Few opportunities in life allow a person to feel absolute, unbridled joy.
There’s Christmas morning when you’re a 9-year-old kid who is waiting anxiously to rip open a slew of presents sitting under the tree. That’s pure joy and anticipation. And then there’s the fan of a blue-blood organization who has faded out of the limelight over the years, waking up the morning after their head coach has finally been fired.
Wildly different circumstances, but similar feelings of ecstasy.
That’s how fans of the USC Trojans are likely feeling this morning, now free of head coach Clay Helton, who might have overstayed his welcome in Los Angeles by a couple of years. Following a brutal loss to the Stanford Cardinal, the Trojans finally cut ties with Helton, starting fresh and embarking on a head coaching search.
What is fun about this is the gravitas of it all. USC, one of the preeminent schools in college football, has to be considered as one of the most coveted coaching positions in all of football, not just the college level. Being as such, when we are searching for potential candidates, it’s easy to consider guys that would leave a good situation just to better their level of exposure. A head coach who is already successful at a B-level school might consider jumping to LA because finding success at USC could make him a legend.
Before we get too far, though, keep your hands off of Mario Cristobal. The Oregon Ducks head coach has found loads of success in Eugene, but he doesn’t seem like the type of guy who would shine under the bright lights of Hollywood. An opening at Alabama, where he used to coach under Nick Saban, would be much more concerning for Oregon fans than a vacancy at USC.
Without further ado, though, let’s get into it. Here are our 11 candidates to potentially take over at USC: