USC Fires Head Football Coach Clay Helton
Sep 13, 2021, 3:37 PM | Updated: 3:40 pm
Head coach Clay Helton of the USC Trojans looks on during the second half of the San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl against the Iowa Hawkeyes at SDCCU Stadium on December 27, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
(Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – USC’s athletic director Mike Bohn fired head football coach Clay Helton during his seventh season.
“This afternoon I informed Clay Helton of my decision to make a change in the leadership of our football program. Clay is one of the finest human beings I have met in this industry, and he has been a tremendous role model and mentor to our young men,” began a statement tweeted by Bohn.
We are making a change in the leadership of our football program. #FightOn pic.twitter.com/xChL8xi0oG
— Mike Bohn (@USC_mikebohn) September 13, 2021
The Trojans lost to Stanford, 42-28, on Saturday. They won their season opener against San Jose State with a score of 30-7.
Last season the USC football team went 5-1 during their shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We appreciate his many years of service to our university and wish him nothing but the very best,” the statement read.
Donte Williams was named the interim head coach while the head coach search is underway.
Helton went 46-24 during his improbable tenure in charge of the longtime West Coast college football powerhouse. Helton twice took over as USC’s interim head coach before getting the job on a permanent basis late in the 2015 season.
Helton’s Trojans won one Pac-12 title and one Rose Bowl, but otherwise struggled to live up to the sky-high expectations at USC. He was 19-14 since the 2017 season.
