After a disappointing loss to the Stanford Cardinal this past weekend, USC Athletic Director Mike Bohn relieved Clay Helton from his duties as Head Coach of the USC Trojans.
This was not a hard decision because Helton was not getting the Trojans to play and compete at the level they needed to. The hard decision will be finding the head coach who can help bring USC back to its glory days. USC is a top-five job in college football, so Bohn should find the best candidate possible. He should have elite coaches tell him they will not take the job first before settling for a 5th or 6th choice.
The number one candidate Bohn should be looking at is Lincoln Riley. Riley is one of the best coaches in the country. Los Angeles is a glamorous city, and there are many things to do there, so it is not only that you have to win, but how you win matters.
Riley has done a great job recruiting in recent years, especially the quarterback position. He is arguably the best offensive mind in college football. USC is absolutely unacceptable, not getting Bryce Young, Matt Corrall, D.J. Uiagalelei, or C.J Stroud.
Also, they had J.T. Daniels, but after getting hurt and the emergence of Kedon Slovis, he transferred from USC to Georgia. If you hire a coach like Lincoln Riley, that will change really quickly; you have to have elite quarterback play to compete and win national championships in today’s era of college football. Riley has two big-time recruits out of California in his 2023 recruiting class.
Quarterback Malachi Nelson committed to the University of Oklahoma in July. The Trojans were his favorite team growing up. Hiring Riley would probably help get Nelson to play for the Trojans and his outstanding teammate Makai Lemon. Oklahoma will be moving to the SEC very soon, and they will not be as dominant as they have been in the Big 12, so Riley may not want to take on that challenge.
If Riley says no, which is possible because he has a perfect situation at the University of Oklahoma, The Trojans may shift their attention to Penn St Head Coach James Franklin. Franklin did a solid job with Vanderbilt and has built the Nittany Lions into a solid program. He has a tough team to try to beat every year in Ohio St., so he may consider leaving for a bigger program.
The bottom line is USC has plenty of options to find the right coach to get them back to national prominence.
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