Ex-USC Football HC Clay Helton already a candidate for new Power 5 job

Former Pac-12 Champion and Rose Bowl Champion Head Coach with USC Football, Clay Helton, has emerged as a name for the Georgia Tech head coaching opening. The job opened up after last week's loss to UCF (27-10 was the final score).

Interestingly, since Geoff Collins was canned, they are 1-0 with a win against ranked Pitt on the road (26-21 was the final score). College Football Columnist Connor O'Gara is the one who tabbed Helton as a candidate:

Helton will have tough competition if he wants the job potentially, as Dan Mullen also has a couple of 10+ win seasons too, and has a New Year's Six Bowl win as well. He does not, however, have a Power 5 conference championship under his belt, nor does he have a top three finish on his resume. Helton has both of those lines on his. It remains to be seen who they prefer, or if they prefer either one.

It is just to say that he could at least potentially pose a threat to Helton is he wants that gig. It's the same story with Todd Monken, who some tout as a coach who can do more with less. The former four-year NFL Offensive Coordinator took over an 0-12 Southern Mississippi team, and got them to nine wins in a year during just his third season as a coach.

This is notable because Clay Helton was criticized at the USC Football program for doing less with more.

So, former USC Football Head Coach Clay Helton could run into an issue if one of the other candidates is praised for the thing that Helton is criticized for. This is just a couple of other candidates that this article breaks down, and it's just to show that these other coaches may have cases too.

Interestingly, though, Helton may not want to leave his current head coaching position at Georgia Southern. He has shown a couple of flashes there so far, most notably beating blueblood (or perhaps former blueblood) program Nesbraska on the road to send Scott Frost packing.

He also appeared to really like the Georgia Southern job, as he took it very soon after he was fired from USC, and didn't wait for better jobs to open up. The location will certainly aid Helton's chances of wanting the job, but it's important to note that these are just who the realistic candidates are to O'Gara.

There has been no word on if Georgia Tech definitely wants Helton, or if Helton definitely wants Georgia Tech. For now, Helton will be coaching about three hours away from Georgia Tech on Georgia Southern's sideline, as the 3-2 Eagles look to beat Georgia State on Saturday.