Dec. 01--For nearly two months, the pressure to become USC's permanent football coach was squarely on Clay Helton.
Now that he has the gig, the pressure is all on the guy who hired him.
For Clay Helton, this is a first job.
For Pat Haden, this is a lasting legacy.
It has been written repeatedly in this space that Helton would be the perfect pick, and it's great to see that Haden, the Trojans' athletic director, finally agreed.
Helton is so un-Hollywood he is barely recognizable without his baseball cap, but he pulls that cap low, tightens that jaw, runs the football, stresses the fundamentals and commands the respect of the players who on Saturday ran through a blue wall for him in a job-clinching win against UCLA.
Helton does not possess one ounce of Showtime, but he is pure Fight On, and in hiring him, the Trojans smartly recommitted themselves to the motto's essence.
Still, if none of this works out long term, Helton is likely to remain a respected football man who will land on his feet.
For Haden, failure could level his reputation as an athletic director forever.
Helton needs this, but Haden needs it more, especially if, as many expect, he soon moves into a different administrative role for health reasons.
For all the great things they might be accomplished in the other corners of a world-class department, USC athletic directors are ultimately judged on only one task: Did they hire the right football coach?
For all the tumult that surrounded the departure of Mike Garrett, he will be forever remembered -- even revered -- for one thing. He is the man who hired Pete Carroll.
Haden's record with head coaches is not so good. He fired Lane Kiffin on an airport tarmac. He hired Steve Sarkisian without properly checking out issues he had related to alcohol. He allowed Sarkisian to continue coaching even after an embarrassing incident at the preseason "Salute to Troy" event.
Some people think Haden's involvement in other businesses has distracted him from his duties to the university. Others are concerned that health problems are making it impossible for him to safely devote the necessary time to run the program. He has not been seen at a football game in several weeks, leading to speculation that Helton's hiring is the first part of Haden's exit strategy.
If so, give him credit for going down fighting with his strongest Trojans instincts and his deepest Trojans beliefs. While Helton has been called the easy hire, he's really the toughest of hires. It's a gut hire. It's a relationship hire. It's a hire that can't be based on past full-time college head-coaching experience (Helton has none) or NFL pedigree (nothing there, either).
