Pat Haden listened to his players on this one.
According to the Official USC football twitter page, Clay Helton just had the interim tag removed, and he’s the new head football coach of the Trojans.
OFFICIAL: Clay Helton named permanent USC head coach by athletic director Pat Haden. #FightOn
— USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) November 30, 2015
USC players spoke out resoundingly about Helton per the L.A. Times.
“We want Coach Helton, plain and simple, we don’t need to meet with Pat Haden, he knows we want Coach Helton, the way he’s got this team back together … everybody on this team would give an arm and a leg for Coach Helton,” he said. “Now we take it personally, Helton’s job being on the line is making us fight even harder.”
If you’re still not convinced, go back in time to former Trojans great running back LenDale White, who was hanging around after Saturday’s game to offer a bit of perspective.
“We beat UCLA for the chips, he put us back in a situation to win a championship, what’s holding them back?” White said. “Sometimes you’ve got to go with something different. He’s not a Pete Carroll era guy, Sark [Steve Sarkisian] and Ed [Orgeron] and Lane [Kiffin] were too much about emulating Pete Carroll. I like that he’s his own guy, doing it his own way.”