(Photo by Neon Tommy)
Success in the NFL revolves around having a star quarterback. Without one, contending for a championship on a year-to-year basis is nearly impossible. College football, however, is a bit different. At the collegiate level, a school must have an elite coach in order to consistently attract top recruits, develop and capitalize on their potential, and maintain stability throughout their program.
There are a handful of coaches that I consider “elite” within the college ranks right now. Among them are Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Jim Harbaugh, Dabo Swinney, and Jimbo Fisher. (I expect Tom Herman and Kirby Smart to join that list shortly). Each program that is led by an aforementioned coach enjoys the benefits that I listed earlier: top recruits, strong player development, and overall stability. These three things are the main ingredients to winning.
USC––a storied program with a long history of national championships, Heisman Trophy winners, and 1st-round draft picks––has a massive dilemma. Its coach, Clay Helton, has compiled a 21-6 record along with a Pac-12 championship, Rose Bowl win, and a Cotton Bowl appearance over his first two full seasons as the Trojans’ head man. After six seasons of turmoil and disappointing results after Pete Carroll left, USC has returned to relevance under his guidance. Yet, over the course of the last two years, he has shown that he is incapable of leading USC back to the top of the College Football world.
How could I, a die-hard USC fan, not have confidence in Helton after his success in both 2016 and 2017? Helton has been able to bring great recruiting classes to USC while providing much needed stability. In the six years before he took over, the Trojans had three head coaches; Lane Kiffin was infamously fired at LAX immediately after a road loss to Arizona State, and Steve Sarkisian made a speech at a donor event while noticeably intoxicated.
However, Helton, and his staff, have lacked in the area of player development. Take Sam Darnold, for example. Darnold had a brilliant RS Freshman campaign in 2016 and was a Heisman favorite coming into 2017. Darnold’s performance regressed, and the Trojans delivered a so-so year after being pegged for a Playoff spot. Sure, USC lost some offensive linemen and receivers to the NFL, but I’m sorry––when you have a player as young and talented as Sam Darnold play worse in their second year as a starter, a lot of the blame should fall on the coaching staff. There is no excuse for failing to capitalize on the abilities of a player like that.
But it’s not only about Darnold. The Trojans have been stacked with 5-star talent for the past couple of seasons; talent that rivals that of Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan and Clemson. Despite Helton’s 21-6 mark, it feels as if USC has underachieved.
Here’s the problem: if USC wants to return to being the perennial power they were in the early 2000s, they must hire an elite coach so that they can effectively develop the talented recruits that they bring in to the program. But, with Helton’s success in his first two seasons, they can’t fire him.
As long as Clay Helton is at the helm for the Trojans, their ceiling as a program will be much lower than it should be.
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