The collapse of USC football this season, made complete with a blowout loss to UCLA on Saturday, is leading USC fans to ask all sorts of questions — appropriate questions — about this coaching staff.
Was there a single assistant coach who performed well this season? If you asked USC fans, the one assistant coach who did a reasonably good job — though not great — is defensive line coach Shaun Nua. That is primarily because Bear Alexander really did live up to the billing. He played hard and well for the vast majority of the season. He was a defensive transfer who gave the Trojans real production instead of being a bust.
He was the exception, not the rule, as was Nua on this coaching staff.
Most position coaches struck out this year, as did the transfers the coaching staff brought to USC.
One coach who had a very bad year, magnified by this no-show against UCLA, was offensive line coach Josh Henson. His offensive line transfers did not show up. He didn’t maintain the high standards set by last year’s offensive line with Andrew Vorhees, Brett Neilon, and Bobby Haskins.
USC fans were right to skewer Henson during and after the Trojans’ brutal loss. This is another assistant coach whose job should not be safe. Let’s go into the details here: