Clay Helton made his return to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday, and the former USC coach did not get the warmest reception from the fans in attendance, who evidently do not have many fond memories of Helton’s tenure with the Trojans.
Now the coach at Georgia Southern, Helton took the field at the LA Coliseum for the first time since he was fired by USC in 2021 and was met by a loud chorus of boos from the USC faithful as he led his Eagles out of the tunnel before their game with the Trojans.
Earlier in the week, Helton was asked about making his return to Los Angeles. Helton said it would mean a lot to him because of the relationships he developed throughout his time on the Trojans’ staff.
“It’s gonna be special for me. There’s 12 years of relationships,” Helton said. “I have so much gratitude for having been a Trojan for a decade plus and the way the Trojan family was to me and my family and took care of us. Obviously, a lot of relationships when you’re at a place over a decade, people who I look forward to hugging their necks. Then, you have to go out there Saturday and go play a game.”
Helton arrived at USC in 2010 as Lane Kiffin’s quarterbacks coach and remained with the program in various roles, including parts of seven seasons as the full-time head coach, until 2021. After initially holding the interim tag, Helton was promoted to the full-time coach late in the 2015 season. The next year, he led the Trojans to a 10-3 record and a Rose Bowl victory. And then in 2017, USC won 11 games and a Pac-12 title and finished on the fringes of the four-team College Football Playoff.
From there, however, Helton’s tenure took a nosedive. From 2018-21, Helton went 16-14 and never won more than eight games in a single season. He was fired just two games into the 2021 campaign after losing to Stanford as a heavy favorite.
Helton was succeeded by Lincoln Riley, who has faced his own scrutiny during his time at USC after arriving from Oklahoma. Riley went 11-3 in his first season but a combined 15-11 over the last two. Helton, meanwhile, has a 2020 record at Georgia Southern. He led the Eagles to a bowl game in all three of his seasons and is coming off an 8-5 (6-2 Sun Belt) record last fall.
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