USC AD: No quick move on Helton
Southern California hired Mike Bohn as its new athletic director Thursday, and one of his first acts on the job will be to evaluate the struggling Trojans football program and embattled coach Clay Helton.
In his introductory news conference, Bohn said he hadn’t yet met Helton, whose team is 5-4 in his fourth full season in charge. Helton has a contract through 2023, but is thought to be on a hot seat after his Trojans finished last season with their first losing record since 2000, followed by their mediocre current campaign.
Bohn declined to say whether a coaching change was part of his mandate in getting the job. Many USC alumni have been clamoring for the school to make a run at three-time national champion coach Urban Meyer, who left Ohio State in January after beginning last season on administrative leave for his handling of spousal abuse allegations against assistant coach Zach Smith.
“We all understand the importance of football,” Bohn said. “... It would be premature to be talking about coaches or any situation when I’ve just arrived and in the process of learning.”
USC has spent the last decade failing to recapture its 2000s success under AD Mike Garrett and coach Pete Carroll. Former Carroll assistants Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian were both fired, while Helton has hung on much longer than almost anyone expected when the career assistant coach was promoted by Pat Haden to replace Sarkisian in 2015.
Helton has run a clean program and restored respectability to a school buffeted by NCAA sanctions and misbehavior under its previous coaches. He even won a Rose Bowl and a Pac-12 title during Jets quarterback Sam Darnold’s two seasons as starter, but Helton is 17-17 without Darnold in his lineup.
When asked what he expected from the football team’s final three games of the current regular season, Bohn said: “I mentioned Fight On, but it’s also Fight On to Victory. I’m not trying to add any more pressure to (Helton) or our studentathletes, but we always want to finish strong.”
Ohio St., Georgia set series: Georgia and Ohio State announced that they scheduled a home-and-home series for 2030 and 2031.
The Bulldogs will host the Buckeyes on Sept. 14, 2030, and Georgia will travel to Ohio State for the season opener on Aug. 30, 2031.
The two power programs have played only once, with the Bulldogs beating the Buckeyes 21-14 in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 1993.
Georgia also has home-andhome series with several Power Five foes, including Oklahoma (2023, ’31), UCLA (2025, ’26), Florida State (2027, ’28), Texas (2028, ’29) and Clemson (2029, ’30, ’32, ’33).
The Bulldogs will also play three Power Five opponents in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta: Virginia in 2020, Oregon in 2022 and Clemson in 2024.
The Buckeyes will play future home-and-home series against Oregon (2020, ’21), Notre Dame (2022, ’23), Washington (2024, ’25), Texas (2025, ’26) and Boston College (2026, ’27).