USC football: 5 things USC needs from Clay Helton’s successor

The USC football program cannot screw up hiring Clay Helton’s successor this offseason.

While Donte Williams serves as the interim head coach in the wake of Clay Helton’s firing, athletic director Mike Bohn knows he must identify several winning traits in Clay Helton’s long-term successor if he wants the USC football team to get back to prominence at some point this decade.

Though Helton had a few good years during his run at USC, his termination was a long time coming. Even if USC was marred in scandal and perpetual embarrassment when he took over, the Trojans have only been a middle-of-the-pack Pac-12 team in recent years. That excruciatingly painful loss at home to conference rival Stanford was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

If Bohn wants to help bring USC football back from the dead, the man he hires to replace Helton must possess these five winning traits.

USC football: 5 winning traits that must be present in Clay Helton’s successor

5. He must know how to build a staff that can help elevate the overall program

Even if Helton did not have much say in what his staff looked like in the final years, assembling a strong one will be paramount for his successor. This is a primary reason why USC should only consider guys with head-coaching experience for this job. No hot-shot coordinator will cut it here. This is all about allowing great coaches to coach around him, while he assumes the CEO-type role.

4. He must be an ace recruiter to keep the best talent in Southern California

While there already is a ton of top-flight talent on the Trojans roster, well, because it is USC, Helton’s successor needs to be an ace recruiter to help reclaim this sunken ship. This is all about putting a fence around Southern California and not letting national championship contenders like Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Oklahoma or Oregon from coming in and stealing its best players.

3. He must feel like Los Angeles, or at the very least, feel very West Coast

While people loved Helton as a man, he never felt L.A. Him being a southerner made him stick out like a sore thumb when it comes to recruiting on the West Coast. Though his successor does not need to be a Californian or an Angeleno, he has to give off the vibes of a West Coast ball coach. Think of the college version of Sean McVay in terms of overall swagger.

2. He must be keen on player development

This was the most damning part of Helton’s failure at USC. His players did not get better. Those that did were self-starters and intrinsically motivated. Even if his successor is a relationship, CEO guy, he has to be about the work, first and foremost. Helton’s successor has to turn three-stars into All-Americans, four-stars into first-round picks and five-stars into generational superstars.

1. He must strike fear in the rest of the Pac-12

When Bohn goes through the hiring process of Helton’s long-term successor, this is the only box that has to be checked. It is more important than anything else. Does the rest of the Pac-12 fear this hire? If the answer to that is yes, and it makes the likes of Oregon, Washington, Utah and Arizona State tremble, then USC got the right guy for the job. They must get back to being feared.

The good news is USC has plenty of time to make sure it hires the perfect head coach this time.

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