The biggest job expected to come open this winter on the college football coaching carousel might not actually come open after all.



New USC AD Mike Bohn has been impressed with Clay Helton with the Trojans head coach in his time around him. And USC president Carol Folt, nearly as new on the job as Bohn, also is a believer in Helton, is very comfortable with him and likes the tone of his leadership, people with knowledge of the situation tell The Athletic. Both appreciated the way he has run the USC program and how the team has battled for Helton despite a slew of injuries at key spots that included having to rely on third-team QB Matt Fink to beat a Top-10 Utah squad.



It’s hard to find anyone around USC who doesn’t see Helton as a genuine, decent man, but more than that, his team never stopped battling for him.



As I wrote around mid-season, I’m not sure there are more than a handful of teams in college football who could have beaten a...