USC interim head coach Donte Williams revealed during his segment on the Trojans Live radio show on Monday night that his father Antone died last Monday after having been ill for a long time.

He brought it up while being asked about what the Utah team -- the Trojans' opponent this week -- is dealing with following the death of one of its players, Aaron Lowe, two weekends ago.

"I know what death in general can do to anyone. Shoot, I hate to speak on it like this, but last Monday I lost my dad so I know what it feels like to have that kind of tragedy and still have to almost push through because the world doesn't stop right away just because you're dealing with something," he said. "Everyone's dealing with a different thing internally and it sucks because you can't just stop and put everything on pause. You have to find a way to still fight and push through."

In meeting with reporters after practice on Tuesday, Williams brought up the loss of his father again before being asked about it.

"That happened last Monday. I'm just fortunate that Brandon [Sosna], Mike [Bohn], Clay [Helton] gave me the opportunity to come back home and be with him the last couple years of his life. I'm really fortunate for the opportunity, but that happened last Monday," Williams said. "So you saw right now with the right people around from this team, this organization to my family, I was able to still push through it and you saw the result on Saturday."

While dealing with that personal tragedy, Williams got the Trojans ready for their road game at Colorado, which ended up as a dominant 37-14 USC win.

He was asked further about how he's managed through the personal toll of his father's illness and death while taking on significantly more responsibility as the Trojans' interim head coach these last few weeks.

"To be honest, without the people here. It would be hard for me to do. I have great people around me. I always talk about Brandon and Mike, but Woody (assistant AD for football/director of operations Joseph Wood) and Cheryl (Taplin, executive assistant to the head coach), the coaches, so many people are involved here and it's a good thing," he said.

"Without Brandon, Mike and Clay [giving me] the opportunity to come back home, I wouldn't have had it. So I'm fortunate about the opportunity, but right now it's not even about me -- it's about this team and what we do every day to get prepared for Utah on Saturday."

Williams' mother, Maxine Wimberly Williams, had shared with TrojanSports.com a couple weeks ago, before her son's first home game as head coach in the Coliseum, how tough the situation had been on him.

"They've been calling us every night to go in saying he's going to pass. I think when Donte went in there, there's something about Donte, when he sees Donte, it kind of perks him up and stuff," she said then. "It's hard on Donte right now. He hates to see his dad like that because Antone was a big [strong man] and just took Donte everywhere with him. So it hurts him a lot."