Clay Helton out @ USC

L

Luftgekuehlt67

Well-Known Member
www.latimes.com

USC fires football coach Clay Helton, puts faith in Donte Williams to salvage season

USC has fired embattled coach Clay Helton, who had long been a source of fan discontent, in the wake of the team's 42-28 loss to Stanford on Saturday.
www.latimes.com www.latimes.com

The early season firings always crack me up a little. If the guy was on so short of a hook that one bad loss could get him canned, why wasn't he already fired?

I guess it lets them get a jump on the search for the next contestant on the USC Head Football Coach Roulette Wheel of Pain.
 
AD said he's only interested in winning championships. Will be tough getting the next Urban Meyer there or Campbell type.
 
One day after the "Urban Meyer will leave Jax for USC with 3 games remaining in the season" Twitter takes!
 
It's kind of fascinating because, on paper, USC has to be among probably the top 5 most "turn key" programs in the country, right? But one guy after another just makes a total hash out of it.
 
Luftgekuehlt67 said:
It's kind of fascinating because, on paper, USC has to be among probably the top 5 most "turn key" programs in the country, right? But one guy after another just makes a total hash out of it.
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Yes. Like Texas. And Michigan. And Florida State. Just to name a few. So many blue blood losing teams! And they all think that they're team should be the next Alabama.....
 
Luftgekuehlt67 said:
It's kind of fascinating because, on paper, USC has to be among probably the top 5 most "turn key" programs in the country, right? But one guy after another just makes a total hash out of it.
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Do you remember about 8 or so years ago when USC fired Kiffin or maybe he resigned and Ed Ogeron took over as interim head coach????

Ogeron did well, 6-2, turned the team around, thought he should get the head job as he was a long time very good college coach, but he didnt.

So Ogeron goes off to LSU and wins a Natty Champ. USC is their own worst enemy by trying to hire the most recent TOP NOTCH hot young coach like kiffin, Sarkesian, Helton. USC should be playing power fast football with powerful lines etc etc.
 
Watching Iowa bitchslap USC had to be one of the better moments of the Ferentz era. I was lucky enough to be in the stadium when we beat 'Sconny in 2004 and when we utterly skullfucked OSU by a final score of 55-24 and those are the two high water marks, but seeing the reversal of fortune between the two programs over the course of 15-ish years was really remarkable. Those assholes would give their left nut to trade places with Iowa right now.
 
SmokeTownHawk said:
So what did Pete Carroll do @ USC to make them into world beaters?
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He had the best bag man money could buy and he had a good eye for talent and needs.

The latter part is what so many of these assclown coaches are missing. They get all enamored in the ratings and don't realize they have to build a team. Not just today, but over the next few years. USC, Texas, Michigan, these teams are almost uniformly high in the rankings, but then when you watch them something isn't right. Maybe none of the QBs panned out. Or they have no interior o-linemen and their offense sucks ass. Or maybe their linebackers all blow.

Nick is about the only guy who can consistently separate the wheat from the chaff on the recruiting trail. The guy has an unbelievable eye for talent. He somehow landed TJ Duckett and Plaxico Burress in East Lansing and utilized them to beat OSU, Michigan, Notre Dame and PSU in the same year back when they were all freaking giants.
 
okeefe4prez said:
He had the best bag man money could buy and he had a good eye for talent and needs.

The latter part is what so many of these assclown coaches are missing. They get all enamored in the ratings and don't realize they have to build a team. Not just today, but over the next few years. USC, Texas, Michigan, these teams are almost uniformly high in the rankings, but then when you watch them something isn't right. Maybe none of the QBs panned out. Or they have no interior o-linemen and their offense sucks ass. Or maybe their linebackers all blow.

Nick is about the only guy who can consistently separate the wheat from the chaff on the recruiting trail. The guy has an unbelievable eye for talent. He somehow landed TJ Duckett and Plaxico Burress in East Lansing and utilized them to beat OSU, Michigan, Notre Dame and PSU in the same year back when they were all freaking giants.
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That is so spot on. It's not about stockpiling 5 star guys for the sake of saying you signed a bunch of 5 star guys, it's about landing the right 5 star guys. The ones that fit your play style and culture. I absolutely love the "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard" ethos at Iowa, but it's worth reminding yourself occasionally there are a hell of a lot of talented AND hard working players out there. Not all 5 stars are pampered pussies. Saban finds and signs loads of them. Your Heltons are probably a lot less discriminating.
 
Iowa is guilty of the same sin.....I.e. Tom Davis.

We weren't winning enough.
We weren't winning by enough.
We weren't elite enough.
We can do better.
We deserve to be better.
We will raise the bar!

Sound familiar?
 
I agree that this was an over reaction to 1 loss but, unlike our neighbor to the west, USC can get away with chewing through football coaches when they are not winning. No excuse for USC to not be among the top football programs in the country year in and year out. It does seem really strange that they were so quick to pull the trigger after 1 loss, like another poster said they should have done this earlier.
 
The guy hung on 2 or 3 years longer then some thought he would... What makes USC idiots is why now? I mean if 2 games was all you were going to give him then you had little faith they were going to do much this year to begin with. So they shoulda cut that cord at some point shortly after last season so you could give new guy a half a chance. Now they've just totally thrown this season away.

Plus in season shopping for coaches gets messy. They aren't going to go after some hot shot OC somewhere they'll be trying to pry away a Franklin or Campbell. Someone who already has a good job with options. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Because unless they already know what they are doing with a wink wink kinda deal with someone then this will be quite the deal.
 
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