Eleven days after the Trojans' final game of the regular season and four days after their Pac-12 title hopes were dashed by Utah's win over Colorado, USC athletic director Mike Bohn has delivered a verdict on embattled football coach Clay Helton.
And not the one many fans were expecting when this week began.
Helton will remain as head coach, Bohn announced Wednesday via Twitter.
"This is very talented team coming back. We lose four starters. Clay Helton was the coach that built [that] and he's deserving of the opportunity to keep that group together," Bohn said in an interview after the announcement. "And stability is important for USC right now and it's important for these young men and it's important for our university. And I believe that stability is going to be something that allows us to boast of a bright future."
In his tweet, Bohn said he and Helton will work together "to take a hard look at all aspects of the football enterprise and will make the tough decisions necessary to compete at a championship level."
Bohn declined to discuss whether that would include staff changes with Helton's assistant coaches.
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"I appreciate the support from President [Carol] Folt and athletic director Mike Bohn. It is abundantly clear that we now have the support, resources and tools to build a championship team," Helton said in a statement released by USC. "We know the expectations of our fans are high, as they should be. Those are the same expectations I have for myself and that our staff and team have as well. ...
"I believe in our team and in our fan base. I know we will all come together to succeed. I am excited about the future of our team and our university."
USC, No. 22 in the College Football Playoff rankings, finished the regular season 8-4 overall and 7-2 in the Pac-12, ending up a game behind Utah in the South Division while winning five of its final six games and watching its offense blossom under first-year coordinator Graham Harrell and freshman quarterback Kedon Slovis.
But it wasn't so much the Trojans' record this fall that fueled speculation about Helton's status.
The 5-7 season last year was a breaking point for many of Helton's louder critics, and the aftereffects of that nadir continued to undermine the Trojans' recruiting efforts as they sit 70th in the Rivals team rankings after never finishing lower than 19th in the history of those rankings back to 2002.
With new decision-makers taking over in USC President Carol Folt and more recently Bohn, who officially started as AD on Nov. 11, many presumed the dominos of change would continue tumbling to a football program that had been far from a national contender the last couple years, was enduring the aforementioned struggles on the recruiting trail with only two 4-star prospects committed in this 2020 class and has seen more empty seats than normal for home games in the Coliseum.
Why it took Bohn and USC's decision-makers this long to make a decision to keep the coach they already had will be the subject of much speculation and conjecture. A slew of coaching changes had been made around the country before the Trojans decided to make an announcement they could have made more than a week ago if their intentions were to maintain the status quo.
“My support of Clay and this team really never wavered, but in fairness to all the fans, donors, former players, rich history we have here, our community, the media, I really believed it was important to have a thorough process," Bohn said. "We did that and I did that as much as I could in this short period of time. Again, it comes down to our student-athletes and you look at the development of what he has done and what Graham has done on offense this year, that’s impressive by any standard.”
Fans will wonder if Helton's return is in some part due to the result of failed discussions between USC and other possible candidates, if the finances just wouldn't work with the buyout he'd be owed on a contract that runs through the 2023 season or if Bohn, still new on the job, was truly this conflicted about his first big decision.
Bohn said he did not talk to any other coaching candidates before reaching this decision, and said any financial implications of Helton's remaining contract were "irrelevant -- was never a factor. Never."
Bohn has emphasized recruiting several times since being introduced, but speaking Wednesday in regard to USC ranking 11th out of 12 Pac-12 teams presently, he suggested "recruiting is going dramatically better than anybody wants to admit."
Bohn also reiterated his hope to create a "high intensity of interest" around the program, and the empty seats in the Coliseum the last two seasons have not reflected that standard. That's where he called on the fans, while acknowledging he understands there will be detractors to his decision.
"I am keenly aware of some dissatisfaction with our base and I respect that, but it is really going to be imperative and important for us to support our student-athletes and help us and pull that together," he said. "That may obviously take some time to do that, but that’s what we’re going to work hard on. "
Helton is 40-21 in his time as Trojans head coach, including four full seasons and two interim stints. He took over as USC's interim head coach in 2015 when the Trojans fired Steve Sarkisian. Helton finished that season 5-4 and had the interim tag removed from his title.
His greatest successes came immediately as he led USC to a 10-3 finish and Rose Bowl victory over Penn State in 2016 and then went 11-3 and won the Pac-12 his next year. Future first round NFL draft pick Sam Darnold was the quarterback for both of those seasons, and right or wrong many fans have given him a large share of the credit for Helton's early success.
That argument amplified when USC went 5-7 last fall without the star QB. Former athletic director Lynn Swann, who after the 2017 season gave Helton an extension through 2023, chose to retain him after last fall -- a decision highly unpopular with fans.
Helton hired or promoted five new assistant coaches, including offensive coordinator Graham Harrell (after initially hiring Kliff Kingsbury for the position before he bolted to the NFL), and a new strength and conditioning coach in Aaron Ausmus.
USC got off to a 3-3 start this fall, though, as starting QB JT Daniels sustained a season-ending injury in the first game and freshman backup Kedon Slovis missed most of two games with a concussion. Fan sentiment continued to slide when the Trojans lost 56-24 to Oregon earlier this month to drop to 5-4 and fall from atop the Pac-12 South standings.
Swann, Helton's biggest supporter, had been forced out in September, and Bohn was officially introduced as the new AD five days after that loss to Oregon.
Speculation about Helton's status and future had only continued to mount since then, even as the Trojans won their final three games and five of the last six overall.
Helton never lost the locker room, as evidenced by that finish and the 52-35 win over rival UCLA to close out the schedule, and the team will now await a bowl invitation next weekend.
"I believe Clay Helton probably did his best coaching job this year," Bohn said. "With the incredibly tough schedule. With the adversity associated with injuries. Clay Helton deserves to have the right to continue to lead this program. He’s got the full grasp of his team."
Helton's hires last offseason to shake up his coaching staff proved to be good moves as Harrell delivered a top-20 offense and helped develop Slovis into a budding star, while DBs coach Greg Burns helped a young secondary exceed expectations, RBs coach Mike Jinks had success while having to rotate through four running backs and DL coach Chad Kauha'aha'a helped develop standout freshman DE Drake Jackson.
But it was the moves Helton didn't make that frustrated fans, who had been clamoring for special teams coordinator John Baxter and defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast to be replaced as well. USC endured special teams struggles all season, ranking 129th out of 130 FBS teams in kickoff return coverage (giving up 28.2 yards per return), and the Trojans ranked 66th nationally in scoring defense (27.8 points per game) and 83rd in total defense (415.2 yards per game).
"We're not going to reveal any of those details now," Bohn said when asked about potential staff changes. "I think right now first and foremost it was about the team and our focus is going to remain on the team, but there is nothing off the table associated with what we're looking at to improve upon."
Helton, meanwhile, spent the spring and preseason pledging to address the "discipline of the game" and clean up the mental mistakes and penalties that hurt his team previously. But USC ranked 124th in penalties, racking up an average of 71.3 yards per game.
Helton was dealt some bad luck this season as injuries impacted almost every position group. Beyond cycling through three quarterbacks, the Trojans went through a stretch without their top three running backs, lost both of their starting defensive ends for stretches, a starting linebacker, their top safety, starting nickel and had all three of their top cornerbacks miss at least a game. It was a neverending string of injury setbacks.
But fans haven't been inclined to give Helton any slack. Many opposed his hiring by then-AD Pat Haden initially, feeling it was a move of convenience. They wanted USC to make a big-name splash hire, not continue to hire out of the same well that had proven unsuccessful with Lane Kiffin and Sarkisian.
They wanted change after last season and expected it after this one.
Instead, Helton will get at least one more shot to try to show he can build off the late-season momentum and take a team that returns most of its key cogs to greater heights next year.
"Our future is bright. We have a young team on the verge of doing something special," Helton said in his statement. "We have seen what this team can do, having the season we have had despite going through adversity and injuries. We are headed to a great bowl and we plan to finish the season strong. And we are putting the final touches on an outstanding recruiting class."
Without any long-term assurance, though, his status will continue to be an obstacle in recruiting for the Trojans -- at least until the results on the field show USC is back to being the USC of old.
It will probably take until then for the fans to fill those seats in the Coliseum again too.
