The Right Place at the Right Time

Pete Carroll has done the coaching tour. His life has been in football for more than three decades and he has done it all. From graduate assistant to NFL head coach with many stops in between. And now he begins the one job that hadn't appeared previously on his resume - college football head coach.

Carroll has taken the reins at one of college football's traditional powerhouses - USC. The problem is the Trojans haven't been in national title contention for years. They haven't dominated the Pac-10 for years. But the name of the school is still magic. The images are indelible. O.J. Simpson running through the UCLA defense and earning a Rose Bowl berth. Pat Haden passing to J.K. McKay. Anthony Davis returning kickoff returns against Notre Dame and then dancing on his knees in the endzone. Marcus Allen and Charles White triumphantly holding the Heisman Trophy.

The sad truth is that these events all occurred years ago - and in some cases decades ago. When an institution with a strong tradition goes through hard times, those older, victorious images end up mocking the current product. The legacy is too strong. The current team can't live up to the past. There have been no national championships since 1978 and they've had only one Rose Bowl appearance in the last 11 years. They finished the 2000 season with a 5-7 mark, their first losing season since 1991 and just their third in the last 39 years. Out went previous head coach Paul Hackett

Carroll gives the Trojans a chance to start with a clean slate and then take the program back to the heights. That's just what he intends to do.

"I have no doubt about what were are going to do here," Carroll said in an early-May interview. "We are going to do everything possible to get this to be a winning program. A program that wins Pac-10 championships and contends for the national title. The problem is that I don't know how long this will take. I can't give an answer to that question. But it will get done and I'm going to be around to make sure that it gets done."

Carroll has all the experience and knowledge that Athletic Director Mike Garrett could have wanted when he hired his new head coach. His main job will be to take a team that has badly underachieved in recent years and get it to play to its potential. Carroll brings with his experience an infectious enthusiasm and a sense of charisma that should be just the medicine for a team that was caught up in self-pity during the undisciplined Hackett regime.

Carroll had success in the NFL as he led the Patriots to two playoff appearances in his three seasons there. But the college game may be his true calling. He has a strong salesman's personality that should make him one of the best recruiters in the business.

"Pete Carroll is a great pro coach, but he's going to thrive in college," said former 49ers quarterback Steve Young. "He will recruit. If Pete Carroll walked into my house, there's no way I could turn him down. He'll dominate down there."

That's the same conclusion that Garrett came to before hiring Carroll. But even though he's charming, enthusiastic and proven, he has many obstacles to overcome that legendary head coaches like John McKay and John Robinson did not have to face when they were leading the Trojans in the 1960's and '70's. The biggest problem is the competition.

In those bygone years there was very little competition for USC and UCLA when it came to recruiting. If there was a big-name high-school or junior college football player that McKay wanted, he basically got him with one visit or one phone call. It didn't matter whether the youngster was in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Portland or Seattle; if USC wanted him, USC got him.

That, of course, is no longer the case. Washington, Arizona and Arizona State established their programs long ago, but that's not the only competition that USC faces. Oregon and Oregon State - led by Mike Belotti and Dennis Erickson respectively - have also turned around their teams and built powerhouses.

"That's the biggest difference from the time that USC was truly a dominant team," Carroll explained. "The other teams have really done a much better job in coaching and recruiting. There was a time you could just mention the name USC and that would be enough to get top players to come to your school. That is obviously no longer the case and it's just one area where we're going to have to work harder."

It may sound simple, but Carroll also sees one of his responsibilities of turning USC into a team. The group he inherited had a series of divisions and very little community. Carroll wants to build a team where the players and coaches truly like and care for each other. That's nothing new for Carroll since that's how he has operated with every team he's ever been with.

Former USC star and current Patriot DE Willie McGinest believes the Carroll approach will bring new life and enthusiasm to the program. McGinest played for Carroll during his three years (1997-99) with the Patriots.

"Pete will be do a good job and is the right man for USC," McGinest said. "He's very approachable and players will find they can speak to him easily. He's energetic and he knows how to motivate people. He's also very knowledgeable about the game. His style fits the college game - especially USC. College kids will definitely relate to him because he brings so much drive to the table. He'll be a fun guy for those college kids to play for. He gets people fired up and that's just what they need."

In a world full of driven head coaches who are married to their job and will often spend 20-22 hours a day at the office in the season, Carroll will not follow that model. He knows how to separate his job from his family life. Carroll and his wife Glenna have three children, including Brennan, 21, a senior tight end at Pittsburgh, Nathan, 13, and Jaime, 18, a sophomore on the USC women's volleyball team. He won't ignore his family during football season, and that attitude comes across to the players that he's coached through the years.

"He's a diverse individual and he knows there's more to life than just football," said former 49er LB Gary Plummer. "He forges relationships with people. There are coaches out there who will tell you one thing and do another. There are guys out there who will hang you out to dry in the newspapers and Pete Carroll is definitely not one of those guys. He simply cares about people."

He cares about winning football games as well and will try to do that with a multiple offense and a defense that will attack and strip the football. Carroll obviously knows a lot about offensive football, but he made his bones in the game on the defensive side of the ball. Of all of his influences, he believes current Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin may have more to do with his defensive philosophies than any other individual. Both Kiffin and Carroll believe that playing defense is not just stopping your opponent but creating opportunities and taking the ball away.

"That has always been the approach that I have taught," Carroll explained. "It's not a matter of just stopping the guy on the other side of the line and being satisfied with that. I have always taken a more aggressive approach and I'm sure I'll continue to do just that. In my view, the idea of playing defense is to get the ball and give it to our offense. You can't be content with just making a tackle or a stop. You have to take the football."

The offensive side of the game will largely be in the hands of new offensive coordinator Norm Chow, who spent 27 years working at Brigham Young and being involved with their offensive gameplan before moving to North Carolina State last year. Chow's specialty is working with young passers. He has coached six of the NCAA's top 12 passing efficiency leaders and was involved with teams that hold 11 of the top 30 single-season passing yardage totals in NCAA history.

Chow will be working with QB Carson Palmer and his responsibility there will be to improve his passing efficiency and specifically his decision-making process. Palmer was productive last year as he threw for 2,914 yards, but he only completed 54.9 percent of his passes and his TD-interception ratio was just 16-18. If USC is going to compete in the Pac-10, Palmer's numbers have to improve substantially in those last two categories.

Carroll feels pretty good about the talent he inherited - Palmer, TB Sultan McCullough, WR Kareem Kelly, FB Charlie Landrigan are just some of the returning offensive starters - but he wants to step up USC's recruiting of big, strong offensive linemen. No coach will ever admit to having enough tough, strong, nasty guys in the trenches on either side of the ball, but Carroll insists finding those people is one of his priorities.

He'll have to get that done in order to level the playing field against coaches like Belotti and Erickson. Going up against big-name, well-respected leaders is one of the reasons Carroll accepted the USC job and the Pac-10's current prominence gets his blood pumping jus a bit faster.

"I think that's one of the great thrills of coaching," Carroll said. "I enjoy going up against the best in the business. The Pac-10 is really playing well right now. Just look at how they did in the bowl games with Washington, Oregon and Oregon State putting big wins on the board. This is a very hot conference.

Going up against Belotti and Erickson may remind Carroll of his blood-and-guts wars with Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells when all three coached in the NFL.

"Some of my best memories in New England are coaching against Johnson and the battles with Parcells. When we beat Miami three times in 1997, it was one of they biggest thrills in my career. Specifically, we beat the Dolphins in the last game of the regular season (in Miami) and then again the following week in the Wild-Card game (at New England). It meant an awful lot to the team, obviously and a lot to me personally. It's one of the reasons you get into the game."

Carroll recorded a 35-33 mark in four years as an NFL head coach with the Jets (1994) and Patriots (1997-99). Despite that winning record and being made to look like the Patriots' scapegoat when he was ultimately let go, Carroll has no desire to get back to the NFL and lead a new team to the Super Bowl.

"I am right where I want to be for now and for the rest of my career," said Carroll. "I loved my time in the NFL and I enjoyed 17 years there, but I have no desire to go back to coaching in that league. I'm here at USC and this is where I want to be. I don't look at this as a stepping stone to any other job. That's not why I came here and that's not why I took the position. I want to return this team to where it should be. I want to turn this around and build a team that wins consistently. That is why they hired me. I am finished with the NFL."

Now Carroll turns his attention to rebuilding one of the most storied names in the history of college football - the USC Trojans. He has already rolled up his sleeves and gone to work. It may not be an easy journey, but you can bet that Carroll, his coaches and players will enjoy it along the way.

Silverman has been covering football since 1981 and has been cited for several writing awards by the Pro Football Writers of America.

"Pete Carroll is a great pro coach, but he's going to thrive in college. He will recruit. If Pete Carroll walked into my house, there's no way I could turn him down. He'll dominate down there."

-Steve Young

The Carroll File
YearsCollegesPosition
1974PacificWide Receivers Coach
1975-76PacificDefensive Backs Coach
1977ArkansasAsst. Secondary Coach
1978Iowa StateSecondary Coach
1979Ohia StateSecondary Coach
1980-82N.C. StateAsst. Head Coach/Off. Coordinator
YearsNFL TeamsPosition
1984BuffaloDefensive Backs Coach
1985-89MinnesotaDefensive Backs Coach
1990-93New York JetsDefensive Coordinator
1994New York JetsHead Coach
1995-96San FranciscoDefensive Coordinator
1997-98New EnglandHead Coach