The Right Fall Guy for Trojans

MIAMI —  A midday rain falls in gusts, sweeping across the practice field, splattering off helmets and shoulder pads, and Pete Carroll could not be happier.

“Isn’t this great?”

The USC coach scurries from one drill to another, splashing through puddles, teasing and goading his players.

“Man,” he says, “I wish I could put on some pads.”

No Florida cloudburst can slow him down.

Tonight his team faces Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, a matchup of undefeated teams that will decide the national championship of college football. The game punctuates an extraordinary run in which Carroll has led the Trojans from moribund to dominant and, in the process, secured his own status among Southern California’s most popular sports figures.

Charismatic with a boyish grin. Energetic to the point of frenetic, mind always racing. It is easy to forget that only four years ago he arrived at USC as the least likely of saviors.

Fired from two jobs in the National Football League, he was on the outs, welcomed by neither fans nor the media. Carroll knew that if he did not win, and win quickly, “I’d be kicked out and coaching back at Redwood High School or something,” he says. “I needed to get it nailed.”

The story of his success is the story of a traditionally powerful football team on the skids and a coach in need of redemption, the two coming together at the right place and time.

A Year Away

The two previous head coaching jobs had ended badly for Carroll. Fired after only one season with the New York Jets. Fired after three seasons with the New England Patriots, despite having twice led his team to the playoffs.

Friends in the business, such as Oklahoma assistant Bo Pelini and USC assistant Carl Smith, say that in the spring of 1999 Carroll could have settled for a job as a defensive coordinator somewhere in the NFL.

He took a different route.

Not that he doubted himself -- “I was more angry and frustrated than anything” -- but he needed to regroup.

“I had enough time, for the first time in all the years I’ve been coaching, to really sit back,” he says. “I went through a process of reorganizing my thoughts and belief systems.”

If that sounds like mumbo-jumbo, know that Carroll has always based his work on principles of individual performance, drawing upon influences such as psychologist Abraham Maslow and Tim Gallwey’s “The Inner Game of Tennis.” His coachspeak is littered with phrases such as “teachable moments” and “fortifying messages.”

Out of work for a year, he hunkered down to reflect. “He bounced off a million ideas and was thinking about going into business,” says Smith, who worked with him in New England. “But he kept coming back to coaching.”

If anything, the time away convinced Carroll to refine his style, not change.

And, as he spent Saturdays watching his son Brennan play tight end for the University of Pittsburgh, he became excited about trying the college game.

A New Start

In the winter of 2000, USC was coming off a string of mediocre seasons. The Trojans, more than two decades removed from their last national title, had long since slipped from the company of traditional football powers.

Athletic Director Mike Garrett contacted several high-profile coaches, most notably Dennis Erickson at Oregon State, Mike Bellotti at Oregon and Mike Riley of the San Diego Chargers, about taking over. Carroll was perceived as a fallback choice.

Not that he cared. He says fans and the media “didn’t really know me.” Besides, he needed a chance.

The team he inherited was strong at some positions -- future Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer was the quarterback -- but shaky along the offensive line and at other key spots. So, right away, Carroll began searching for talent.

Too many good high school players were leaving Southern California to play for teams across the nation. Carroll began visiting a dozen or more local schools a day, schmoozing with coaches. After 16 years working with pros in the NFL, he threw himself into the task of wooing teenage prospects in countless living rooms.

USC offensive lineman Sam Baker recalls arranging chairs in his Tustin home so he and his mother could sit across from visiting recruiters, as if conducting a formal interview. Carroll barged into the house and pushed everything aside, plopping down on the couch between the Bakers.

“A lot of coaches are so serious ... you can’t see yourself going to them with problems,” Baker says. “Coach Carroll is one of those guys you can relate to.”

This personality came with an equally attractive promise. USC would not follow the traditional route of keeping freshmen on the bench. If you’re good enough, Carroll said, you can play right away.

He made this pitch to Shaun Cody, a sought-after defensive lineman from Hacienda Heights, then made good on it by inserting Cody into the lineup during that first season in 2001.

As more and more local stars picked USC, the coaching staff cast a wider net, hoping to steal prospects from other states.

“We knew it wouldn’t always work,” Carroll says. “But we took a shot.”

This strategy hit the jackpot with Mike Williams, a young Florida star who came to USC in 2002 and established himself among the greatest receivers in school history.

Others would follow. Tailback LenDale White of Colorado. Receiver Dwayne Jarrett of New Jersey. Carroll was putting together pieces of the puzzle.

A Different Approach

From the start, the new coach insisted USC could win with defense.

This amounted to heresy in the Pacific 10 Conference, where teams such as Oregon and Washington State were built on offense, and the games were high-scoring.

“I knew it sounded different to talk about defense,” Carroll recalls. “I liked that it sounded different.”

Ed Orgeron, a USC assistant held over from the previous staff, had watched Jimmy Johnson build a national champion at Miami the same way. He grew excited as Carroll brought a sophisticated, NFL-style scheme to the Trojans.

“Nobody in the Pac-10 played defense,” he says. “Pete was smart.”

Another instrumental move soon followed. Carroll hired Norm Chow, the offensive coordinator who had shaped high-powered passing attacks at Brigham Young and North Carolina State.

Chow brought innovative play-calling and a knack for grooming young quarterbacks.

The pieces were in place. Now Carroll had to get his players to believe. And if that seemed daunting, with the program in disarray, he never hesitated.

“I just went for it,” he says.

A Turning Point

Not long after taking over, Carroll called his players to a late-night meeting on the floor of the Coliseum for a motivational talk and an impromptu tug-of-war.

This smacked of his days in the NFL, where he was criticized for being too player-friendly, not enough of an authority figure. But it struck a chord with his new team.

“I don’t know if everyone bought into it,” tight end Alex Holmes says. “But I did. I could see things were going to get better.”

In another attempt to win trust, Carroll chose to serve as both head coach and defensive coordinator. Instead of administering from on high, he worked closely with players -- at least on defense -- every day. Orgeron says: “He was able to show guys his talents and his passion.”

The story is often told about Carroll acting as a running back in a goal-line drill, the 53-year-old throwing his body into a pile of young, armored players. On another occasion, he broke practice and led his team to a nearby diving pool on campus, launching himself off the high platform.

Such playfulness, however, was matched with a tough approach to the game. The Trojans revamped their training regimen, demanding that players become stronger and lighter.

Practices were made shorter and more intense. Established starters were told they would have to compete for their jobs weekly, often against those incoming freshmen.

“It took a while for guys to make that switch,” Cody, the defensive lineman, says. But soon, he adds, “we’re flying around. Hitting. Working hard. We started seeing results.”

There was a turning point midway through that first season in 2001. The Trojans had started with a 2-5 record and were tied with Arizona when the defense returned an interception for a game-winning touchdown.

“We don’t have to lose anymore,” Carroll told his players in the locker room afterward.

They won four in a row.

An Excellent Job

Watching from afar, Pelini, the Oklahoma assistant, guesses that not many coaches could have managed so quick a transformation.

“There aren’t too many Pete Carrolls out there,” he says.

Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops, who engineered a similar turnaround with his team, agrees.

“I see the pure energy, the excitement, enthusiasm,” he says. “You watch all of that, you can tell he has done an excellent job.”

There have been stumbles along the way, most notably a disheartening loss to Utah in the 2001 Las Vegas Bowl. After that one, Carroll and Chow spent the off-season retooling the offense, putting more emphasis on running and shorter, crisper passing.

Since then, the Trojans have gone 35-3. That includes a victory in the 2003 Orange Bowl and another in the 2004 Rose Bowl, which earned them a share of last season’s national championship.

This fall, quarterback Matt Leinart followed in Palmer’s steps by winning the Heisman, given to the nation’s best player. A school-record six Trojans were named All-Americans.

Off the field, success has meant increased ticket and television revenues that pay for other teams at USC. Louis Galen, a wealthy alumnus moved by Palmer’s exploits, gave $35 million toward construction of a basketball arena.

Victories have also brought speculation that Carroll will take another try at the NFL, a suggestion he shot down this week.

With the Orange Bowl fast approaching, the coach took a few minutes away from preparations to sit on a veranda outside the team’s beach hotel, lying back on a chaise lounge in shorts and sandals.

He wants badly to win this game. Yet, no matter what happens tonight, there is little question the Trojans have returned to glory days. And few questions about their coach.

“This is fun,” he says. “Absolutely.”

The rains that drenched practice a few days earlier had blown away. Carroll looked toward the ocean, squinting at blue skies and streaks of clouds, the sunny prospect of another victory on the horizon.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Pete Carroll’s career

After establishing himself as a defensive whiz among NFL coordinators -- and serving two somewhat less successful stints as an NFL head coach -- Pete Carroll came to USC in 2001 and resurrected the school’s football program.

Head coaching record

USC

*--* Year Record Bowl (won/lost) 2001 6-6 Las Vegas (l) 2002 11-2 Orange (w) 2003 12-1 Rose (w) 2004 12-0 Orange

*--*

New England Patriots (NFL)

*--* Year Record Playoffs (record) 1997 10-6 yes (1-1) 1998 9-7 yes (0-1) 1999 8-8 no New York Jets (NFL) 1994 6-10 no

*--*

Over the years

* 2003: Named American Football Coaches Assn. Division I-A coach of the year; Home Depot national coach of the year; Maxwell Club college coach of the year; ESPN.com national coach of the year; Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C., coach of the year; All American Football Foundation Frank Leahy coach of the year; Pacific 10 co-coach of the year.

* Since 2001 loss in Las Vegas Bowl, has led USC to 35-3 record.

* Unbeaten (4-0) vs. UCLA.

* Beaten Notre Dame by 31 points in each of last three meetings.

* 30 years of NFL and college experience.

* A premier defensive coordinator in NFL, highlighted by strong performances in 1995 and 1996 with San Francisco 49ers.

* Fired as head coach of New York Jets after one season (1994).

* Led New England Patriots to two playoff appearances in three years; fired as head coach after 1999 season.

Sources: www.collegesports.com; USC. Graphics reporting by Joel Greenberg

Los Angeles Times