Donte Williams reacts to Clay Helton firing, becoming interim head coach

Monday night was a monumental one for USC football. The team announced that head coach Clay Helton has been let go two games into the middle of his seventh season at the helm of the Trojans. USC athletic director Mike Bohn named Donte Williams as the interim head coach.

Helton’s time with USC is now over. He finishes with a 46-24 career record, but struggled to keep his team in contention over recent years. The news comes just days after Stanford handed USC a 48-28 loss. USC’s loss dropped it to 1-1 and out of the national polls. Now, it is time for Williams to take over, at least for the remainder of this season.

Williams: We must enhance everything that we do

Known as one of the best defensive backs coaches and recruiters in the nation, Williams joined USC’s staff ahead of this season. Prior to Helton’s dismissal, Williams was the Trojans cornerbacks coach and the defensive pass game coordinator. Things have happened very quickly over the last day for Williams, but he is focusing on continuing to prepare his team at the task ahead.

“To be honest, I found out right before the team meeting,” Williams said on Monday night. “So, waking up and everything else going through the day was just a normal day for me. I was making sure my guys are ready to play and getting ready for practice. The next thing you know, right before the team meeting Mike (Bohn) and Brandon (Sosna) pull me in and talk to me and gave me the opportunity of a lifetime. Since then, it’s been pretty much nonstop since the team meeting. Got my chance to have my first practice with the guys as interim head coach. I’m just talking it one step at a time right now.”

While the timing of Williams taking over as head coach is tough due to the season being underway, he is trying to focus on the little things within USC’s program. He said taking care of the little things benefits everyone in the long haul.

“Right now, the season’s already started,” Williams said. “We have a lot of games left but the season has started. It’s hard to make huge changes right now. My biggest thing is enhancing everything we do. How can we enhance everything we do. Whether it’s the way we lift weights, the way we eat, the way we practice, the way we play, just enhancing everything we do.

“That’s the biggest message right now. Making sure we take care of all the little things. Because too many little things become huge and big things. They cost us, they cost us penalties, they cost us dumb mistakes, they cost us as a team, they cost us as a university. That’s the biggest message I have – making sure we enhance everything we do. Everyone in this organization needs to do something a little bit better than what they were doing before. Including myself.”

Williams wants USC to ‘pull tighter together’

Before coming to USC this season, Williams spent the previous two years on Oregon’s staff. Luckily for him, a lot of the players on USC’s roster were recruited by him, whether it was at USC or Oregon. Williams is very fortunate to already have great relationships with the players on the team.

“I’m a person that’s very fortunate,” Williams said. “A lot of these guys I’ve either recruited here or recruited at past places. I believe I have a great relationship with the guys on the team, a great relationship with the staff we have in place here, and a lot of these guys’ families I even know pretty well. I think that the change that’s happening right now, it’s a lot easier for me than maybe it would be for someone else. A lot of guys are hurt. I’m grateful for the opportunity Clay gave me to come to USC.

“Right now it’s time for us to pull tighter together. We still have the same message. I’m more on the facet of going 1-0 every day. If we go 1-0 every day and we do the best we can do every day individually, we’re going to love the results that we get.”

One of the best aspects of college football is the fans that support the team. As fans are finally able to return to pack stadiums after last year, maintaining that fan support despite a slow start to the season is very important for Williams and USC.

“Are you kidding me, did you see the intro for the last game? The intro, the student section, I mean the atmosphere at this last game was electric,” Williams said. “It’s based on us and the product we put on the field to make sure that environment stays that way and gets even better. I’m about making sure the Coliseum is sold out. The administration here is doing everything possible to give us the things we need to succeed. We’re going to make sure that we put our best foot forward and match their efforts. And we will.”