a PAC 12 championship. They were ranked #15 in the AP Poll to start the season. Helton wanted to prove he could coach them there. Unfortunately, he won’t get that chance. USC, for whatever reason, thought it was time to let him go 2 games into the year.
According to SI.com, Athletic Director Mike Bohn said, “During the past two off-seasons we provided every resource necessary for our football program to compete for championships. The added resources carried significantly increased expectations for our team’s performance, and it is already evident that, despite the enhancements, those expectations would not be met without a change in leadership.”
This move doesn’t make sense right now. 1-1 record isn’t the end of the world. Helton should have had the opportunity to lead this team for at least a few more games. It seems like a panic move. If they were going to fire him, the best time to do it was when Helton coached this team to a 5-7 record in 2018, his worst year at USC. The Interim Head Coach is Donte Williams who is the cornerbacks’ coach.
There are now rumors about who could be the next Head Coach. Those names include Urban Meyer, P.J. Fleck, James Franklin, Luke Fickell, and Matt Campbell. Urban Meyer should be out of the conversation. He had success in the college football game going 187-32, a winning percentage of .854. Meyer coached Bowling Green, University of Utah, University of Florida, and Ohio State University. His teams ended up in 12 bowl games, 2 BCS Championships, and 1 College Football Playoff championship. Meyer won 3 National Championships, 2 with Florida and 1 with Ohio State.
Meyer is a long shot. He is now the Head Coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is learning how to coach in the NFL. For most coaches that is a dream job. It would be difficult to imagine even if he has a poor year this season for Jacksonville, he would go back to the college game. On the other hand, the college game is where he is successful so it might be worth a call.
P.J. Fleck is currently the Head Coach of the University of Minnesota. He has 9 years of college coaching experience for Western Michigan and the University of Minnesota. Fleck is 57-42, including the two games Minnesota has played this year, a winning percentage of .576. He has coached in 5 bowl games and his record is 3-2. Fleck makes little sense. He is coaching in the Big 10 and the PAC 12 isn’t a step up. He has built a pretty good program in Minnesota and it’s hard to imagine he would leave that for USC.
James Franklin is the Head Coach of Penn State. He has been there 8 years and Penn State has a 62-28 record with 6 bowl appearances. The only way he would bolt for USC is if Penn State decides to fire him, but he has been successful.
Luke Fickell and Matt Campbell are candidates who make sense. Fickell is the Head Coach of Cincinnati. Cincinnati isn’t in as big of a conference as USC. They play in the American Athletic Conference. Their conference affiliation won’t give Fickell a chance to play in the College Football Playoff. He may think about the opportunity if USC gives him a call. Fickell could coach USC to that. His overall record in Cincinnati is 37-14. Cincinnati went to 3 bowl games with a record of 2-1 in them
Matt Campbell is another name to look for. He coaches Iowa State University. Campbell is 36-29 there, a winning percentage of .554 with 4 bowl game appearances. They are 2-2 in those games. Campbell is coaching in a major conference, the Big 12, but it doesn’t get the same respect as the PAC 12. Campbell might want a new challenge. Then again, he has been winning at Iowa State so it would be hard for him to want to leave.
USC will finish out this season. Once the year is over, they will start a coaching search. It could be depending on how well Donte Williams does as the Interim Head Coach he might coach himself into the job. Whoever the next Head Coach of USC is, hopefully they will have success and perhaps a College Football Playoff appearance or two.
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