UCLA does not hire Clay Helton or Alex Grinch as its new head football coach

Clay Helton and Alex Grinch both had coaching experience in the Pac-12. They both knew the Los Angeles recruiting scene and had established local connections. They were both part of coaching staffs which won New Year’s Six bowl games. Clay Helton won the 2017 Rose Bowl at USC. Alex Grinch won the 2019 Rose Bowl at Ohio State and the 2020 Cotton Bowl at Oklahoma under Lincoln Riley. Both Clay Helton and Alex Grinch won conference championships. Helton won the 2017 Pac-12 title at USC, while Grinch won multiple Big 12 titles with Riley at Oklahoma. Both men could have been amazingly great fits for the UCLA football program after Chip Kelly went to Ohio State, but the Bruins instead chose DeShaun Foster, an alumnus and a longtime assistant at the school.

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NO ELITE COACH FOR YOU, BRUINS

By having a coaching vacancy to fill in February, the Bruins simply weren’t going to get a big name outside the program. No one with a great reputation in the business who worked outside the UCLA program was going to relocate here in February and deal with the headaches associated with this job.

NOVEMBER MISTAKE

When UCLA lost its regular-season finale to Cal in a blowout, that should have been it for Chip Kelly. Instead, the Bruins retained him. It was a catastrophic blunder, given that Kelly obviously wanted out of head coaching and had tired of recruiting and NIL efforts. UCLA could have gotten a much better and more proven coach had it acted in late November. Sorry, Bruins. You made this bed. Now you have to lie in it.

D'ANTON LYNN

If UCLA had fired Chip Kelly in late November, it could have promoted D’Anton Lynn to head coach. USC is fortunate that did not happen.

TRANSFER PORTAL

USC has already snagged multiple UCLA players in the transfer portal. With another head coaching change in Westwood, UCLA has to worry if it will lose even more players to USC and other Big Ten football schools.

DESHAUN FOSTER ANNOUNCEMENT

FOSTER'S CHALLENGE

Foster has to not only retain players and prevent a portal exodus; he has to assemble a credible coaching staff and find creative ways to bring in recruits with UCLA’s meager NIL offerings. All of this happens with UCLA moving into the Big Ten. Foster is taking on a thankless task, but the good news for him is that he should have ample job security. He will be given plenty of time in Westwood — at least three years — unless something completely unexpected happens.

ALEX GRINCH

Clay Helton found an escape route to Georgia Southern after being cut loose by USC. Alex Grinch has not yet found a job after his disastrous turn at USC. UCLA did not pick Grinch from the unemployment line.

We joke about the Bruins not picking Grinch, but in all seriousness, there’s a reason Grinch hasn’t found a new job just yet.

Story originally appeared on Trojans Wire