Top 25
10-12
- Games
- 22
- Win rate
- 45.5%
Back to Coaches
Longevity CoachOffense-First
Coach Profile
Clay Helton
2013-2025 • Georgia Southern, USC
2 schools coached, anchored by USC.
Clay Helton's coaching record is 73-49, highlighted by seasons at USC from 2013 to 2025.
Clay Helton coached 12 seasons, won 59.8%, and posted an average SRS of 4.3. Best season: 2016 USC. The profile was offense-first with a highly volatile profile. 3 stints shaped the career arc.
- Career record
- 73-49
- Career win rate
- 59.8%
- Average SRS
- 4.3
- Peak SRS
- 19.4
Career Dossier
One glance at the full arc.
The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.
- Seasons coached
- 12
- Career span
- 13 years
- Best finish
- #3
- Consistency
- 15.4
Primary school anchor
USC
Offense-First profile with 2 program stops and a peak score of 82.8.
Quick Answers
Records fans search first
Headline records use countable season rows after completed-game fallback. Partial seasons and provisional placeholders are called out separately.
- Overall record
- 73-49
- USC record
- 45-24
- Full-season record
- 59-38
- Partial-season record
- 7-5
- Vs AP Top 10
- 3-7
- Vs AP Top 5
- 1-3
- Vs California
- 3-1
- Postseason / bowl record
- 2-5
- CFP record
- 0-0
- National titles
- 0
122 countable games, 59.8% win rate.
7 countable seasons at USC.
8 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.
Rows where the coach-season record covers fewer games than the team's completed season.
10 games using AP ranking at game time.
4 games using AP ranking at game time.
California-USC games in this dataset.
7 scored postseason games in this dataset.
0 College Football Playoff-labeled games since 2014.
Matched by coach team-season against the national championship dataset.
Record definition and data status
Career records use countable coach-season rows. Zero-game placeholders are excluded from aggregates until a completed-game fallback can verify the record.
Completed-game fallback uses scored games joined by coach, team, and season; advanced ratings are left blank when the season summary has not supplied them.
Latest completed coached game in this dataset: Dec 29, 2025. At least one season record was backfilled from completed games, so current-season totals may move as more scores are loaded.
Career Arc
Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.
Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.
Clay Helton
EliteStrongAverageLean
Clay Helton: 2022 Georgia Southern
2013Actual season year • SRS range -8.6 to 19.42025
Active comparison point
Clay Helton • 2016
2016 USC
Best season10-3 • SRS 19.4 • SP Overall 23.6
Win %
76.9%
YoY SRS
+5.8
SP Off / Def
39.2 / 17.1
Finish
#3
Comparison context
Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.
Ranked opponent record
Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.
Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.
Top 10
3-7
- Games
- 10
- Win rate
- 30.0%
Top 5
1-3
- Games
- 4
- Win rate
- 25.0%
View ranked game results22
| 2024 Regular Week 4 | Georgia Southern | Ole Miss | #5 | L13-52 |
| 2022 Regular Week 7 | Georgia Southern | James Madison | #25 | W45-38 |
| 2019 Regular Week 10 | USC | Oregon | #7 | L24-56 |
| 2019 Regular Week 7 | USC | Notre Dame | #9 | L27-30 |
| 2019 Regular Week 5 | USC | Washington | #17 | L14-28 |
| 2019 Regular Week 4 | USC | Utah | #10 | W30-23 |
| 2019 Regular Week 2 | USC | Stanford | #23 | W45-20 |
| 2019 Postseason Week 1 | USC | Iowa | #15 | L24-49 |
| 2018 Regular Week 13 | USC | Notre Dame | #3 | L17-24 |
| 2018 Regular Week 7 | USC | Colorado | #19 | W31-20 |
| 2018 Regular Week 2 | USC | Stanford | #10 | L3-17 |
| 2017 Regular Week 14 | USC | Stanford | #14 | W31-28 |
| 2017 Regular Week 10 | USC | Arizona | #23 | W49-35 |
| 2017 Regular Week 8 | USC | Notre Dame | #13 | L14-49 |
| 2017 Regular Week 5 | USC | Washington State | #16 | L27-30 |
| 2017 Regular Week 2 | USC | Stanford | #14 | W42-24 |
| 2017 Postseason Week 1 | USC | Ohio State | #5 | L7-24 |
| 2016 Regular Week 11 | USC | Washington | #4 | W26-13 |
| 2016 Regular Week 6 | USC | Colorado | #21 | W21-17 |
| 2016 Regular Week 4 | USC | Utah | #24 | L27-31 |
| 2016 Regular Week 3 | USC | Stanford | #7 | L10-27 |
| 2016 Postseason Week 1 | USC | Penn State | #7 | W52-49 |
Tenure map
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint
Georgia Southern
2022-2025 • 4 seasons
Avg SRS -6.1 • Win % 51.9%
USC
2015-2021 • 7 seasons
Avg SRS 9.3 • Win % 65.2%
USC
2013-2013 • 1 seasons
Avg SRS 15.7 • Win % 100.0%
- Longest tenure
- USC • 7 seasons
- Best tenure
- USC • 15.7 SRS
- Best tenure win rate
- USC • 100.0%
Style and Strength Profile
Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.
These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.
Overall Strength
Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.
Clay Helton sets the reference point in overall strength.
Overall Strength
Decisive edgeClay Helton sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
Clay Helton
Strong
- Raw avg SP Overall
- 7.3
- Percentile
- 78th pct
Strong
Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.
Impact by school
See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.
Georgia Southern
2022-2025 • 27-25
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS -6.1Win % 51.9%
Avg wins
Higher is better
6.8 during vs 5.5 baseline
+1.3
Avg SRS
Higher is better
-6.1 during vs -6.5 baseline
+0.4
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
-5.7 during vs -7.6 baseline
+1.9
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
USC
2015-2021 • 45-24
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 9.3Win % 65.2%
Avg wins
Higher is better
7.8 during vs 7.5 baseline
+0.3
Avg SRS
Higher is better
10.5 during vs 14.9 baseline
-4.4
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
16.1 during vs 20.3 baseline
-4.2
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
60.0% during vs 60.0% baseline
+0.0%
USC
2013-2013 • 1-0
Baseline comparison is omitted when there are not enough outside-stint seasons for this program.
Avg SRS 15.7Win % 100.0%
No school baseline data available for this tenure.
Career highs and lows
High Points
Best Season
USC 2016
10-3 • SRS 19.4
Biggest Improvement
USC 2019
8-5 • 8.2 SRS
Best Offensive Season
USC 2016
10-3 • SP Off 39.2
Best Defensive Season
USC 2013
1-0 • SP Def 12.5
Setbacks
Lowest SRS Season
Georgia Southern 2023
6-7 • SRS -8.6
Biggest Drop
USC 2018
5-7 • -10.6 SRS
Season-by-season results
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| Georgia Southern | 2025 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 53.8% | — | — | -8.6 | -9.4 | 28.3 | 37.7 | -6.1 | -7.7% | Completed-game fallback |
| Georgia Southern | 2024 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 61.5% | — | — | -2.5 | -1.7 | 26.5 | 30.1 | +6.1 | +15.4% | Season summary |
| Georgia Southern | 2023 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 46.2% | — | — | -8.6 | -5.2 | 30.8 | 36.5 | -3.8 | 0.0% | Season summary |
| Georgia Southern | 2022 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 46.2% | — | — | -4.8 | -6.4 | 34.3 | 40.3 | -5.2 | -3.9% | Season summary |
| USC | 2021 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.0% | #15 | — | 0.4 | -0.6 | 32.3 | 33.4 | — | -33.3% | Partial season |
| USC | 2020 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 83.3% | #17 | #21 | — | — | — | — | — | +21.8% | Season summary |
| USC | 2019 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 61.5% | — | — | 9.5 | 13.1 | 39.0 | 26.7 | +8.2 | +19.9% | Season summary |
| USC | 2018 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 41.7% | #15 | — | 1.3 | 9.7 | 31.7 | 22.5 | -10.6 | -36.9% | Season summary |
| USC | 2017 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 78.6% | #4 | #12 | 11.9 | 17.9 | 38.5 | 20.0 | -7.5 | +1.7% | Season summary |
| USC | 2016 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 76.9% | #20 | #3 | 19.4 | 23.6 | 39.2 | 17.1 | +5.8 | +21.4% | Season summary |
| USC | 2015 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 55.6% | #8 | — | 13.6 | 16.8 | 38.6 | 23.3 | -2.1 | -44.4% | Partial season |
| USC | 2013 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% | #24 | #19 | 15.7 | 22.5 | 36.6 | 12.5 | — | — | Partial season |
Similar coaches
Popular comparisons are fan-facing matchups. Statistical comps are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.
Statistical comps
Art Briles
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.8
Avg SRS 5.1 • Peak SRS 22.8 • 13 seasons
Best finish #7 • Volatility 10.9
Open profile →Gary Barnett
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.1
Avg SRS 4.2 • Peak SRS 20.7 • 14 seasons
Best finish #8 • Volatility 7.9
Open profile →Dirk Koetter
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.3
Avg SRS 4.6 • Peak SRS 17.3 • 9 seasons
Best finish #19 • Volatility 9.4
Open profile →Jim Mora
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.3
Avg SRS 3.0 • Peak SRS 20.2 • 10 seasons
Best finish #10 • Volatility 10.4
Open profile →Jedd Fisch
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.1
Avg SRS 4.2 • Peak SRS 17.4 • 6 seasons
Best finish #11 • Volatility 9.0
Open profile →Todd Graham
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.0
Avg SRS 3.3 • Peak SRS 22.3 • 14 seasons
Best finish #12 • Volatility 8.6
Open profile →