Clay Helton Fired by USC

Clay Helton has been fired as head football coach of USC, according to a report from ESPN's Lindsey Thiry.

Associate head coach Donte Williams will serve as interim head coach.

Helton's firing comes after USC's embarrassing 42-28 loss to unranked Stanford at home on Saturday night. The Trojans entered the game as the No. 14 team in the nation, but laid an egg in an important Pac-12 contest.

Helton, 49, was named head coach in 2015 after serving as the interim when then head coach Steve Sarkisian took a leave of absence and was subsequently fired.

Helton helped guide the Trojans to a 10-3 record in 2016, culminating in a Rose Bowl victory over Penn State. Helton then led them to a 11-3 season in 2017, losing in the Cotton Bowl to Ohio State.

Overall, Helton went 46-24 in charge of USC, but was on the hot seat entering the season.

USC athletic director Mike Bohn put out a statement, saying that the expectations of the program were not met under Helton and that USC will conduct a national search to determine who the next head coach will be.

Helton becomes the third straight USC head coach to be fired mid-season, joining Sarkisian and Lane Kiffin.