USC football coach Clay Helton earned more than $4.5 million from USC and its related organizations for the fiscal year starting in July 2018, the Los Angeles Times' Ryan Kartje reported citing the university's federal tax return.
That was the first year of Helton's new extension through the 2023 season that was given to him by former athletic director Lynn Swann in February of that year.
USC does not disclose salary information as public universities are required to do, but according to the Times' report based off federal tax records Helton received a raise of more than 40 percent from the the $3.2 million he received during the 2017-18 fiscal year.
Meanwhile, men's basketball coach Andy Enfield saw his total pay increase from $2.8 million to more than $3.1 million over that same period.
Per the USA TODAY salary database for 2019, if Helton made the same money the following year he would have ranked just outside the top 20 among college head football coaches nationally.
Washington's Chris Petersen ($4.625 million), who has since retired, and Stanford's David Shaw ($4.613 million) would be the only Pac-12 coaches higher than Helton on that list.
Certainly, that contract extension hasn't gone as planned for USC with the Trojans going 5-7 in 2018 and then 8-5 last year while the recruiting class finished ranked 65th in the Rivals rankings, and the money owed to Helton left new athletic director Mike Bohn and university leadership with a complex decision after last season before it was ultimately announced that Helton would return in 2020.
USC has rejuvenated its recruiting after a significant overhaul of Helton's assistant coaching staff for the second year in a row, along with Bohn following through on his commitment to expand the size of the recruiting staff and add two more analyst positions to the coaching staff. The Trojans are No. 5 in the Rivals recruiting rankings presently, but Helton will still have to prove himself on the field if there is indeed a season in 2020, or else the hot seat talk will renew quickly.
