It finally happened.

Almost six years after his unexpected appointment as head coach of USC, Clay Helton’s term in Los Angeles has ended. Sporting director Mike Bohn’s decision to cut the bait on Monday to just two games of the 2021 season is a recognition of what most people who watch Trojans have understood for years: Helton was never going to restore the USC as a cohesive national power.

It’s as obvious as it was on Monday as it was in 2018 when Helton coached the Trojans to their first losing season since 2000, but the reality is that the work has always been too big. Without the sacking of Steve Sarkisian at the start of the season in 2015, Helton would never have had the opportunity to lead a program of USC’s caliber. His coaching resume wouldn’t have allowed it.

At the time, however, Helton was the adult in the room, and that’s what USC needed to navigate the rest of this tumultuous year without further embarrassment off the field. As an interim coach he made sense and he did as well as he could, winning five of seven games before Pat Haden removed the interim tag and made him the permanent coach. Haden’s decision was baffling in the sense that he did not seriously attempt to fill the position with an external candidate, and it was only two months before his own resignation announcement.

It’s easy to say that Haden shouldn’t have been the hiring one, had it not been for the incompetence of her replacement, Lynn Swann.

To understand Helton’s tenure, it’s important to know how much he was appreciated by those around him. The list of people who disrespect his footballing sense is long, but as a person? It’s almost impossible to find someone who has interacted with him and has something bad to say.

Whether this should be factored into a coach’s job security is certainly debatable, but that – and a fortuitous moment – is the main reason it has lasted so long.

If Helton had never been successful, his good-natured character wouldn’t have really mattered, but he did. USC won the Rose Bowl in their first season as a permanent head coach and finished third in the AP poll. The Trojans won the Pac-12 the following year. This kind of early success would save any coach time, even if it masked unbalanced losses to Alabama (52-6), Stanford (27-10), Notre Dame (49-14) and Ohio. State (24-7) during those two years.

The third year in charge of Helton has been an absolute disaster. Going 5-7 at USC while the Pac-12 was in a collective recession was a dismissal offense, but Swann didn’t have the cruelty it would have taken to fire a trainer a year after winning the conference.

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Keyshawn Johnson explains why the loss of USC rookies to out-of-state programs was a big reason the program split from coach Clay Helton.

Swann felt compelled to issue a statement defending Helton’s retention and extended his contract two months later, saying Helton “has shown that he can lead our team with integrity and stability and that he has the ability. to win conference and national championships “.

The following September, Swann followed Haden out the door, and it wasn’t until November 2019, with one game to play in the regular season, that Bohn was hired. Again, Bohn would have been justified in making a change – it certainly would have been fun with the school’s proud fan base – but there was apprehension about rushing through a process that he needed to be successful.

Ultimately, Bohn wanted more time to assess what he was inheriting, so when it came to making a change he was better equipped to find the right coach.

Then came the pandemic. Nothing about the 2020 season, especially in the Pac-12 and Los Angeles, was close to par, so it makes little sense to place much value on what happened on the pitch. He wasn’t going to be fired after going 5-1 with that loss in the conference title game, which brings us here.

In sacking Helton after just two games, Bohn made a statement that USC fans have been waiting for a long time. Mediocre is not good enough. Blowout loss in the home will not be tolerated. As soon as Stanford’s lead was insurmountable, it ensured that Helton’s employment status would be the main talking point for the remainder of the season. Unless, of course, Helton is let go.

The timing helps on two fronts: First, it will make USC fans feel upbeat again. The Savior’s speculation can be fun. Second, it gives Bohn – who has undoubtedly had candidates in mind since his arrival – time to conduct the research in a methodical fashion.

Despite the relative lack of success since Pete Carroll left, USC remains a place where one should expect to win big. It ticks all the boxes that have always been necessary to compete for the national championships and now, with the introduction of name, image and likeness rules, it is even better positioned to attract the country’s top talent.

Let the speculation begin.