Bruce Feldman updates USC head coaching search

FOX Sports reporter Bruce Feldman joined the network’s Breaking The Huddle with Joel Klatt show Wednesday night to provide an update on USC’s head coaching search. According to Feldman, the Trojans’ administration isn’t rushing to make a hire.

“USC is really going through the search committee process to sort out what direction they think is best,” Feldman said. “I think they’re trying to tap into a lot of people because there’s a lot of different viewpoints on what USC needs.”

While Feldman made it clear that USC is going through multiple candidates, he did mention one name: current Penn State head coach James Franklin. He has been brought up in many discussions involving the USC job, but Franklin’s Nittany Lions team has been struggling since his name was first associated with the opening.

After starting the season 5-0 and getting ranked as high as No. 4 in the AP Top 25 poll, Penn State has since dropped three straight games to then-No. 3 Iowa (23-20), Illinois (20-18 in nine overtimes) and No. 5 Ohio State (33-24) last weekend, so USC may be leaning towards going a different route instead of keying in on Franklin.

Alongside Franklin, Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker and Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell have also been a pair of names heavily mentioned for the job.

USC, which is currently being directed by interim head coach Donte Williams, is 4-4 on the season and 3-3 in Pac-12 play. The Trojans have remaining regular-season games against Arizona State (Nov. 6), Cal (Nov. 13), UCLA (Nov. 20) and BYU (Nov. 27).

Former USC coach Clay Helton lands new job

Former USC head coach Clay Helton has been hired as Georgia Southern’s next coach, agreeing to a deal that will pay him nearly $800,000 per season.

Helton was fired in September after losing to Stanford at home. He finished his career at USC with a 46-24 record and left the Trojans’ program having won three Pac-12 titles. Georgia Southern’s hire of Helton gives the Eagles one of the most recognizable coaching names in the Sun Belt Conference and is sure to help boost the level of their recruiting classes, as Helton is regarded as a players coach in the college football coaching world.

Helton had been at USC since 2010, going back to when he was hired as the Trojans’ quarterbacks coach under now-Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. Before going to USC, Helton was an assistant at Memphis from 2000-09.

His brother, Tyson, is coach at Western Kentucky.