A highly improbable rise reached its apex Monday morning and USC named interim coach Clay Helton as its full-time leader.
The hiring, announced by Athletic Director Pat Haden, came less than 48 hours after USC ended its three-game losing streak to UCLA and advanced to the Pac-12 Conference championship game.
Helton, 43, received an unspecified multi-year contract, according to the school.
In a statement released by the school, haden said USC spent weeks ``searching the collegiate and pro ranks’’ for a coach but that the search led them to Helton, who went 5-2 after he replaced Steve Sarkisian on Oct.