Brady Quinn, Matt Leinart joke about Leinart taking over at USC
Former USC quarterback Matt Leinart is currently very comfortable in his FOX Sports job. Or is he?
On Monday night, just after USC fired head coach Clay Helton following an embarrassing 42-28 loss to conference rival Stanford this weekend, Leinart and his colleague Brady Quinn joked on twitter about Leinart or their other USC colleague Reggie Bush stepping in to fill the role.
Leinart then offered the former Notre Dame quarterback a spot as his offensive coordinator, citing that Quinn’s wife, former Olympic silver medalist and gymnast Alicia Sacramone, would love to head west.
USC athletic director Mike Bohn issued a statement Monday afternoon, citing USC would be going in a different direction after a disappointing 46-24 tenure under Helton. Cornerbacks coach and defensive pass game coordinator Donte Williams was tabbed as interim head coach.
Of course, the rumor mill started spinning the moment USC announced the news. There are several names in consideration for the job, including Penn State head coach James Franklin and Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell.
Quinn and Leinart are good friends after bitter college rivalry
In October 2005, Notre Dame and USC took the field for one of the biggest games of the decade. It did not disappoint. The “Bush Push” game was the most watched regular season college football game in nine years, as 10.1 million people turned in to watch the No. 1 Trojans outlast the No. 9 Irish 34-31. The game garnered its name from a final play when Bush pushed Leinart into the end zone for the go-ahead score.
Leinart got the best of every matchup with Notre Dame; USC won eight straight games against the Irish from 2002-2009.
Both quarterbacks remain in the record books for their respective teams. Leinart is third in Trojans history in passing yardage with 10,693 yards and second with 99 touchdowns. He won the 2004 Heisman Trophy, and the Trojans won the national title in 2003 and 2004, although the second one was vacated. The Southern California native was taken 10th overall in the 2006 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. Quinn remains the all-time leading passer in Notre Dame history with 11,762 yards and 95 touchdowns over his four years in South Bend. The Cleveland Browns took him No. 22 overall in the 2007 NFL Draft.
Leinart joined FOX Sports in 2013, and Quinn came over the following year. The two are now members of the Big Noon Kickoff crew alongside Bush, Rob Stone and Bob Stoops. The show started in 2019 and travels to big games around the country each weekend during football season, and it leads into an immediate marquee matchup televised at noon ET each weekend.