By Paul Gotham
If all goes as planned, the Seattle Seahawks will announce Pete Carroll as their new coach early this week. The two sides continue to negotiate the extent of Carroll’s potential role with the NFC West team.
Carroll leaves behind a USC program that he led to 97 wins including a 55-19 victory over Oklahoma in the 2005 BCS title game.
Carroll’s potential move appears to be that of a coach looking for a new challenge. There is not much more the San Francisco native can accomplish at Southern Cal. His teams have won 10 or more games in seven of his nine seasons. Beyond that, 50 Trojans have moved on to the NFL during Carroll’s tenure including Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush.
With the past closing in on him the nine-year coach knows the time is now for him to make a move.
Recently, the USC athletic department self-imposed sanctions upon its men’s basketball team. A similar request was made for the Trojan football team. The NCAA declined, thus sending a clear message to Southern Cal: WE want to continue the investigation of the Trojan football program.
It has been four years since Reggie Bush left USC, and that is about how long the NCAA has been looking into possible violations surrounding the Heisman winner. A forced deposition could be coming from the star tailback soon after the NFL season. It appears as if the granules of sand are quickly diminishing from the hour glass.
No one knows what sanctions lie ahead, and Carroll has good reason for not wanting to stay around and find out.
Carroll’s case parallels that of current University of Kentucky basketball coach, John Calipari. The coach who made popular the mantra: “Refuse to Lose,” is on the short list of coaches who have led more than one school to the NCAA’s Final Four. He is on an even shorter list of coaches who have multiple appearances to the Final Four vacated because of violations.
Calipari’s named has been cleared of any wrong-doing with the 1996 University of Massachusetts Minutemen and the 2008 Memphis University Tigers. In other words, Calipari has avoided any consequences for those two programs of which he had direct supervision.
Much of the blame for the situation in Memphis has been placed on the NCAA. College basketball’s governing body gave Derrick Rose his eligibility only to recant that decision later. On the surface, Calipari avoids blame, but it is hard to ignore the coach’s role in the infraction. The NCAA oversees roughly 400,000 athletes. Calipari supervises less than 20.
Both Carroll and Calipari have more than likely addressed current and former players about personal responsibility – responsibility to self, family, team and school.
By week’s end, Carroll will have probably moved up the coast from Los Angeles to Seattle. Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats will still be undefeated. Both leaving behind the responsibility for cleaning up situations which they were entrusted.
What should remain with these coaches is the reputation for leaving when the crime came to light.
Unfortunately what will transpire with that USC team is that a new coach will come in, sanctions will be imposed, the team will struggle and fans will remember when the glory days of Trojans football – when Pete Carroll was coaching them. Some how, similar to Calipari – Carroll will walk away unscathed.
Interesting on how Bobby Knight questioned John Calipari’s integrity and fans – including Kentucky fans were upset. So as long as a guy who has a track record of NCAA violatoins is coaching your team -prior trangessions don’t really matter just as long as you bring them back to the promised land.
It will be interesting to see who they can get to take the at position at USC..
Smitty – I wanted to high five Coach Knight after he took Calipari to task.
Same here. It was nice to hear the truth being spoken. I was just shocked at the reaction to his comments. Like I said – they don’t care as long as he leads them to the promised land.
I’d like to slightly reword what Smitty wrote above:
FORTUNATELY what will transpire with that USC team is that a new coach will come in, SANCTIONS will be imposed, the team will STRUGGLE and fans will remember when the glory days of Trojans football – when Pete Carroll was coaching them.
THIS APPEALS TO ME 😉 Remember, don’t hold just Petey accountable … a number of people truly believe there is a large systemic/organizational issue in the entire USC Athletic Dept … we’re seeing major issues in both football and basketball.
Petey becomes accountable because he had no problem reaping the benefits, but now that the NCAA is going to intervene, Petey takes the high road. Yeah, there is an institutional problem at USC. Carroll did nothing to improve it.
Casey —
No argument from me … it’s “Petey Plus” getting the blame. Some ADs are either idiots or they choose to look the other way. We might be seeing USC’s AD, Mike Garrett, in hot water any day or week now.
I think what you meant to say is that Petey is “ducking out the back door and leaving via the alley” … not the high road.
ducking out the back door, taking the high road? It all means the same thing: Pete didn’t mind it when the institutional lack of control worked in his favor. Now that it is not, he leaves. And somehow he gets a raise. Crazy world we live in.
How does Lane Kiffin sleep at night? Holy cow…..
I’ll tell you how he sleeps – egyptian cotton sheets, with a down comforter, and fluffy pillows. Everything top of the line with his bank account.
I actually don’t have a problem with what Lane Kiffin is doing. Hey he is being honest – USC is probably the gig he wanted all along. I’ll put money down that he is there for the next 10 years and he probably saves alot of the new recruits potentially thinking about leaving because of Pete Carroll’s departure.
Now, he will be able to keep the windows open at night and enjoy that Pacific coast breeze..
Do college coaches sleep?
If you’re USC, is Lane Kiffin REALLY the guy you’d want to hire? This smells of desperation to me … I just don’t think Kiffin has what it takes to keep USC at the level they’ve been at since 2000, but time will tell. More telling will be the potential sanctions that could be handed down that might really impact recruiting, etc.
Wally,
Great points. All this is a head scratcher. If you are Lane Kiffin, do you want to go to USC with sanctions pending.
I guess there is no Rooney rule in college because the turnover was about 67 hours.
Actually, this could be THE rare instance when the new coach (Kiffin) justifiably feels the pain of sanctions at his “new school” because HE WAS THERE at USC as an assistant/recruiter when a lot of the questionable stuff was going on!!! Ha! I love the irony!
Wow! That is awesome.
Another way to look at this – does Kiffin’s move make Al Davis look good? Everyone thought Davis was crazy for firing the guy. Davis accused Kiffin of being dishonest among other things. Was the crazy old coot on target?
Please.. Nobody make Al Davis look good. Kiffin didn’t want them to draft JaMarcus Russell.. Davis did.. Hmmm, who is looking good right now.
The fact is this was an opportunity Kiffin couldn’t pass up and I don’t blame him for jumping at the opportunity. I heard Desmond Howard say that he was walking away from a pretty good recruiting class at Tennessee, so he isn’t leaving the cupboards bare. I also think USC had to act quickly with signing day just a month away. I think they were worried that a couple of their high recruits were going to jump ship.
By all accounts Kiffin is bringing an All-Star staff with him with his father Monte coming over as Defensive Coordinator and recruiter Ed Orgeron with him. There is talk Norm Chow is coming over as Offensive Coordinator.
Kiffin adds alot of credibility to USC because they are bringing a guy who was there and knows the USC way.. I know people are bashing him for leaving after one year, but if your dream job pops up – you have to take it. Vols fans will have to get over it.
Wally, you are pretty quick to lump Kiffin in for the supposed “violations” at USC.. I remember you defending Calipari way back when we were talking about how he was walking away from Memphis scot-free.. Sure your distaste for anything USC isn’t coming through??
I am reading articles with everyone casting the first stone at Kiffin. Don’t blame him – blame college sports. It is the only enviroment where the revolving door for coaches is allowed to happen.
Smitty —
No, I wasn’t defending Calipari … I was trying to get people to realize that it’s not JUST THE COACH that’s accountable for NCAA violations. It’s also the entire coaching staff, the AD and probably some others I’m not thinking about at the moment.
Yes … Kiffin certainly knows “the USC way”: Get as many great players as possible, regardless of what you have to give them and/or whether they can read or write. That’s also the “Florida State” way and the way of SEVERAL other “schools”.
That’s fine that Calipari can share the blame with other members of the athletic department. Does he share his paycheck?
No, but don’t shed any tears for what the AD and some of the assistants make … it would probably surprise you, esp the AD.
Oh … and remember that coaches can get fired too (Leach, Leavitt) … so with the high risk also comes the high reward. These head coaches are basically the CEOs of good-sized businesses … let’s not lose sight of that.
Smitty
Okay so Al Davis looking good might have been a little much. But the situation in Oakland pertained to more than the drafting of Russell. Kiffin’s claim was that the situation revolved around the draft choice. Davis expressed concern about Kiffin lying. Nobody believed Davis at the time because…well…because he is Al Davis. But now Davis gets some credibility. Especially considering what is coming out regarding Kiffin and his attitude toward kids he recruited for Tenn. In his press conference, Kiffin said he would not TRY to recruit those kids unless they called him first. USA Today is reporting that he did contact a kid who is now going to North Carolina.
One phone call gets Davis a tiny bit of credibility. This is the guy who drafted a wide receiver about 20-30 places higher then most people expected – in the first round and ahead of Michael Crabtree. This wide receiver apparently has a hard time catching the ball – which you would think would be the least of his worries.
I am not going to defend Kiffin, but do we know that if he contacted the kid – what the conversation was? I read the kid had already de-committed from Tennessee and who knows – maybe he was asking Kiffin for advice.. I don’t know..
Calipari said the same thing – How many guys followed him to Kentucky?
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