USC fires football coach Helton

Southern California fired football coach Clay Helton on Monday, two games into his seventh season in charge.

Athletic director Mike Bohn made the move two days after an embarrassing 42-28 home loss to Stanford that dropped the Trojans (1-1, 0-1 Pac-12) out of the AP Top 25. Donte Williams, the Trojans’ cornerbacks coach and associate head coach, is taking over as head coach. Williams, a Los Angeles-area native and the first Black head coach in USC football history, joined the program in 2020 and has played a major role in the Trojans’ significant recruiting advancements over the past two cycles.

USC visits Washington State this weekend for its road opener.

Helton went 46-24 during his improbable tenure in charge of a longtime West Coast college football powerhouse with 11 national championships. The career assistant coach twice took over as USC’s interim head coach before permanently getting his first head coaching job late in the 2015 season.