The announcement was made earlier today.
OFFICIAL: Clay Helton named permanent USC head coach by athletic director Pat Haden. #FightOn
— USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) November 30, 2015
The players are ecstatic!
Helton is undefeated against Cal, joining the USC staff in 2010 as a quarterbacks coach under Lane Kiffin. He upgraded to passing game coordinator in 2012, then became offensive coordinator in 2013 and has stayed in that capacity until early 2015, surviving a few coaching changes. As the interim coach in 2015, he managed the Cal game reasonably well, pulling out a solid 27-21 victory.
Helton finished the season 5-2 as the interim head coach but also went 4-0 against the Pac-12 South (including convincing wins over Utah and rival UCLA) and will lead USC into the Pac-12 Championship game against Stanford this week. It's interesting the interim hire was taken off before the Pac-12 Championship game, but I guess USC didn't want to go looking.
USC fans at Conquest Chronicles don't appear to be too pleased.
What are your thoughts on this hire?