USC AD Mike Bohn discusses football standards when questions arise about Clay Helton’s future – Orange County Register

In the LOS ANGELES – Venn chart, USC sports director Mike Bohn, football coach Clay Helton and the Trojans agree, at least one sitting tightly in the middle.

The level of success of USC football is championship.

“Our expectations are what they have always been. We want to be in the Rose Bowl and be a part of that College Football Playoff, ”Bohn said Thursday after rehearsals and repeated Helton’s remarks at Pac-12 Media Day and that fans have been eager to remind the sports department in recent years. .

The question for the 2021 football season is whether Helton’s coach will lead USC back to this level of success. The question that will remain through the season is what will happen if he does not achieve these goals this year.

Helton’s fate has been a recurring debate around USC for years. When USC hired Bohn for the first time in the fall of 2019, his first major decision was to keep Helton, who had gone 5-7 the previous season and was in the middle of campaign 8-5.

Clearly, Bohn did not shoot Helton at the time, but promised to provide the coach with a new infrastructure to help the program grow and succeed. Mental and physical health resources, academic support, revitalization of the recruitment department, and branding of the program.

“I have two post-it notes on my desk about the first couple meetings we had with Clay and her staff, things we had to deal with,” USC Sports Director Brandon Sosna said as he spoke with Bohn to reporters on Tuesday. “I think we’ve selected almost all of those boxes.”

And as Bohn pointed out on Thursday, USC has begun to benefit from these investments.

The Trojans ranked in the top 25 last year, even though they lost in the Pac-12 championship match to Oregon. This year, USC will start the season in 15th place, which the Associated Press has added to the country’s recruitment class No. 7, titled Recruiting Nationally, defending head Korey Foreman.

“I didn’t even get to the progress we’ve made and the way this team has combined their synergies and affection,” Bohn said. – It is impressive and reflects our head coach.

In 2021, schedules will set in a way that will make USC succeed. The Trojans avoided Oregon and Washington in the regular season, they only have Saturday matches and a tip before the match against Notre Dame.

The failure to win the Pac-12 championship this season would be much harder to explain away than in recent years. And after this period, Helton would have only two years left on the contract and a more manageable purchase than when Bohn arrived two years ago.

This has led to speculation that Helton will have to win the conference championship in order to continue his job in 2022. But Bohn did not publicly put pressure on the coach and team on Thursday.

“I don’t think it’s accurate,” Bohn said when asked if this is Helton’s season. “Some of these national people just don’t understand some of the things that are happening here, and you just need to follow these young players and the way this recruiting class is producing for him and us. Encouraged.”

But still, questions about Helton and the future of USC football linger as the Trojans try to reach their historic heights.

“We are committed to winning. And I think the investments we have made and the things we said we will do have been implemented and we will continue to do so,” Bohn said. ”