Pat Haden’s USC legacy hinges on how well Clay Helton’s hiring goes

For nearly two months, the pressure to become USC’s permanent football coach was squarely on Clay Helton.

Now that he has the gig, the pressure is all on the guy who hired him.

For Clay Helton, this is a first job.

For Pat Haden, this is a lasting legacy.

It has been written repeatedly in this space that Helton would be the perfect pick, and it’s great to see that Haden, the Trojans’ athletic director, finally agreed.

Helton is so un-Hollywood he is barely recognizable without his baseball cap, but he pulls that cap low, tightens that jaw, runs the football, stresses the fundamentals and commands the respect of the players who on Saturday ran through a blue wall for him in a job-clinching win against UCLA.

Helton does not possess one ounce of Showtime, but he is pure Fight On, and in hiring him, the Trojans smartly recommitted themselves to the motto’s essence.

Still, if none of this works out long term, Helton is likely to remain a respected football man who will land on his feet.

For Haden, failure could level his reputation as an athletic director forever.

Helton needs this, but Haden needs it more, especially if, as many expect, he soon moves into a different administrative role for health reasons.

For all the great things they might be accomplished in the other corners of a world-class department, USC athletic directors are ultimately judged on only one task: Did they hire the right football coach?

For all the tumult that surrounded the departure of Mike Garrett, he will be forever remembered — even revered — for one thing. He is the man who hired Pete Carroll.

Haden’s record with head coaches is not so good. He fired Lane Kiffin on an airport tarmac. He hired Steve Sarkisian without properly checking out issues he had related to alcohol. He allowed Sarkisian to continue coaching even after an embarrassing incident at the preseason “Salute to Troy” event.

Some people think Haden’s involvement in other businesses has distracted him from his duties to the university. Others are concerned that health problems are making it impossible for him to safely devote the necessary time to run the program. He has not been seen at a football game in several weeks, leading to speculation that Helton’s hiring is the first part of Haden’s exit strategy.

If so, give him credit for going down fighting with his strongest Trojans instincts and his deepest Trojans beliefs. While Helton has been called the easy hire, he’s really the toughest of hires. It’s a gut hire. It’s a relationship hire. It’s a hire that can’t be based on past full-time college head-coaching experience (Helton has none) or NFL pedigree (nothing there, either).

It’s a hire you have to feel, and Haden clearly felt it, like many other Trojans alumni and boosters felt it, so much that the hiring process never accounted for NFL coaches such as Chip Kelly or John Harbaugh becoming available.

It says here Haden is right. It also says here that he’d better duck if he’s not.

“I don’t think we need glitz, I think we need people with character, and we have that with Clay,” Haden told reporters at a news conference for Helton on Monday.

It is no coincidence that character played a big role in choosing a head coach to follow Kiffin and Sarkisian, well known characters. Haden, whose character has been unquestioned even as his judgment was doubted, seemingly made this a hire in his own image.

Helton, 43, has changed the Trojans culture in more ways than bringing back a physical running game and a hard-nosed defense. He has also revived the notion of Trojans Family, something near to Haden’s heart. He has welcomed parents back to practice and to team dinners while gathering the redshirts, walk-ons and scrubs to special Monday practices devoted completely to their football education.

A program recently dominated by hey-look-at-me head coaches was suddenly being run by a guy who reflected all the light onto his players, and they loved him for it.

“Everything we are, it comes from our head coach,” said freshman cornerback Iman Marshall. “He came in and sat us down and turned us into a team again.”

Now the question is, can Helton restore some of Haden’s lost luster?

Haden made the right call by hiring a six-year Trojan with a 6-2 interim record, a bowl game win, no losses at home, and a victory over UCLA. But some fans are no doubt already lining up to let him hear about it if things go badly, which could happen as soon as Saturday’s Pac-12 Conference championship game against Stanford. Or at the ensuing bowl game. Or during next season’s opener against Alabama.

“We’ve known him now for a good six years so we know exactly what we’re getting,” Haden said of Helton. “We’re getting a very, very good football coach, a quality person.”

A smart move, but will it be Haden’s last move?

Asked about his health Monday, Haden said simply, “I’m doing OK, I’m doing OK.”

The words weren’t effusive. The verdict on his personal situation is still unclear.

Whatever happens, Pat Haden will forever be linked with Clay Helton in Trojans history. Here’s guessing it will turn out well for both of them. But fair or not, one of them will be taking a much bigger hit if it doesn’t.

bill.plaschke@latimes.com

Twitter: @billplaschke