HELTON IS AT RISK AS OUR HEAD COACH
Looking back earlier in the season, the Trojans were rank #7 in the Pac 12 with Clay Helton returning in his third year as head coach. Helton came back with an overall track record of 27 wins & 10 losses, and last year ending the season with an 11-3 record in the Pac 12 and 8-1 in the South Conference Division (Murschel, 2018 & ESPN, 2018). However, throughout this season the Trojans began to struggle with the inconsistencies of its offense, defense, player injuries, e.g., Lineback – Cameron Smith; Cornerback – Greg Johnson; and Quarterbacks J.T. Daniels & Matt Fink, along with Neil Calloway, the offensive line coach, getting fired (De Artola,2018 & Murschel, 2018). And now, Helton is at risk of losing his job. After a defeated lost to UCLA (27-34) last week, the Trojans are currently 5-6 in the overall Pac 12 and 4-5 in the South Conference Division with one game left against the undefeated (11-0) rival of Notre Dame – Fighting Irish (Murschel, 2018; Hellman, 2018; ESPN, 2018 & Conway, 2018).
If the Trojan’s lose to Norte Dame, what’s next? Are the Trojans ready to make a move to replacing Clay Helton?
The answers are questionable as rumors circle that possible two former National Football League (NFL) coaches are in the running to replacing Helton. First is Jack Del Rio, a former USC & All-American football player in 1984 and head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2003-2011 and for the Oakland Raiders from 2015-2017 (Goodrich, 2018 & Conway, 2018). Del Rio had an overall track record of 93 wins & 94 losses with two playoff appearances throughout his NFL career. Next is Jeff Fisher another former USC football player, who played for the Chicago Bears, and landed his first coaching job for the Houston Oilers which promoted him as the head coach for the Tennessee Titans for 17 years. Fisher got fired in 2011 and later became the head coach for the St. Louis Rams from 2012 -2016 (Goodrich, 2018; Conway, 2018 & Hellman, 2018). Though, unlike Del Rio, Fisher’s overall track record as head coach had the most losses in NFL history with a total of 165 but had 173 wins throughout his career. Both men are potential candidates for replacing Helton; however, according to Conway 2018, he doesn’t think neither Del Rio or Fisher have the mindset to coaching college football because both men lack success in the NFL (Conway, 2018).
What are your thoughts? Do you think the Trojans are ready to replacing Helton?
References
Conway, T. (2018, November 21). USC Football. Bleacher Report. Retrieved from https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2807166-usc-head-coach-rumors-jeff-fisher-jack-del-rio-linked-to-potential-opening
De Artola, A. (2018, October 17). USC football injury report: Cameron Smith, Palaie Gaoteote “close” (10/17). Reign of Troy. Retrieved from https://reignoftroy.com/2018/10/17/usc-football-injury-report-10-17-cameron-smith-palaie-gaoteote/
ESPN. (2018). USC Trojans. Retrieved from http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/30/usc-trojans
Goodrich, T. (2018). Should USC football hire Jack Del Rio or Jeff Fisher to replace Clay Helton? Reign of Troy. Retrieved from https://reignoftroy.com/2018/11/23/usc-football-jack-del-rio-jeff-fisher-replace-helton/
Hellman, S. (2018, November 21). Two long-time NFL coaches floated as USC candidates. 247 Sports. https://247sports.com/Article/USC-football-coach-Jeff-Fisher-Jack-Del-Rio-125087962/
Murschel, M. (2018, August 20). USC is No. 7 in 2018 preseason college football rankings. Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved from: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/college-football-rankings/os-sp-college-football-rankings-usc-0820-story.html