Ask Farrell: If Helton is on his way out, who takes over?
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The story on Yahoo Sports this week asked a simple question: If it’s all but over for Clay Helton at USC, who’s next?
The answer might not be so straightforward.
Pat Forde named some possibilities for USC’s next coach if Helton is fired sometime during or after this season. There are a lot of the same coaches who have been mentioned before and some new ones to watch in the coming weeks.
Urban Meyer was the first name. Of course it was. That’s the hottest name around the job although there is not one substantiated report that Meyer is seriously considering coming back to coaching.
Bob Stoops is on the list. The new coach of the XFL franchise in Dallas, Stoops won a national title at Oklahoma and went 190-48 from 1999-2016 with the Sooners.
Penn State’s James Franklin has his team steaming into a big matchup against Michigan this weekend and the Nittany Lions are undefeated and ranked seventh nationally. A Pennsylvania native, could he have maxed out what can be done in an incredibly difficult division in which USC is not nearly as tough?
Others included on Forde’s list: Oregon’s Mario Cristobal, Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, Washington’s Chris Petersen, Baylor’s Matt Rhule, Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck, former NFL coach Jack Del Rio and Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly.
FARRELL'S TAKE
We ask Rivals National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell if he believes Helton is definitely finished at USC soon and whether he thinks any names on this list could possibly be the Trojans’ next coach, or who he thinks would be a good fit to turn this once-proud program around?
"I think Helton is gone. So if that's the case, who is the big hire that USC needs?
"Many of the coaches named are great at what they do, such as Rhule and Fleck, but they aren't big-splash hires. And I'm one of the few that thinks Meyer won't return to coaching, but that still leaves some interesting names. I don't think Stoops will return either, so that leaves names like Franklin, Petersen, Cristobal, Del Rio, Kelly and others.
"The best choice? To me, it's Cristobal, who is doing a great job recruiting and building back the Oregon program. Why? Because he would absolutely crush it in recruiting and I think USC is a step up for him, as opposed to Franklin at Penn State and Kelly at Notre Dame. Petersen would be another interesting one as well, but I don't think he'd be as dynamic recruiting as Cristobal. USC recruits itself though, right? Not these days, with everyone raiding California, so that's why Cristobal's recruiting ability would be huge there."