In 1960, USC football was searching for a return to a winning tradition. The Trojans were in transition, having endured three rough seasons under head coach Don Clark (although the 1959 significantly improved from the 1957 and 1958 teams). USC really hadn’t been an elite program since the mid-1940s, when it made four Rose Bowls in five seasons under then-coach Jeff Cravath.
USC needed someone to restore the magic.
It didn’t happen all at once in 1960, and it didn’t happen against Woody Hayes and Ohio State. USC got shut out on the road, 20-0, in October of 1960. The Trojans went 4-6 that season while Ohio State finished 7-2.
However, 1960 gave USC — and college football — a coach who would change everything in the course of time.
John McKay, a former Oregon assistant, made his way to Los Angeles to begin what would become a historic 16-year run as USC head coach. He took his lumps in 1960 and 1961, including in this first meeting with Woody Hayes at Ohio State. He learned from those lumps. USC went unbeaten in 1962 and won the national championship. Before McKay was done, he would win four national titles at USC and then hand off the program — in great shape — to another former Oregon assistant, John Robinson, who kept the winning tradition going for several more years.
In our all-time USC series published last year, we named McKay the greatest coach in USC football history. Better than Pete Carroll. Better than John Robinson. He has to be.
It all started in 1960.
1960 pic.twitter.com/xYVJLg2UMU
— Something different (@RealHowardBeale) June 10, 2023
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