Going pro would be a bad move for Carroll
Perhaps he feels he has unfinished business. Maybe he wants a new challenge. It's hard to determine exactly why Pete Carroll would be interested in returning to the NFL as a head coach. After all, he's got it made in Los Angeles, overseeing college football's most glamorous program — USC.
A few months back, I got a chance to see Carroll after the Trojans thrashed Arkansas 50-14 at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. It was about 30 minutes after the game and all the fans had left. The place had become an empty tomb. But there was Carroll standing near the south end zone, gazing up at the scoreboard that stood 140 yards away and admiring the crooked numbers his team put up.
He was dressed in a perfectly tailored suit and looked like he could still be an NFL coach. But you could also tell that Carroll really seemed to enjoy the college game and loved being the captain of a ship that always seemed to be going full steam ahead.
Since he arrived in 2001, the Trojans have posted a 65-12 record and won two national championships. Even more remarkable is the fact that six of those losses came in his first season at USC.
Known for his energetic and fun-loving personality, Carroll has been able to woo great players to Los Angeles — stockpiling talent like embers needed to keep a fire burning. In turn with each passing season, he has enhanced the program's tradition, returning USC to the status it held in the 1970s.
In a city that has no pro football team, the Trojans have managed to fill the void. Hollywood's A-list celebrities show up for games and mingle with the athletes. Comedian and USC alumnus Will Ferrell gives impromptu pep talks. Marcus Allen will stop by at practice.
Carroll is the ringleader of this circus. And he's great at it. There's probably not another coach in the entire country that is better suited for USC than Carroll. It's hard to imagine anybody else who could thrive under the same circumstances, make use of the rich resources there and at the same time so easily block out all the distractions.
So it's a mystery why Carroll would entertain the idea of going back to the NFL, where he failed time and time again. As coach of the New England Patriots and New York Jets, he was 33-31. In his four seasons in the pros, he won a grand total of one playoff game.
There's no rational reason for Carroll give the NFL the old college try again, and right now he seems to be thinking along those same lines. He said he is not interested in filling the Miami Dolphins' head coaching vacancy after talking with team owner Wayne Huizenga.
The conversation, he told reporters, "only strengthens my resolve about being here and knowing what I have and how lucky I am to be in the situation I'm in."
Then why even listen? There's no sense leaving football's Garden of Eden unless he feels he has something to prove. And nobody really thinks that except maybe Pete Carroll.
Photo Source: USA Today
A few months back, I got a chance to see Carroll after the Trojans thrashed Arkansas 50-14 at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. It was about 30 minutes after the game and all the fans had left. The place had become an empty tomb. But there was Carroll standing near the south end zone, gazing up at the scoreboard that stood 140 yards away and admiring the crooked numbers his team put up.
He was dressed in a perfectly tailored suit and looked like he could still be an NFL coach. But you could also tell that Carroll really seemed to enjoy the college game and loved being the captain of a ship that always seemed to be going full steam ahead.
Since he arrived in 2001, the Trojans have posted a 65-12 record and won two national championships. Even more remarkable is the fact that six of those losses came in his first season at USC.
Known for his energetic and fun-loving personality, Carroll has been able to woo great players to Los Angeles — stockpiling talent like embers needed to keep a fire burning. In turn with each passing season, he has enhanced the program's tradition, returning USC to the status it held in the 1970s.
In a city that has no pro football team, the Trojans have managed to fill the void. Hollywood's A-list celebrities show up for games and mingle with the athletes. Comedian and USC alumnus Will Ferrell gives impromptu pep talks. Marcus Allen will stop by at practice.
Carroll is the ringleader of this circus. And he's great at it. There's probably not another coach in the entire country that is better suited for USC than Carroll. It's hard to imagine anybody else who could thrive under the same circumstances, make use of the rich resources there and at the same time so easily block out all the distractions.
So it's a mystery why Carroll would entertain the idea of going back to the NFL, where he failed time and time again. As coach of the New England Patriots and New York Jets, he was 33-31. In his four seasons in the pros, he won a grand total of one playoff game.
There's no rational reason for Carroll give the NFL the old college try again, and right now he seems to be thinking along those same lines. He said he is not interested in filling the Miami Dolphins' head coaching vacancy after talking with team owner Wayne Huizenga.
The conversation, he told reporters, "only strengthens my resolve about being here and knowing what I have and how lucky I am to be in the situation I'm in."
Then why even listen? There's no sense leaving football's Garden of Eden unless he feels he has something to prove. And nobody really thinks that except maybe Pete Carroll.
Photo Source: USA Today
posted by Rainer Sabin @ 9:42 PM
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