Following a tough defeat against Stanford football, USC Athletic Director Mike Bohn called for what many fans spent the last six seasons crying out for—a head coaching change. This past decade, USC has struggled to show relevance in the national spotlight of college football. This is somewhat uncharacteristic for a team that’s produced the second-most NFL players of all time and won eleven national championships. Stefan De La Guardia has more about the historical significance of USC football, the fans, and the questions that lie ahead.
Eleven national championships. Six Heisman Trophy winners. Top ten in wins all-time. And in 2009, ESPN ranked them the number two college football program OF ALL TIME. But you might not know it judging from the last decade or so. Historically speaking, USC has been one of the most celebrated programs in college football for moments like the 1974 comeback against Notre Dame, amongst countless others. I spent some time speaking with long-time fan Vern Preston, who remembers those days like it were yesterday:
And I hear my dad yelling from the living room. He goes SC’ scored. SC’ scored. Anthony Davis a run back to kickoff for a touchdown, and they went on to win 55 20 for that game. And I was beside myself. So I had never gone in a game like that for being so dejected, just so elated. And I just remember that afternoon at my parents house watching that game and and that change of emotion.
USC football’s historical significance lies beyond once-sustained dominance and LA flare, too. The Trojans played a pivotal role in advancing the widespread integration of black players across the college football landscape, with the famous 1970 game between the Trojans and the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, where after a dominating performance by the late great Sam Cunningham, Alabama assistant Jerry Claiborne famously stated, “Sam Cunningham did more to integrate Alabama in 60 minutes than Martin Luther King did in 20 years.”
But times have changed. Most recently, the echo of boos in a half-filled Coliseum the night of the Stanford game this season still dominates the forefront of fans’ minds, as it was the nail in the coffin for the Clay Helton era, the fifth coach of the program following Pete Carroll’s departure. Since 2010, the Men of Troy have won only three divisional titles and one conference championship. And it’s not like they haven’t had a lack of talent coming in, either. USC has produced a plethora of top-15 recruiting classes that typically crack into the top 5 with the likes of Alabama, Ohio State, and Clemson—three of the most notorious college football superteams.
We’ve seen big-name programs fall out over the years like the Texas Longhorns and Miami Hurricanes, who have also spent the last decade trying to fill the void of historical success and struggling to produce consistent winning records. One must ask themselves how the Ohio States and Alabamas of the world continue to produce juggernaut programs after dealing with memorabilia scandals, criminal charges, and yearly coaching staff changes, respectively. For USC, will they continue to stay a dormant powerhouse, or can they restore themselves, evolve, and find their way back amongst college football’s best?
So you’re going to have to find a coach who’s really got the gift of gab and can convince some young recruits, you know, some five star recruits to come to USC and get the program back into the help that it really deserves to be at.
A big-time position like the head football coach of USC requires a big-time person…whoever is on the sidelines at the start of next season will not only be salvaging the program from ruin, but also “restoring it to glory” as USC Athletic Director Mike Bohn claims. They’ll have to fill the shoes of Pete Carroll, John McKay, Howard Jones, and the “Thundering Herd” that have contributed to the historical dominance of the Trojan football team. ]
And the expectation for USC. You know, if you just look back in history, we expect championship teams. We expect to be first in the conference. We expect to win ballgames. You know, we expect all of that because that expectation has been set by my predecessors.
As USC begins its national search for a new head coach, faithful fans can only keep their fingers crossed that they get it right.