USC football: Trojans fire Clay Helton after losing to Stanford

Alicia de Artola

USC head coach Clay Helton. (Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports)

USC football is moving on from Clay Helton. The Trojans announced on Monday afternoon the head coach has been fired after losing to Stanford.

The Clay Helton era with USC is over.

Athletic director Mike Bohn announced the firing of Helton on Monday afternoon following USC’s embarrassing home loss to Stanford.

USC football fired Clay Helton

Helton had been the head coach for the Trojans since 2015 when he was promoted from the interim role. He went on to win a Rose Bowl with the Trojans, but struggled in more recent years to elevate the program.

Cornerbacks coach Donte Williams was named the interim. He will take over duties immediately and coach the Trojans n Saturday against Washington State.

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Alicia de Artola

Alicia de Artola is an editor at FanSided.com, covering college football and basketball, NFL, MLB, NBA, English Premier League, Formula 1 and much more. She has more than a decade of experience in sports, and co-hosts Reign of Troy Radio, the popular USC football podcast. She’s covered games and practices, taken photos on the sidelines and interviewed Trojans legends as a USC beat writer from 2016 to 2019. Since 2020, she has taken a broader national focus, writing about every sport under the sun, including major events from the College Football Playoff and Super Bowl to the World Series and NBA Finals. A member of the Football Writers Association of America and Association for Women in Sports Media, de Artola joined FanSided in 2012 and has since been inducted into the FanSided Hall of Fame. She lives with her husband and border collie in Los Angeles.