FOOTBALL

Pete Carroll Weighs In

With USC sinking, who else needs to weigh in but Pete Carroll in an L.A. Times interview.

Here’s the money quote: “Unfortunately for the people who have followed, we made it really difficult on them. We won every game for three years in a row or whatever it was. The expectations were difficult.

“In one regard I feel bad for the guys who followed because it’s been so hard to match up. But it’s a marvelous place with great potential, a great setting, a great university in a great spot.?”

I don’t know how difficult Carroll made it for his successors. USC is USC.

I do know this: USC is easier to win at then some other marquee programs. It’s in L.A. and an easy conference. Carroll took advantage of both of those things during his tenure.

USC is only difficult when people get in the way and gum up how the program works.

There are some do-nothings who work in the McKay Center now that make it harder to win and recruit. When you get rid of them and hire a good coach, it will be easy to have success.

51 thoughts on “Pete Carroll Weighs In”

    1. Pete was scared (with good reason) that the Compliance Department was gonna sell him and Garrett out big time. [If you’ve ever worked with any kind of “compliance department” you know they exist —not to solve problems or correct problems —but to create them]…..
      #WhyPutUpWithThatIfYouDon’tHaveTo?

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      1. Pete wasn’t scared, he just wasn’t going to put up with the bullshit.

        The Corrupt NCAA had already made up it’s mind that they were going to take USC down, the sanctions were all pre-determined.

        Even with the evidence showing the NCAA had malicious intent to punish USC, Pete knew that Pat Haden and Max Nikias weren’t going to challenge the NCAA in court, so why stay?

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    2. That’s bull crap. Pete had been rumored to be leaving for the NFL every time a job opened. We were all praying he wouldn’t leave. He was waiting for the right opportunity. The Sea Hawks job was perfect for him. Would you have turned down that money and a job coaching in the NFL to stick around and deal the the NCAA’s crap investigation? Pete was finally offered the position he was looking for and he took it and so would you if in the same position.

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  2. Pete and his ego.

    Pete, your two ball sack hangers were just that, ball sack hangers. You ran off the adults and handed the keys to two morons, your ego got the best of you, just like it is now in Seattle.

    Kiffen might be decent coach but he’s sill a prick and the look on Suck’s eyes as he watched his team fold was priceless, he didn’t know what to do, as usual. Gomer was just in the right place at the right time with a lazy drunk AD to hand him the job and then a total incompetent AD to hand him an extension.

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    2. So it’s Pete’s fault that USC (Garrett) hired Lane Kiffin to replace him? No, USC hiring those two idiots Kiffin and Sarkisian after Pete left, those mistakes are on USC.

      There’s a reason Pete didn’t offer Kiffin or Sarkisian a job with him when he left for the Seahawks, they both suck. USC (Garrett & Haden) should have realized that and never hired either of those clowns.

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    3. I Could not have said it better 😂😂. Pete felt obligated to Monte Kiffin for past opportunities that escalated his career, so he hired his son. Steve Sarkisian was a nobody unpaid assistant coach at El Camino Community College who had previously played for Norm Chow at BYU.

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    1. Scott left out the most pertinent (in terms of our present situation) portion of Pete’s remarks: “NOBODY at USC talks to me.”
      Can you believe how dumb that makes Bohn look? He hasn’t touched base with our only living legend coach? Is he scared Pete will say, “You’ve sure been one helluva fuck up so far”? [The chance of either Folt or Bohn looking to Pete to come back ranges between slim and none]….

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      1. We don’t need any advice from Pete Carroll, he’s the one who endorsed Steve Sarkisian during Pat Haden’s coaching search . Sarkisian is not head coaching material, and never will be, he’ll be looking for a job in two years

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      1. I tend to agree. The first time he lost a game (and that would be pretty fucking easy to do with the soft program he’d inherit) everybody would be saying, “oh, look, he’s lost it!”
        #Pete’sGotNothingToGain&PlentyToLoseByJumpingBackInNow…

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      3. Who knows, maybe one day the new…much “holier”… crew (I’m talking about you, Folt and Bohn) will be found to be involved in their own kind of conflicts…..
        #I’mPrettySurePeteDidn’tDiscoverTheWorldOfRuleBending…

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    3. One thing is certain Pete was a one man PR Machine…scooter never liked him, gave him the Caesar name…but could he promote, at 70 I would highly doubt a replay of his previous stint at SC…name would help, but that only goes so far.
      Finding younger coaches in the NFL and college game, SC needs to look for younger coach with some moderate success with a high ceiling, not easy to find, but they’re there!

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      1. I agree (even though I’m a fan and defender of PC/USC I and PC/Hawks). Even great coaches reach a sunset point in the cycle of their careers (it happened to Johnson, Parcells, Holmgren, Shanahan, etc., in the NFL…JRob II at USC wasn’t particularly successful, diminishing returns for Bowden and Bryant at the college level). Think it’s human nature…there’s a time for everything…PC had a great run at USC, but that was then…they need to find new blood outside of their past…

        I still think O’Brien is the best I’ve heard mentioned, but if there is reason to believe a younger coach could be successful, then go for it…but be all-in (complete autonomy/authority and maximum/competitive budget for hiring/staffing…and be prepared to cut bait and try again if it is clear by mid-year two that it isn’t happening).

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  5. You were, at best, the third choice for the USC job. Did they luck into you?

    “They got me at a good time. They caught me at the right time, when I was ready to go. I had enough failed experiences to learn from. Eddie Orgeron being there, and Sark [Steve Sarkisian] and Lane [Kiffin], incredible coaches that were there and a big part of it. We hit it right.”

    I guess Norn Chow was never there ? And yeah, it was the right time for yo PC, you were unemployed.

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  6. Scott, you actually missed the true “money quote” in that article: It’s where Pete mentions his great assistants Ed Orgeron, Kiffin and Sarkisian and then COMPLETELY and INTENTIONALLY leaves out any mention of Norm Chow, without whom he WON NOTHING as far as National Championships go. What a dick and still an egomaniac. I don’t know if any of your other readers here will remember this, but when ESPN2 used to have its show “Cold Pizza” on in the mornings, I remember watching it early in the morning after USC had demolished Oklahoma 55-19 the previous night, and they were interviewing a “pumped and jacked” Carroll about the big win and national title. Halfway through the interview, the host of the show asked Pete “And how about that Norm Chow offense? Wow, 55 points!” and I saw Carroll’s smile instantly disappear and his face (and butt) pucker and he was clearly rankled and perturbed and said “Well, it’s the USC offense here, and………” . Less than 30 days later he showed Norm Chow the door, and Chow was gone. Another very good assistant coach, Tim Davis, also left in disgust due to the way Norm was treated by Kiffin and his enabler Pete, from what I heard. Ted Miller (ESPN) used to be the UW Huskies beat writer for the Seattle P.I. and I spoke with him a few times. He bet me (in February 2005) that Pete would never win another national championship at USC without Norm Chow. He was correct.

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    1. Pete sure had his blind spots. But let’s not go overboard here. USC did alright by him…and it’ll be a long, long time till we do that “alright” again….
      #…IfEver…

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      1. Yes, but that’s not my point, Michael. The dumb dick (he is said to be about a 110 IQ by people that know him best (and I’ve spoken to a few of them, going all the way back to his childhood) who called him “The entertaining, funny, kind of dumb guy in your fraternity, if you get my drift” who found success due to his determination and hard work COULD have won five (5) straight national championships at USC if he wasn’t so stubborn and egomaniacal. FOR INSTANCE: (1) With Norm Chow, who here really believes Texas would have won in January 2006? At best, you wouldn’t have stubborn, stupid, egomaniac Pete with a double-TE set and Lendale White the single setback, telegraphing the play to everyone; at very least, Reggie Bush would’ve been on the field and in motion as a decoy. F’ing stupid, Pete, just like refusing to run Marshawn Lynch from the one yard line in the 2015 Super Bowl, which he F’ed up also. So, 2005 would’ve been National Championship #3. (2) 2006 with Norm Chow: Doubtful the sputtering offense in Corvallis (that trailed 33-10 near the Fourth Quarter, before making a mad comeback and losing 33-31 on a failed 2-point conversion attempt. Worse yet, do you really think SC would’ve lost 13-9 to the 4-6 UCLA Bruins with Chow instead of Sarkisian? NOT ONE F’ING OFFENSIVE TD THAT DAY. (The Defense scored the lone TD and otherwise Boy Blunder’s Offense scored 3 points against the 4-6 Bruins, with a national championship berth on the line. All USC had to do (despite having one loss) was beat a 4-6 UCLA team to automatically play Ohio State in the BCS Championship Game, whom USC would’ve destroyed. Instead, Florida went and destroyed fat, slow, predictable Ohio State. National Championship #4 in 2006. (3) 2007: Losing to 41-point underdog Stanford, and then an anemic offensive performance and road loss on a sunny and dry late-October day in Eugene. Without losing either one of those two games, even with one loss USC would’ve gone and played fat, slow one-loss Ohio State and would’ve crushed them, just like TWO LOSS LSU did, 38-24. National Championship #4. (4) 2008: With one of the most prolific group of linebackers ever assembled, USC gets humiliated in Corvallis in late September by a smurf running back, a gimmick offense and a group of two-star recruits on a Thursday night. Boy Blunder Sarkisian’s offense amounts just ONE FUCKING FIRST DOWN in the entire first half of the game. USC finishes 11-1 and misses the BCS National Championship Game, due to Florida and Oklahoma finishing higher in the regular season-ending BCS polling due to strength of schedule and having a conference championship game. Look at the low scores of the games that Boy Blunder’s Offense achieved that year with 2009 first-round draft pick Sanchez at QB: 21 vs. shit two-star recruit Oregon State; 28 vs. 5-7 shit ASU; 17 vs. medicore 8-5 Arizona; 17 vs. 9-5 Kal; and 28 vs. shit 4-8 UCLA. Do you honestly think a Norm Chow offense would have made more than ONE FIRST DOWN in the first half in Corvallis, and USC wouldn’t have scored more than 21 points in that game? USC wins that game, and finishes 12-0 and Chow always crushed people in major bowl games with a month to prepare. National Championship #5 in a row.

        Am I wrong here? Disclaimer, please spare me the “Well, it’s hard to win a national championship, let alone five in a row.” Yes, we all know that. However, with Chow as OC (instead of Kiffin/Sark and then Sark in 2008 and 2009), I would bet you Pete would have five in a row. Having to run off anyone who drew attention from Pete and running off all of the adults on his staff in favor of kiss-ass “create in my own image” cockwombles like Kiffin, Sark, Yogi Roth and Spaulding Carroll ruined Pete being able to get an unheard of five straight national championships.

        Liked by 3 people

    2. Little Petey Pom-Pom lost to Stanford, a 41 point ‘dog @the crumbling mausoleum – say what?

      With 10 mins to go and a bozo 12 point lead, Little Petey manages to snatch defeat from the jaws of a NC victory vs Tixas.

      All Little Petey needed to do to secure a lock invitation to the BCS NC game was defeat a weak, sub .500 win UCLA team. Instead, UCLA punches Little Petey in the mouth and, defeats mighty, mighty SUCC 13 – 9. Coach Pom-Pom really blows the duke in this game.

      In reality, little Petey should be remembered most for his grim, mortifying bozo FB losses.

      Ridiculously though, Little Petey has been enshrined in the Clown U FB HoF. Clown U easily earns its moniker.

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      1. I likes Cicero’s line about “a man should be judged on and for his best day” better than “Little Petey should be remembered for his mortifying losses.”
        #UnworthyOfYou,MyFriend

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      2. Identified all the bad days…and in the middle 7 of those 9 years…you identified 3 games (each lost in the last minute)…not your strongest argument…no doubt, more than crumbs left on the table (I tend to think Lou Holtz in his prime got more out of the talent at his disposal than any other coach – if he had coached those 2002-08 USC teams, instead of 9 losses, it may well have been 0 with 7 consecutive national titles…that’s not even an exaggeration)…but not shabby, to say the least. And whether you point to the WR failing to screen off a DB costing a back-to-back NFL reign as a negative, to be that close again…far from shabby…

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      3. James,
        It sure is far from shabby…. Ali lost fights, Federer blew a couple of Grand Slam finals — so what? These are M-E-N.

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      4. MG-
        Great examples…my personal favorite in that regard is Bob Gibson – 1964, 67, 68 World Series…7 consecutive complete game victories with 2 shutouts, 2 game 7 wins, 17K game, hit 2 HRs of his own…6 more shoutout innings in game 7 in 68…misplay by great fielding CF Curt Flood prevented him from doing it again…

        Pete’s tenure at USC (and to a lesser extent with the Seahawks) reminds me of that…

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Bob Gibson! Love the Dusty Baker story about him — “He’s ALL business. He’s there to beat you. If he throws at you, don’t even give him a dirty look. Don’t smile at him either. He doesn’t like that. Probably best not to even look directly at him until he’s gone into his windup again.”

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      6. Favorite story about him is captured in the SI covering the opening game of the ’67 Series…writer notes that on most game days he would sit alone on the bus and think about how much he hated to lose and that the other team was trying to take money out of his pocket…but on that day he opened a window to engage the local Boston fans by joking “Spread the word – the Redcaps are coming!” Oh…and the one confirmed by Tim McCarver that Gibson would bark at him to go back behind the plate if he approached the mound, saying “What do you know about pitching?” Absolute all-time warrior mentality and phenomenal athlete (like USC’s Steve Busby, Dave Winfield, others) – could have enjoyed a great career playing hoops as well…and all of this while overcoming asthma…

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    3. Suck screwed up the 2007/2008 offenses. 2008 was Pete’s most talented team and Suck is the reason it wasn’t a national champion.

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      1. Exactly right. And, who hired Sark and who also ran off Chow in late January 2006? That’s on Pete. The sum of his work as head football coach at USC is fantastic, but it could have been astounding, had he have just not let his ego get in the way and had he not ran off all of the experienced, adult assistant coaches in favor of Yes Men Kiffin, Sark, Yogi Roth and his son, along with all of the Win Forever / A Better L.A. garbage that distracted him. The September 2008 60 Minutes segment on him was practically the beginning of the end for his success.

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  7. Pretty sure it was Kiffin who made the call not to have Bush in the game on 4th & 2. Kiffie was said to be blubbering in the locker room after the game IIRC.

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    1. So Little Petey Pom-Pom couldn’t chew gum and make sure Reggie “I saws the money and I tooks it” Bush was in the game to handle the 4th and 2 chore?

      #Little Petey choka, choka, choka, choka chokes.

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  8. Definition of insanity – doing the same thing and expecting different results.

    So why not fire Graham Harrell and Todd Orlando TODAY!

    Reasons:

    GH does not believe that the problems are related to his schematics or coaching, he blames it 100% on player execution. So how can he solve anything if he doesnt see the root of the problems? Get rid of him.

    TO is pissed off he was passed over as interim HC and really doesnt care anymore. How can he get the team to care if he doesnt? Get rid of him.

    Donte could work with Mike Jinks to double up the playbook before Notre Dame and design plays specifically for the red zone and the play after negative yardage plays that are killing drives. And design plays that are intended to take advantage of a defense focused on stopping Drake London.

    On defense, just have Vic So’Oto step up and have Donte spend his time with the secondary. If Navair has checked out, fire him too. So’Oto and Donte could motivate the guys, even if they cant really change the schematics very much. Focus on just simple tackling and pursuit to the ball, along with figuring out how to not get torched on long passes so often.

    Donte has been preaching accountability. You cant preach that to the kids unless you fire these unaccountable coaches.

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    1. I have another idea to try to fix the USC offense this year. Hire Norm Chow as offensive consultant to work with Mike Jinks on schematics. They cant throw away the full air raid, so they need a really smart schematics guy to weave it together with some other plays to make a more comprehensive offense.

      Norm lives somewhere in LA, so it wouldnt cost much.

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  9. Makes it sound like he was the best coach of all time. Please. There were some nail biters he barely won. And games he shouldve killed but lost.

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    1. Don’t agree at all – Carroll was the best in big games…Saban has not always been…and Saban didn’t have to deal with the NCAA/SEC/Haden-Gullivered Trojans…

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  11. I agree. Lighten up guys. USC is still USC. The advantages are still there. All they need to do is get an outstanding coach. And this is the best chance they have had in a long time. The sanctions are over. They still have a ton of talent, not to mention the talent market they are sitting on top of. It’s still one of the best coaching jobs in the country and there are a lot of really good coaches out there who are drooling over a chance to become the next USC head coach. I don’t think that they will make another mistake. If they hire another mediocre coach, then find yourself another team because this school definitely wants to de-emphasize football.

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    1. Agree … right coach with killer attitude could destroy even Pete’s record. Pete screwed himself catering to stupid Kiffy and Suck’s big talk.

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      1. hmmm…..
        Former USC HC’s actively coaching today:

        Coach O with a Natty in 2019
        Kiffy and Old MISS #13
        Sark and UT #24 and scoring points in droves

        As a sidebar story, former USC QB’s actively starting today:
        Matt Corral for #13 Old MISS–in the talk for a Heisman, having great season both running and throwing the rock.
        JT Daniels for #1 UGA–also in the talk for a Heisman. As expected, another injury has slowed his season.

        I checked on Sears–still employed at Boise St but not playing.

        The Sar-kiffin story continues to evolve…
        I think Coach O has proven that he had a low ceiling as a HC. Great DL coach and/or DC and recruiter. Not HC worthy.

        The next USC HC is young, hard-working, organized, innovative, a tireless recruiter and capable of communicating with this new brand of student-athlete. I would add that the optimal HC has no interest in ever matriculating* to the NFL.

        *my homage to Coach Hank Stram.

        Liked by 1 person

  13. Scooter makes it sound so easy to win championships at USC. He probably thinks he can win one as HC.

    Pete did increase expectations, but he also set the blueprint for winning championships in the modern age of college football. So whether anyone likes it or not, he deserves to pound his chest all he wants.

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  14. Danny … you nailed it. Goat Kiffin and Suck are the biggest frauds in coaching and Pete created these two losers. Those stupid creeps have haunted SC since 2005. And yes cost SC multiple national titles with their shit play calling and schemes. Hell if not for Reggie and Lendale playing like they were on fire in 2005. F ing Kiffy loses 3 games (ASU ND and Fresno). Texas should been an Oklahoma type rout but Kiffy choked like the idiot he is in the 1st half. And Reggie sitting vs a tired Horn D for finally 4 plays is a F ing crime. Hell he probably goes to the house with one more carry.

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  15. No go Scotty! Show me a man who says “ When you… it will be EASY to have success” I’ll show you a man who has NEVER had success. In the REAL world you just don’t see easy and success in the same sentence.

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