The Bounce Back
Clay Helton Shares How His Faith Helps Him Respond to Unexpected Seasons
Ever wonder what it would be like to coach one of the most storied programs in NCAA football ever? Clay Helton can tell you.
He’s the head coach of USC, and after growing up under a father whose coaching career took their family all over the country, it’s no surprise that Clay found himself full of a love for the game.
He talked to us about life as a coach, dealing with unexpected injuries, and what it means for him to trust God, even when he has no idea what next season might look like…
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Episode Transcript
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Henry Kaestner: Okay. Welcome back to the faith driven athlete. We've got a special guest today, Coach Clay Helton of USC Football in the House. Coach Helton, thank you very much for joining us.
Clay Helton: Thank you, guys. Thanks for having me.
Henry Kaestner: Excited to have you on the show. You've got a Durham connection, which is a big deal for me, having moved out to California from Durham, North Carolina. You got your start at Duke. But we actually want to start off with our podcast interview even before then, we'd like to get a good flyover with our guests about their background, how they grew up, their faith stories. So get it started by talking about your life growing up.
Clay Helton: Yeah. You know, I am a coach's son. My dad has been a 48 year college and NFL football coach, has been an assistant coach, has been the head coach. And I was born in Gainesville, Florida, when he was coach at the University of Florida. So the game has been my whole life and the education piece of the game has been my whole life. And I got to see my dad do it being raised. I got to see him be a servant leader. I got to see him be an educator and just grown up around him and being around such amazing men. I won't even say players, but then I remember being 10 years old and being walking into his quarterback room. And there's Jim Kelly, Vinny Testaverde, Bernie Kosar three all time greats. And I was fascinated by them. I was a young quarterback, 10 years old, and they were great quarterbacks. But I was even more impressed with them as people. And it was something that really hit home to me that this game has tremendous people in it and tremendous leadership qualities. And I got to see my dad do it firsthand. And so as I went through my playing career in high school, in college, I was hoping and praying I was a great player, but it didn't turn out. It was just OK. And as I finished up my college career, I had been studying mechanical engineering. I've been a math and science guy and had decided that I wanted to follow my dad's footsteps. He had touched so many lives. He was my hero, my mentor in the lot of us want to grow up being our dad. Seeing how much impact that he had had on young men, some that didn't have fathers who had become their adopted fathers and saw that firsthand and growing up and said that is what I want to do for the rest of my life, is to have the opportunity to educate the young men in the sport that I love.
Henry Kaestner: So two questions that flow from this. Number one, we've never had a mechanical engineer on any one of the programs. We do Faith Driven Entrepreneur investor and definitely athlete. How does your experiences and mechanical engineer impact the way you think of the sport of football?
Clay Helton: Yeah, you know, when you think about football, it is a mathematical game. It has to do with pad level angles of departure had place and leverage. So there's a lot of mathematics behind it that she and ws in. And we talked about first step football and how important the first step and the angle of departure is. So there's a lot of things that go into it. I'm thankful for my mathematics and physics opportunity. It does come into play and it does help people to get.
Henry Kaestner: OK, so the next thing is, is as a dad now and as a coach. Well, I'll put it in my perspective as a father now. I have an appreciation for my father when he had me growing up about what he did in terms of balancing work and family and how he parenting teenage boys and all those things. So you've been through that whole life cycle.
You studied under a coach because you moved around a lot with your dad and now you're a coach. What kind of perspective do you have now about your upbringing, about what your dad did and how is different that give you an appreciation and make you want to pick up the phone and call him up and say, Dad? I think I get it now. Here's what I've learned.
Clay Helton: I will always appreciate my Dad, because I've always thought the greatest gift you can give somebody is your time. And sometimes our job requires a lot of time. What I appreciated about my dad the most is every time he got a free second. It was about me and my brother Tyson, who's also a football coach now. But it was all about us and our family. And as two boys. As soon as he left the game. And it's one of the things that he taught me is understand that there's so much time taken up in this game that when you do get done with it, you immediately go to your priorities in life. And I remember being 22 years old, just marrying my high school sweetheart, Miss Angela. And he made me write down before I went to Duke University. What are your three priorities? And I wrote down. Faith, family and football. And those words had been used a lot. But for me, that was my priority. And he said, OK, you've written this down. So that's what your focus is always on. You know, sometimes we don't get the choice of having an extra hobbies or hanging out with friends. It's about those three categories. If you choose this way of life and he chose that way of life and he exemplified it, he always gave my mom, me, my brother all the time, as well as his adopted, such as far as the kids that he coached. You know, he was always there for and, you know, growing up in that environment of just being a servant for others, there's something that really hit home for me. And I'm thankful to Dad now being a guy that's been in college football for 26 years. You do realize that this is a servant's job and it's a lot of fun being served.
Justin Forman: So, Coach, you've been at USC for 10 years now. Sounds like from a young age, coaching's in the blood. And we all have that dream of that big call, whatever that career opportunity might be to build your own program. Sometimes it finds us in different ways. You had the chance to step in following after Lane Kiffin. Coach Sarkisian, some tumultuous exits. What is it like waiting for that opportunity so long then in really a moment's notice being thrust into that role so quickly?
Clay Helton: Yeah. You realize in a hurry it's not your plan and it's God's plan. It's not your will. It's his will. Because I realized I had gone 20 years as an assistant coach, as a coordinator. I had not had that opportunity to be a head coach. And sometimes you ask yourself, wow, you know, when is it going to be my turn? I've been an interim head coach in some different situations, but when is it going to be my turn? And you're sitting there after 20 years and finally you get your opportunity. And literally in year one, I remember sitting down and say, thank you, God, I needed all 20 years to be able to handle this job. Everything that comes with it. And thank goodness I wasn't thrust in it too early because I wasn't ready. But after the experiences, I had had a different universities under different leadership. The lessons that I learned I was ready when the time was called and would stateful that I was on God's plan my own. Because I don't think I would have been as successful at an earlier age.
Justin Forman: So what's it like when you think about. You have a chance to step in as interim coach there once and then a chance to do it again. You mentioned that all those experiences prepared you for something. What did you learn stepping in that first time that then prepared you now for this time?
Clay Helton: Yeah. You know, I was an interim head coach twice, and in both times it really taught me that. Remember, it's about the student athlete. And when you step in that job and there's been a change at the head coach level and you've been named the interim head coach, your job is not secure. You don't know what the future is. But as I told our staff, I set them down. It said, guys, these are these kids one opportunity in a college experience. Let's make it the best for them. And that's why we all got in this, to be servants to the student athlete and make their experience grand. And so in both situations, and I'm so proud of the men that surrounded me, all we did was focus on the player, on the student athlete, helping every way we could develop them as players, helping them to win football games and be successful and to make sure that they had a great experience. And, you know, in both situations, we came out successful. And I think it was really instead of putting our focus everywhere else, you know, it was truly about doing our job and making sure that we were taking care of our own players who are our family. And so it really taught me. Why would you ever change, you know, if you do that in the most adverse condition and you're successful. Why would you ever change in a normal situation when you've been named head coach? Focus on your players and what is best for them always.
Justin Forman: Is there a point? I mean, we see all these stories, whether it be overnight, somebody is making that cross-country flight. They get announced as a head coach or in a situation like yours, you're thrown into that opportunity quickly. You paddle hard this first couple weeks. When is that point? When you first, like, look around your wife and say, oh, my goodness, it's here. Like, wait, when you come up for air.
Clay Helton: It's hard. We're creatures of routine in football and probably in business and all of us. But I'll never forget, in my first year as a head coach, we had started off. One in three. And obviously, when you wanted three USC, they're not very happy. But we had a group of men that believed in each other, a staff that believed into each other. We rattled nine wins off in a row and went to a Rose Bowl. And remember, we're again ready to play Penn State. And I had a big hug from two men, Marcus Allen or Ronnie Lott, right before the game. And they said, Coach, make sure you look up and you enjoy the moment.
And I remember right before the kickoff of that game looking up and said, wow, you know, this is a moment in time that very few get the honor or had the opportunity to be a part of. And just remember being told how grateful for that experience and that opportunity to be in that arena with the group of men that I was with.
Henry Kaestner: What is a hug feel like from Ronnie Lott?
Clay Helton: Well, I'll be honest with you, it's about two minutes before the game and I'm on the sideline and they're dead ready. And flip the coin to see who's going to take the ball. And the biggest arms come around me at a draw, me and Marcus. And I'm like, oh, my goodness. I turn around and go, wow, I don't get star struck very often. You've been living in Hollywood with movie stars, but when two of the greats walk up stop you. I got goose bumps. I did get I was like, these are two of the all time great. Right here, down here with us. So that hug is pretty powerful and a lot of ways.
Henry Kaestner: Yeah, I bet. You know, as a former quarterback, your quarterback writing a lot. Man, when he hugs a quarterback feels a little different. I'd rather be hugged by Marcus Allen.
Clay Helton: Yeah, Ronnie was a violent person in the game.
Justin Forman: So, Coach, you've obviously made a lot of big decisions, you know, over your time at USC. And there's big ones when it comes to your staff recruiting. All of them seem huge, but there seems to be few bigger, especially the college level, than passing the mantle of QB one, you know, passing that big time as somebody to take the reins. You've done that a couple of times over the years, sometimes by injuries, sometimes by necessity. You know, Sam Donald stepping in was one of those. What makes that decision so important and how does that get rolled out?
Clay Helton: Yeah. You know, no matter what level of the game that you I don't care if it's high school, college, NFL, it is a quarterback driven game. And for a lot of factors, one, because the young man's talent and ability to move the football. But two, people don't realize how much of the intangibles come into play. And that's a huge part of our evaluation. Will, we're looking at quarterbacks as individuals because you've got to remember, he's the one guy that everybody sees on every play. He's the one with the ball in his hand. And whether it's a good player or a bad play from his body language to his leadership to his confidence after each flight. Is he a guy that has a good playing, can put it behind and move on? Is he a guy that has a bad play? And it doesn't affect them for the next three to four plays or so much strength of character that goes to the position that rubs off on everybody else, that there are those intangibles that come in. It's just not about how you spin it. It's about what type of leader he wore, what type of man you are, what type of confidence that you have, how that confidence rubs off on others. And then when it's time to be out there and the bullets are flying and everything's going crazy, that you had the place to be calm in the store. And so, you know, usually it's not one of those were a position where you decide, is it, oh, routes on air or seven on seven scale. And this nice world, it's usually in the most adverse conditions or guys step up and you truly see, wow, this guy is really good. He can be great. He knows how to handle adversity. He knows how to handle the pressure. He doesn't let things get to them. He's poised. He's a guy that leads, whether it's by his voice or whether it's by example. It's a guy that could walk up on top of somebody and spend time with him and be able to say, hey, this is what we've got to do together to be able to be great. You've got to have that air of confidence at the position. So it takes something that takes a lot of evaluation. We looked at a lot of these quarterbacks when they started ninth grade. I watch them for four years as they grow and see if they're made up of that character.
Henry Kaestner: So you talked about calm before the storm or in the storm. Rather, the only position in all of college football that has more attention on it is the head coach position. What's it like to be in that storm here in a place like USC? And they want perfection all the time. You come in to USC after Pete Carroll has had some success. You're in a spot where you've got a real competitive conference and it's hard. What's it like when you have his? We have so many people that listen to this podcasts. They come over from Faith Driven Entrepreneur and understand some of the stresses and the pressures and the identity, and yet none of them can. Imagine what it must look like to have people calling for your head in a newspaper. How do you maintain an identity in all of that?
Clay Helton: Yeah, you know, when you understand we all have rules and you got to understand, I've always wanted to have the opportunity to be in a job like you see, you know, where the standards and the expectations are so high. You know, there's a lot of universities that you go when a games and they're like, oh, my gosh, what a great season that went to those places. This is where championships. That's where the bar is set. And I've always wanted that. That's the standard that I've always set for myself. And you have to realize that the expectations you have to fight each and every day for it's a choice. It's a way of life, is to give your absolute best at all times. And you also have to realize that when you're in that leadership position, that everybody's looking up to you and how you react is how they're going to react, you know. And I'm dealing with 18 to 21 year olds that if their leader doesn't show poise or doesn't handle things the right way, they're not cool. So each and every day when I'm driving the car into work, I remind myself, when you sit in this chair, there are no bad days. You have to be in a framework that helps 18 to 21 year olds see what it is to be a leader. And I always believe we all have roles. My job is to win games, help raise young men on and off the field and develop. The media's job is to report and to give opinion. And the paint job is to bring the passion, you know. And if you win a bunch of games, it's usually great passion and great stories from the media. And if you don't, then there's going to be negative patch. And that's just part of it. And after seeing my dad go through it and now going 26 years myself, you understand it's part of the game. And if you can't handle it, then you shouldn't sit in the seat.
Henry Kaestner: Well, clearly, and we've all seen you with tremendous poise and see it in front the press and in front of players and how important that is, of course, to the leader. Are there things that you rely on when the press is becoming particularly oppressive? Maybe. Are there spiritual disciplines? Are there different things that you do to kind of really lean into your faith? Maybe it's with friends, with family, but are there spiritual exercises that you have had some success with is you really lean on your identity has been something greater and more important than a college football coach?
Clay Helton: Yeah, I lean on Jesus. I lean on my faith every morning religiously. The first thing I do is I wake up, I get my coffee, I feed my dog, let the dog out, come back in. And I read the word and I pray and I lean on Jesus and it calms me, prayed for patience. I pray for clarity in decision making. I pray for place and I pray to make the right decisions for young men and always remind myself that this job is one of a kind. And so that's my exercise, is to lean on my lord and savior and hope it rubs off on others. But each and every morning, that's my exercise. And this just it centers me. It centers me for the day and it allows me to one to get into his word. And every time I can into his word, I pick up something extra. It's amazing. Just a little bit of something extra that helps me be a good coach and a good leader. But it also centers me it calls me it provides me clarity and it provides me good decision making to remember always the priorities, faith, family and football in that order.
Henry Kaestner: That's awesome. I want to come back to something you mentioned before when you're talking about the quarterback position, about what you're looking for in a young man beginning ninth grade, now you've got to recruit for lots of positions. And again, we've got a lot of overlap with the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast. And these are people that are responsible for recruiting people, marketing people in accounting people, legal people to come in and join their team. And that's a hard job. And yet, even with that, they can think that if they're successful, somebody might stay with them for 20 years. You've gone for a couple of years. How do you staff a company to go off into battle with young men knowing that this can be a lot of turnover? What is it you look for in all the different individuals on a team, not just the quarterback?
Clay Helton: You know, for me, I'll start with the staff. I think one of the men that you have around you is imperative. And I don't care if you're in a business. I don't care if you're a football team. It's all the same. I believe more in the relationship business and the trust business. And our number one job as a staff is to build trust between the coach and the player. And I think there's a couple of things that go into that. One, I believe a young man that's 18 to 21 year old has to trust his leaders character. No one without character, you can have a relationship. Number two, they have to trust that that staff member can develop them, you know, both on and off the field, that they're competent and knowledgeable enough to help them progress. Number three. Is they have to be able to trust that you care about them as a person. It's not just the job, it's not just the actions and those. But you're willing to spend time with them and dove into where they are as a person, whether it's high time or a low time, being able to help them along the way and show their concern just by giving your time and learning about them and helping them through similar life struggles. And then lastly, and this is the hardest one, I think, for coaches, especially young coaches as a growing profession, is they have to trust that you're going to be brutally honest with them. They know that you're going to look them in the eye and say, this is your strengths right now. This is where you are. But this is your areas of growth. I don't like to say weaknesses. This is where you can grow as a player. And so everybody I've ever hired. Those are the questions that I ask myself. Is this a person of character? Is this the person that can teach and educate and develop? Is a person that's willing to show care and concern to the student athlete. And as a person, that's going to be brutally honest with that athlete so they can help grow all the way around. You know, as far as the player goes, as far as the players bring in that, for me there's several factors. One, I've always believed and surrounding myself with people that have a love for the game because it's a choice. It's a way of life. You have to love this game. You have to love to be great in the game. You have to have the opportunity and understand that you want to surround yourself with people that love competition, because specially when you're coming into a place like USC. Not only is the guy across from you a really good player, like I've watching a Juju Smith Schuster go against an Adore Jackson, you know, two guys that are first round draft picks every day in that competitive level. But also you've got people within your ring. You talking about that quarterback position. There's four people that are in that room that could play probably anywhere in the country. And you can't fear competition from others, whether it's across on the other side of the ball or whether it's in your own position, you know, so that availability to one compete at the highest level. They want to be great and love the game, put the work that's necessary to be great at the game. Those are some things that I really look for. It's easy to watch the tape. You watch the tape and say, oh, gosh, this is really good at this game. But you've got to dig in and see if he truly loves it. Is he willing to put the work into it? Is he willing to compete? Those intangibles that really make a player go from good to great.
Henry Kaestner: Awesome. OK, that's managing down. It's the coaches, the staff and the players. Let's talk about going up just one level when you're the head coach at USC football. They're not many layers that go up, and yet there's an athletic director. What's it look like to have three different athletic directors? And how do you manage through that change?
Clay Helton: Yeah, you understand that. Anytime that there's a new leadership that comes into play, whether it's the president of the university or that athletic director, which I've been through a couple of times, that each person is different. But you'll always remember there's a chain of command. We're the closest thing I think to the military is a football team and an athletic department. And there is a chain of command. And it's your responsibility as the head football coach to learn the priorities of the athletic director, learn exactly what he wants, and be able to satisfy and absolute do your best job in getting those things accomplished. You know, so each time we've had a change, I've made a point of having a great relationship, being able to have honest conversations of exactly what the expectations are and be able to be able to sit and just talk to people and say, hey, where can we grow? Where do you see us get better? Rather, it being a relationship and a partnership and growing together rather than just saying, hey, boss, and next person. It's a partnership where we're trying to grow an athletic department and a football team and really diving into the expectations of what the athletic director wants.
Justin Forman: Coach, as we start to come to a little bit of a close here. I want to finish talking specifically more about your faith. Talk to us a little bit about in times in your life or career when your faith has been stretched. It's been put to the test. You mean you've had to hold some of those doubts and worries and thoughts captive? Just talk to us a little bit about that. Is there any moments that you shared with your brother, your dad along the way, a text message or something that on this journey that had been impactful for you?
Clay Helton: Yeah. You know, I've been in certain periods of times in 26 years that you had the highs and lows of the season. And the job is so hard. I mean, it's every second and the day that you raise an 18 to 21 year olds and trying to produce wins also. And when those winds aren't coming, man, they're hard times. You know, you feel the pressure. You feel the stress. You want it for your team just as much as you want it for your own self and your own family. And so in those times I remember and I've got this jersey behind me which I keep up in my office. Right. It's the 2017 Rose Bowl and I keep it up. For a reason, not because of that one memory, it was because of that season.
Clay Helton: You know, starting off one in three. And we had just made a change at quarterback with Sam Darnell. We had lost a really tough game, a really close game with about 16 seconds left on the clock at Utah. One and three, one and three at USC is not very good. And that doesn't put you in a great position. And I remember walking off that field and seeing how much it hurt the guys and how it hurt your own heart for them. But understanding how good a football team we had and if you just have faith and you keep on doing what you know is right for those kids and keep on working as hard as you can, that the tide was going to turn and it did turn, you know, we rattle off nine wins in a row, B, Penn State, fifty two to forty nine and one of the all time great Rose Bowls. And I keep this jersey up. So remind me that you're always in the fight no matter where it is. I have faith that you're on God's plan. It's his will. It's his plan. Just keep on being that servant. Keep on working as hard as you can each and every day. Be at your best and the tide will turn, you know. And so that's where I'm always at, is just anytime that I'm feeling a little bit and down in the dumps, I turn to him, then remind myself that my faith can carry me through this. He's never gonna put too much on me that I can't take.
Justin Forman: Coach, we'd love to finish each episode, just in God's word. Deeply rooted in scripture, and that is to say, is there a passage maybe as you woke up this morning or this week that he has you in its coming alive to you that you could share with our listeners?
Clay Helton: Yeah. You know, I'm in the New Testament right now. Just finished, Luke. And now and. But the day I read, all we had to do is have faith the size of a mustard seed and we can accomplish unbelievably amazing things and keep that faith in him in his word and his promise and having the opportunity that he gave us the grace of salvation. And it just amazes me of everything that's out there in the world that he remembers me each and every day. So I will always have faith in him.