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Thread: Pete Carroll

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    Pete Carroll

    Investor's Business Daily
    Football Coach Pete Carroll
    Friday January 28, 7:00 pm ET
    Jonah Keri

    Before a big game or a spirited practice, University of Southern California head football coach Pete Carroll gathers his team around and offers this scenario: Imagine there's a beam that runs the length of a room. It's three feet wide and suspended three feet off the ground. Whoever can successfully walk across gets $1,000. Easy, right?

    Now take that same beam, and suspend it between two skyscrapers, 50 stories high. How many of you can handle that challenge with the same ease?

    "Their chance of making it across decreases because they're concentrating on the negative consequence, which is death," said Lou Tice, founder of the performance management firm Pacific Institute and a longtime friend and adviser to Carroll. "It tightens you up physically, interferes with breathing and balance, and makes you feel out of place. You've got to be able to condition your mind, and you can't do that if you're thinking about failure."

    These are the lessons that San Francisco native Carroll, 53, tries to impart to his players every day. The results: two straight NCAA national championships and a dynasty in the making at USC.

    That's a far cry from Carroll's previous reputation. After a long career as an assistant coach in the college and pro ranks, Carroll landed a job as head coach of the New York Jets in 1994. He lasted one season, as the Jets went 6-10, and the New York media insisted he wasn't cut out to be an NFL coach.

    In 1997, the New England Patriots gave him another chance. Expectations ran high, as they reached the Super Bowl the previous season.

    In the next three seasons, Carroll led the Pats to records of 10-6, 9-7 and 8-8 for a .563 winning percentage. But it wasn't enough. Fired again, and with many doubting his abilities, Carroll's career was at a crossroads.

    Nowhere To Go But Up

    He was certain his future lay in football.

    So in 2000, Carroll insisted on meeting with USC officials to discuss the open head coaching job. Not convinced he was the strongest candidate, the football-mad school made overtures toward three other candidates first. All three would-be hires turned USC down.

    When the Trojans finally tapped Carroll to take over, the media and USC alumni exploded in anger. How could Carroll make it work this time?

    "The expectations and demands on that job are beyond what you'll find almost anywhere else," said Pat Haden, former USC quarterback, winner of two national championships in the '70s and now a partner at the Los Angeles private equity firm Riordan, Lewis & Haden. "USC was very successful over time, then for about a decade before he arrived, very mediocre. Many in the community felt they could never get back to the top. "

    Carroll proved them all wrong.

    "Now that he's got it going, recruits are actually knocking on his door," Haden said. "It's an interesting phenomenon. One man's passion for his job can lead to the resurrection of a program."

    And a fierce passion it is. During practices he hits receivers in full stride with bullet passes. He gets into the trenches with the defense to teach fundamentals. He has his hands in every aspect of the operation, a rarity among college head coaches given the army of assistants they typically employ.

    That willingness to get down and dirty is his key, Carroll says.

    "The competitive energy that runs through me, the spirit I bring into practice, into work, would be my biggest strength," he said in a recent interview.

    Still, Carroll knows he has to strike a balance to achieve success. His biggest weakness, he said, is "maybe trying to do too much. You can spread yourself pretty thin sometimes, especially when I want to represent the university whenever I can, recruit on the road -- all the things that go into coaching."

    Others point to Carroll's ability to teach and motivate as his biggest assets. Many of football's most renowned coaches -- including Vince Lombardi and Bear Bryant -- made their names by instilling fear and reverence in their players and pushing a my-way-or-the-highway philosophy.

    Positive Mind Set

    Carroll goes the other way. He constantly emphasizes competition and success. He eschews chewing out players for mistakes, and doesn't try to motivate by telling them how crummy losing feels.

    "He enjoys winning, but knows that's not something he can control," said Glen Albaugh, a former sports sciences professor at the University of the Pacific and now a sports consultant. Albaugh served as Carroll's adviser on Carroll's master's thesis there and remains close to the USC coach. "You know the expression, 'Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing'? He'd take another dimension and say: 'Winning isn't everything. Playing to win is everything.'"

    The results speak volumes. After taking USC to the Orange Bowl in just his second season, Carroll shepherded the Trojans to a split national title in 2003, and sole possession of the national championship for the 2004 season.

    He's guided two quarterbacks at USC -- a school long known for producing star running backs, not quarterbacks -- to win the Heisman Trophy for best player in the nation.

    He urges his assistant coaches to stretch themselves, too. Defensive line coach Ed Orgeron parlayed his development of an elite front four and recruiting prowess into a head coaching job at the University of Mississippi. Offensive coordinator Norm Chow, already a successful college coach, has turned USC into the country's most feared offense.

    Carroll's also one of the best at making adjustments. Numerous times during his tenure, the Trojans have played only passably well in the first half, then come out in the second half and demolished opponents. Take the 2002 game against rival Notre Dame. The Trojans led just 17-13 at halftime, but then outscored Notre Dame in the second half to win 44-13.

    Why? Because Carroll constantly studies the other team. If his strategy doesn't work during the first half, he corrects it accordingly to win in the second half.

    Sometimes, his team knocks opponents out before they ever get a chance to fight. In winning the title-clinching Orange Bowl against Oklahoma on Jan. 4, the Trojans dominated the whole way, rolling to a 55-19 victory.

    Carroll made sure his players were prepared mentally and physically before the game. In his pregame speech, Carroll said he'd had a vision of USC playing not only for the national championship, but also for its second title -- and that they'd already won. He complimented everyone -- coaches, players, especially the seniors -- on all their hard work. The end to his speech? "Have a great time." And they did.

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    Re: Pete Carroll

    I've always enjoyed watching coaches on the sideline to see their reaction to adversity. I never saw Pete Carroll throw fits like Saban did. Carroll has that rare ability to get the respect of his players without demeaning them.

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