USC Football: 5 reasons why Trojans will stink in 2017
By Zach Bigalke
3. Clay Helton is a consummate interim coach
The biggest issue for USC could be the very thing they feared from another former interim coach that they didn’t give the full-time gig. The knock against Ed Orgeron after he took over for USC from Lane Kiffin midway through 2013 was that he could not sustain success season after season. The story went that was a high-energy guy who was able to get short-term gains from a team but not maintain that focus year after year.
Helton could very well be in that same boat. He served in an interim capacity on two different occasions. First, when Orgeron was passed over for the full-time job in favor of then-Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian in 2013, Helton coached USC’s Las Vegas Bowl win over Fresno State. Then, when Sarkisian was let go early in the 2015 season, Helton coached the Trojans through the last nine games of the year.
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Last season was Helton’s first operating in a full-time capacity. The Trojans got to 10 wins, but only after making some major adjustments in midstream. The jury is still out as to whether Helton can get a team to maintain focus for a full season. So far, he seems to forget he’s in charge during the first month of the season.