Speaking of Helton (above), No. 2 on the list above, the USC job is one of the most coveted in college football and we will see whether he's over his head like his two predecessors. With no NFL team currently in the massive market, USC is the focus locally and nationally. Pete Carroll left this program in such great recruiting shape that I could probably recruit a Top 10 class for the Trojans. This is why it's puzzling to me that athletic director Pat Haden's coaching search appeared to be so limited and, flatly, incomplete. Now this isn't an indictment of Helton, the coach Haden chose, as I have no idea how successful he will be at USC. Helton led USC to a 5-3 record after Steve Sarkisian was dismissed, including a big win against Utah, and got the Trojans into the Pac-12 championship game. But what surprises and disappoints me is how quickly Haden chose Helton and that USC once again doesn't have a guy with previous head coaching experience at the helm beyond a few games. Hey, maybe the guy had the interview of his life and of course his current team likes him and he's familiar to recruits, but this is the USC job. This is a big deal. NFL coaches, big-name college coaches and even big retired NFL and big college name coaches would have great interest in the job. So why elevate the interim guy before December when Haden could have waited until after the college and NFL seasons truly concluded and even waited until January to get this hire right? Then, if Helton was still the guy, which would surprise me given the interest this job would drum up, then hire him at that point. USC doesn't have to rush to save this recruiting class with only 14 commitments and a ton would jump aboard with a big hire, so why did Haden rush this? First, he fired former USC assistant Lane Kiffin, who was over his head with the Raiders and Vols prior to being over his head at USC, and then he hired Sarkisian, another former assistant who turned into more of a disaster than Kiffin. So essentially the only thing Haden did this time to break this string of former assistants that has USC fans going crazy was hire a current assistant (and interim coach). It baffles me. With Sarkisian suing USC and this uninspiring search, Haden is on his way out and USC fans could be stuck in another rut unless Helton can break the chain
