Schutt Sports I-A Coach of the Year Finalists

PETE CARROLL
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

When Pete Carroll arrived at USC in 2001 with a 33-31 career in four years as a head coach with the New York Jets and New England Patriots, Trojan fans were understandably skeptical.

Over the past three years, Carroll has offered plenty of proof, with a 29-9 record that includes a 12-1 record in 2003 and the national championship from The Associated Press final poll.

“I was very fortunate to get the opportunity to come here,” Carroll said. “It’s worked out great. Everything about it has been terrific.”

Carroll, a 51-year old coaching veteran who built his reputation as a major college and NFL defensive assistant, inherited a once-proud program that had fallen on tough times, assembled an outstanding staff of proven assistants, starting with veteran offensive coordinator Norm Chow, and found a group of young men ready to work and learn.

“I think we came to a program that was ready for a change,” Carroll said. “The seniors and the upperclassmen of that first group were really willing to set the standard. And that set the standard for how we work and how we discipline ourselves and take care of business and what our work ethic would be. They’ve just never even for a second challenged my approach and what we’ve done.”

NICK SABAN
LSU

For the past 40 years, college football insiders considered LSU a sleeping giant with all the resources and potential to win a national championship if the university could just find a coach who could work through the distractions, give the program some direction and convince the players and fans to follow.

LSU found that man in Nick Saban, a former NFL assistant and Michigan State head coach who in his fourth season at LSU led the Tigers to a 13-1 record, a 21-14 victory over Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl and the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll national championship.

“LSU is such a great university and a great place on this planet – we should be on top,” All-American guard Stephen Peterman said. “Coach Saban has come in with his staff and all the people at LSU have done a great job of getting us where we need to be.”

Saban got the job done at a university that has gone through six head coaches since Charlie McClendon retired in 1979. None of those coaches lasted longer than five years.

“I can honestly say when I was contacted about this job, I had some questions as to why in the 10-11 years prior to coming to LSU they didn’t have the success they’d had in the past,” Saban said. “In the four years we’ve been here, we’ve been able to reestablish that.”

DAN HAWKINS
BOISE STATE

There’s nothing obvious about Boise State’s location, resources or history that should make it one of the nation’s most successful programs over the past three seasons. All the Broncos do is win, win and win some more.

“We’re not the best-looking group coming off the bus,” head coach Dan Hawkins said. “But when the game starts, our kids will play.”

Since former coach Dirk Koetter took his success at Boise State and moved on to Arizona State at the end of the 2000 season, Hawkins, Koetter’s assistant head coach, has taken the program to an even higher level, going 8-4 in 2001 and 11-1 in 2002, including a No. 16 national ranking, an 8-0 WAC record and a victory in the Humanitarian Bowl.

The Broncos took another big step in 2003 with a team that was supposed to be rebuilding, with a 13-1 record, a No. 15 national ranking, another conference title and a 34-31 victory over TCU on TCU’s home field in the inaugural Fort Worth Bowl.

“Everybody kept asking me, people associated with the bowl ... they wanted to make sure we were having a good time in Fort Worth,” Hawkins said.

“The reality is, if you win, you have a good time. If you lose, you don’t have a good time.”

GARY PATTERSON
TCU

After going 10-2, winning the Conference USA championship and the Liberty Bowl in 2002, TCU was an easy pick to repeat that success in 2003 to everyone but Gary Patterson.

Patterson knew his team had lost its two best receivers and six key starters from the nation’s top-ranked defense. When injuries early in the season claimed two more defensive starters and sidelined the starting quarterback for the most of the season, the job didn’t get any easier.

Yet, TCU still found a way to finish with an 11-2 record and a No. 25 national ranking. Finding a way became a theme throughout the season for a team that won seven games by seven points or less.

“The strength of this team,” junior offensive tackle Anthony Alabi said, “is finding a way to win. It’s us taking on the personality of our coach.”

Patterson was a college assistant for 20 years, TCU’s defensive coordinator for three years and a finalist for the 2000 Frank Broyles National Assistant Coach of the Year award when he became TCU’s head coach at the end of the 2000 season. Since then, the Horned Frogs have gone 27-10 with three consecutive bowl appearances.

“He’s a very passionate guy ... he doesn’t give us a way out,” Alabi said. “He’s saying, ‘Here’s the opportunity in front of you. It’s up to you to grab it.’”