LOS ANGELES _ Clay Helton remains USC's head football coach for now, in spite of a report suggesting otherwise.
Multiple people familiar with the situation confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that no decision has yet been made on the embattled Trojans coach. But the fact that Helton's status has yet to change, following the official conclusion of the regular season on Saturday, does not mean that Helton is officially safe.
A report from Sports Illustrated on Sunday morning first suggested that Helton had already been fired. But that report has since been refuted by USC, as well as by other outlets, including another reporter from Sports Illustrated.
USC assistant athletic director and director of player development Gavin Morris noted on Twitter that the reporter was "just making stuff up."
"It's that season of, let's just make stuff up," Morris wrote.
New USC athletic director Mike Bohn was not even in Los Angeles when the report first surfaced.
Bohn, who was hired last month, is expected to make a decision on Helton, one way or the other, in the coming days. When Bohn spoke to the Times less than two weeks ago, he said that a decision on Helton was "something we don't want to race into."
