Donte Williams: What we know about USC's interim head football coach
LOS ANGELES - USC has named Donte Williams the Trojans' interim head football coach Monday.
Williams' promotion will make him USC's first Black head football coach.
The announcement comes moments after USC fired Clay Helton. Helton's firing came just hours after the Trojans' humiliating 42-28 home loss to Stanford.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: USC fires head football coach Clay Helton
Williams, who graduated Culver City High School, was USC's associate head coach and cornerbacks coach before Monday's promotion. According to the USC athletic department webpage, the 39-year-old is considered one of the nation's top recruiters.
Below are Williams' previous stops before joining USC in 2020:
- 2007 – Los Angeles Harbor Junior College, cornerbacks coach
- 2008 – El Camino Junior College, cornerbacks coach
- 2009 – Mt. San Antonio Junior College, cornerbacks coach
- 2010 – Nevada, quality control/linebackers
- 2011-12: Washington, graduate assistant/cornerbacks and linebackers
- 2013-15: San Jose State, cornerbacks coach, secondary coach, recruiting coordinator
- 2016 – Arizona, cornerbacks coach
- 2017 – Nebraska, cornerbacks coach
- 2018-19: Oregon, cornerbacks coach
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Over the course of his 14-plus years of coaching, the USC athletic department webpage credited Williams for playing a role in the development of the following NFL players: Bene Benwikere, Mike Harris, Desmond Trufant, Marcus Peters, Joshua Kalu, Akeem King, Dane Cruikshank, Chris Jones and Andre Chachere.
Following Monday's announcement, the Culver City Unified School District published a congratulatory tweet celebrating the coach's promotion:
USC enters Saturday, Sept. 18 showdown against Washington State with a 1-1 record.
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