Yesterday SC played like you would expect a team to play in the opening game of the season, not in the arch rival game near the end. I won't go into the litany of mistakes (mostly mental), though if you are curious you only need to pull up the LA Times this morning. There is no way that Helton will last more than a day or two after the Notre Dame game, regardless of the result.
That said, what is next? And why do we care?
Ask yourself if the PAC needs a strong USC program to help get us into the Natty conversation. If you are a Chip believer, maybe we don't...maybe Chip will dominate SC for the next decade and UCLA will be the SoCal program of record. That is hard to believe, but certainly not impossible.
Regardless of what we want or think, SC will try to find the right coach yet again. The political winds are leaning heavily to picking from outside the program, as was done with Carroll. I will personally be surprised if they pick another coach "in the family" this time around, though stranger things have happened.
I'm expecting either a mid-major HC who has gotten it done despite structural adversity (there are a half dozen pretty good candidates to pick from), or P5 coach of a traditionally down program who has made their school respectable (maybe not Northwestern, Kentucky or Pitt, but those are example schools this year). One key thing: this is Los Angeles. A coach who does not enjoy media interaction is not going to be chosen. At SC the football coach is literally the face of the school. Carroll filled multiple roles in that regard, and there is a strong appetite to find another Carroll.
The last couple of times around the block the coaching search was conducted by amateurs. Swann is an amateur in this regard, as well. Will he reach outside his department for help? Or will he try to do it on his own? Personally, I think that is the biggest question. If he does it on his own, I would give the selected coach only a 60-70% chance of being in the job after 4 seasons.
And tomorrow morning, all of greater Los Angeles will see Bruin fans rubbing it in after years of futility. The SC folks won't like it. Pressure is building on Swann, and it will quickly reach explosive level. If Notre Dame blows them out, there will be people with pitchforks storming the AD's office. Swann officially started looking when he gave Helton his 100% vote of confidence a few weeks ago...in Trojan speak, that means that the coach is mostly out the door. We'll see if Swann unveils the new hire within a week of announcing Helton's firing. If so, there is a good chance that it will not end well. We'll see....
That said, what is next? And why do we care?
Ask yourself if the PAC needs a strong USC program to help get us into the Natty conversation. If you are a Chip believer, maybe we don't...maybe Chip will dominate SC for the next decade and UCLA will be the SoCal program of record. That is hard to believe, but certainly not impossible.
Regardless of what we want or think, SC will try to find the right coach yet again. The political winds are leaning heavily to picking from outside the program, as was done with Carroll. I will personally be surprised if they pick another coach "in the family" this time around, though stranger things have happened.
I'm expecting either a mid-major HC who has gotten it done despite structural adversity (there are a half dozen pretty good candidates to pick from), or P5 coach of a traditionally down program who has made their school respectable (maybe not Northwestern, Kentucky or Pitt, but those are example schools this year). One key thing: this is Los Angeles. A coach who does not enjoy media interaction is not going to be chosen. At SC the football coach is literally the face of the school. Carroll filled multiple roles in that regard, and there is a strong appetite to find another Carroll.
The last couple of times around the block the coaching search was conducted by amateurs. Swann is an amateur in this regard, as well. Will he reach outside his department for help? Or will he try to do it on his own? Personally, I think that is the biggest question. If he does it on his own, I would give the selected coach only a 60-70% chance of being in the job after 4 seasons.
And tomorrow morning, all of greater Los Angeles will see Bruin fans rubbing it in after years of futility. The SC folks won't like it. Pressure is building on Swann, and it will quickly reach explosive level. If Notre Dame blows them out, there will be people with pitchforks storming the AD's office. Swann officially started looking when he gave Helton his 100% vote of confidence a few weeks ago...in Trojan speak, that means that the coach is mostly out the door. We'll see if Swann unveils the new hire within a week of announcing Helton's firing. If so, there is a good chance that it will not end well. We'll see....
