I am an old USC fan going back to the half senior season in 1956. I hated to see Pete Carroll go. SC has been hated as only persistant winners can be hated. See the New York Yankees for confirmation. Reggie Bush was never my favorite player. I thought Carroll put him in situations he should not have been in because he was grooming him for the Heisman. I think it may have alienated Lendale White who would have won the Heisman had he stayed for his senior year. Bush was not an inside runner and White was passed over too many times for my taste.
Then, of course, Bush stabbed Carroll and the university in the back. I was not a great fan of Garrett as Athletic Director, either.
Now, better times may be coming. Two of my favorite players were Haden and McKay. They were overachievers who both had short pro careers then settled into successful civilian careers as lawyers. Haden even became the radio voice of Notre Dame football in addition to his law practice. Now, they are back together again, responding as usual when the university needs them.
That guy looks exactly like a successful lawyer who responded when his alma mater needed him.
On the serious side, it is a relationship of two 57-year-old men with unwavering respect for each other.
McKay says, “I don’t think, in all these years, that we’ve ever had a disagreement.”
Haden says, “I trust him completely.”
On the less serious side, they are also unwavering in their pursuit of ways to rip each other. McKay calls his boss the “short quarterback.” Haden calls McKay the “employee.”
McKay says the touchdown catch in the Rose Bowl was due to his superior athletic skills. Haden says the ball hit him in the hands.
But the respect never stops filtering through the rips and jabs.
I wish Pete Carroll had had a guy he could trust implicitly.
What about the choice of Lane Kiffin to replace Carroll as USC coach? I’m not sure I like that decision at all. I think Kiffin must have had knowledge or a direct hand in the Bush pay offs. How could Kiffin not know. Some ask how could Carroll not have known.
Your thoughts?
I think Carroll was blindsided but I admit I have no inside info. Once before SC forced out a great coach when a scandal not of his making embarrassed them. That was John Robinson. There was a lot of alumni anger and the football program, which pays for everything else in sports, went into a ten year decline.
Garrett did not choose Carroll. Carroll asked for the job and looked to me like a guy who planned to stay the rest of his career. I think Garrett was looking for a scapegoat and ended up on the outside, too. There is a lot of money floating around all top college players. Remember, this was not an alum breaking the rules; it was a would-be agent and Carroll may not have been aware.
Thanks Dr. Kennedy. I do agree with your assessment of Hayden & McKay, two quality men whom I admire.
I also like Pete Carroll and not just because he won games. A friend of mine has a son who was paralyzed in a highschool football game last year. The boy was a huge USC football fan. Carroll got word and visited the boy in the hospital at UCLA Med Ctr that Sunday night after a devastating USC loss that took them out of contention for the championship. Even under those circumstances he went to see this boy. He then later introduced the boy to the team and they let him stand sit at the sidelines in his wheelchair. Fortunately the boy is coming out of his paralysis. He is one of the lucky ones but he is still in the midst of months or years of physical therapy and learning how to stand again.
For this, Carroll has my respect.
One incident that tells me about Carroll was a topic of a post a year or two ago. Here’s the post.
I hate the Yankees. They win because they have the most money, and can buy the best players. College football success isn’t as directly tied to money (see Boise State), so I have no problem with the Trojoans. I thought Reggie Bush was awesome. I’ve never seen a better college player. If were Carroll I would have used him as much as possible.
Dr. K, I love college football as much as you do, but my team (and alma mater) is BYU. Our first game is against Washington, who is coached by former BYU QB and USC assistant coach Steve Sarkisian.
Bush is a great player but Carroll sent him in for inside the tackles runs that made no sense when White was standing there ready. White was a great inside runner and Bush is awesome when he gets running room. I think White was soured somewhat (He also didn’t like going to class) by the adulation Bush got when White was a bread and butter runner. There was an obvious campaign to get Bush the Heisman and some of it was sending him inside to show he was a power runner. He isn’t. They should have balanced things more and maybe White would have stayed for his senior year when they badly needed him.
I have to say that Sanchez seems to be as good as he thought he was. One big thing SC had going for it was the idea that a guy could play one year and start in the NFL. That will be hard to bring back. Look at Matt Castle. He never started at SC and is starting in the NFL and winning. Carroll might have made the wrong decision in going with Leinert or maybe he was just ready sooner.