USC coaching search: Paul Finebaum names coach he would hire for Trojans

The USC head coaching vacancy has been one of the hottest topics in college football since the Trojans dismissed Clay Helton following a Sep. 11 home loss to Stanford.

Paul Finebaum recently joined “The Dan Patrick Show” to talk about who he would hire for the job.

“If I’m over at Penn State right now I’d be searching the yellow pages for a new coach because I think James Franklin is leaving.”

–@Finebaum weighs in on who he’d hire at #USC

For Paul’s full appearance: https://t.co/Z9RiNjTFEE pic.twitter.com/PsSdkrpnsP

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) October 11, 2021

“I would hire James Franklin,” said Finebaum. “He checks a lot of boxes in the sense that he’s a very good CEO. Which means he’ll bring in a top-flight staff. From there, I think this program needs to be run like a big-time operation, which it hasn’t been.”

Finebaum also shared why he believes the Trojans haven’t been able to return to the success they had in the early 2000s under Pete Carroll.

“I think some of the problem is, they’ve had inept athletic directors there in the past, they don’t anymore,” said Finebaum. “They hired Mike Bohn from Cincinnati. James Franklin is very smooth, and I expect that program to come back big.”

We’ll see who the Trojans end up going with.

Grant Bricker

Grant Bricker was a former freelancer for The News TN in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. He now freelances for Saturday Football. Follow on Twitter @GrantBricker.