Is USC football still an attractive destination for top-tier coaches?

Not even a decade ago, USC football was one of the hottest stomping grounds for elite-level coaches. Now? Not so much.

Texas Tech parted ways with brilliant offensive mind, but average head coach, Kliff Kingsbury following the 2018 season after another missed bowl and he instantly became the hottest offensive coordinator name on the market.

Clay Helton, coming off a disappointing season of his own at USC, knew he had to act fast after he witnessed his team fall drastically short of expectations, finishing just 5-7. Helton reached out to Kingsbury to be his next offensive coordinator at Southern Cal and the former Red Raider head man agreed on Dec. 5.

Just one month later, Kingsbury, who agreed not to take any interviews with NFL teams, accepted a job to become the Arizona Cardinals’ next head coach, bolting from Southern Cal before ever calling a play. It was a short stint and raised some concerns for Trojan fans.

Although USC is one of the biggest names in college football, is it still an attractive destination for top-tier coaches?

This is a tough question to answer because Kingsbury did agree to the USC job and it’s hard to say ‘no’ to the NFL — especially when it’s a head coaching position. However, many USC fans are looking forward to the post-Helton era when the Trojan administration hires someone with experience in winning.

Helton had never been a head coach before USC, taking over as an interim following the leave of absence and eventual firing of Steve Sarkisian. That’s a big step for a first head coaching stop and USC fans are left wondering if the athletic department settled.

In four seasons, Helton is just 32-17 with a 24-10 record in the Pac-12 and two bowl wins, if you count his interim Las Vegas Bowl victory back in 2013. He hasn’t gotten the Trojans to live up to the enormous hype in any season outside of 2017 when they went 11-3 with a loss in the Cotton Bowl thanks to Sam Darnold.

So is USC a ghost town when it comes to attracting big names? I’d say the answer is no, but the athletic department wanted to remain in-house for the post-Sarkisian hire and stuck with his offensive coordinator. If the program were to move on from Helton after next season, there’s no doubt they could lure a big name — maybe an Urban Meyer or Bob Stoops-level coach.

USC may seem like a program trending in the wrong direction, but all the Trojans need is the right guy. Interest from top-level coaches will always be there, especially with USC being Forbes‘ 18th-most valuable college football program.