Charles Clay Helton is an American football coach and former player.
Background
His father, Kim Helton, was a coach in college, the National Football League, and the Canadian Football League. Charles Clay Helton was born in 1972 in Gainesville, Florida, where his father Charles Kimberlin "Kim" Helton was then a graduate assistant for the University of Florida football team
Education
Clay Helton attended Clements High School in Sugar Land, Texas and graduated in 1990.
Career
He is the head coach of the University of Southern California Trojans football team Helton also serves as quarterbacks coach. Helton has also been a coach for Duke Blue Devils, Houston Cougars and Memphis Tigers.
The Helton family later lived in the Miami, Tampa Bay, and Houston areas, as Kim Helton later coached for the University of Miami, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Houston Oilers.
After redshirting his freshman year, Helton played college football at Auburn as quarterback. In 1993, Helton transferred to Houston, after his father was hired as head coach there.
Helton was a backup quarterback at both Auburn and Houston and graduated from Houston in 1994 with a degree in mathematics and interdisciplinary science. At Houston, Helton completed 47 of 87 passes for 420 yards, one touchdown, and four interceptions and played 16 games.
In 1995, Helton enrolled at Duke University and became a graduate assistant for the Duke Blue Devils football team under Fred Goldsmith.
Helton later was promoted as running backs coach in 1996. Helton joined his father at Houston to be running backs coach in 1997 and remained in that position until 1999, Kim Helton"s final season as head coach. After leaving Houston, Helton joined Rip Scherer"s staff at Memphis also as running backs coach.
Helton stayed on staff under new coach Tommy West, who replaced Scherer in 2001, and moved to coaching the wide receivers in 2003.
By 2007, Helton was promoted to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Players Helton coached at Memphis include DeAngelo Williams, a first-round NFL draft pick in 2005, and 2006 Conference United States of America All-Freshman pick Duke Calhoun.
Helton was hired by University of Southern California to be quarterbacks coach in 2010 under Lane Kiffin. In 2013 he was promoted to offensive coordinator.
Helton served as the team"s interim head coach during their bowl game after their previous interim head coach, Editor Orgeron, quit.
On October 11, 2015, he once again became the interim head coach of the Trojans after head coach Steve Sarkisian took a leave of absence, and was then subsequently fired. On November 30, 2015, University of Southern California removed the interim tag and named Helton the permanent head coach. Since being named the permanent head coach, University of Southern California has been 0-2 overall, with losses against Stanford in the Pac 12 championship game and Wisconsin in the Holiday Bowl.