USC Football: Top 3 candidates to replace the fired Clay Helton

1. James Franklin

The most realistic big-time target for USC to go after is Penn State head coach James Franklin. I think Franklin is one of the most underappreciated coaches in the country and has done a great job at rebuilding the Penn State football program after its scandals earlier in the decade.

Some will wonder if Franklin would ever leave Penn State, but I think that USC is one of those jobs that is going to be hard to ignore.

Franklin is a great and competitive recruiter and that is one of the things that USC is going to need in order to return to the top of college football. Franklin has the personality to coach in Los Angeles and while it might sound silly, that kinda stuff matters at USC.

I don’t know if he would leave Penn State, but Franklin might look in his own conference at Ohio State and wonder if he is ever going to be able to get past the Buckeyes while in Happy Valley. If not, he should look at USC and really think about if he could ever get this opportunity again.