The Time For Change Is Now

Posted by DontBendDontBreak | Filed under Dissent, Failing To Deliver, PAC-10 Failures

Give us your angry, your outraged, your vehemently furious. Gather your pitchforks, your tar and feathers, and your blunt objects of destruction.  You are confused and distraught and looking for someone to blame.  We will point the way.

Follow us as we march through the campus, other indignant protesters joining our brethren, and enter Heritage Hall, stomping right to the door of the man responsible:  Peter Clay Carroll.

What occurred last night is 100% unacceptable.  A #1 team should NEVER lose to an unranked team.  Even in last year’s crazy season, where twelve Top Five teams lost to unranked teams, none of the victims was ranked #1.  Because a #1 ranking clearly means that you are better than every other team in the country.

Yes, that’s right.  I said that USC is the best team in the country.  That’s a tried and true fact.  Just look at that roster.  But it takes more than great players to beat weak opponents.  It takes at least a mediocre coach as well.  And USC’s coach is far from mediocre.

It’s clear that Carroll is neither capable nor interested in getting his team up for every game.  If a win isn’t going to get his picture on ESPN’s homepage and shoot his team up in the polls, he could care less.  While his players play their hearts out and live and die with every loss, Carroll sits by casually, knowing that another Rose Bowl win will be enough to keep his job and bloated salary.  He may only be one of the highest paid coaches, but he is definitely THE most overpaid one.

There is one solution and one solution only, and we here at Pete’s On The Hot Seat won’t rest until it is reached.  We call for the IMMEDIATE termination of Pete Carroll.

I’d normally be the last person to advocate the firing of a coach mid-season, but desperate times call for such measures.  The top candidates likely won’t be available until the season’s end, but USC cannot afford to wait that long.  Right now, we have to take what we can get.  (Of course, any replacement has nowhere to go but up.)

In fact, giving the interim position to an unheralded man is probably just what this team needs.  Whoever took over would feel that he had something to prove instead of basking in the undeserved spotlight of the media.  We could use a coach who actually TRIES to win every game instead of winning enough to slip into the Rose Bowl year after year after year.

Obviously there would be some hiccups.  Players feel a sense of loyalty to their coach, even one as poor as Carroll.  It would take some effort on the new man’s part to win over the team.  But showing that he had a dedication to winning would surely go a long way.  With the talent on USC’s roster, any coach with a tinge of motivation should be able to finish out the rest of the season without a loss.  And even if the new interim coach lays a Carroll-like Rose Bowl egg, taking action now will show that USC is committed to its football program, increasing the interest of top candidates during the off-season.

Of course, there’s an alternative.  Give Pete Carroll a second sixth chance.  Let him say all the right things to the media. Let his players rally the rest of the season, playing above and beyond their coach’s abilities, allowing them to climb back into the National Title discussion should other teams start to fall.  And then, when that dangled carrot is so close that you can smell the dirt on it, snatch it away with another coaching effort so lifeless that it boggles the mind, body, and soul.

Pete loves to do that.  And even I’ll admit…it’s the one thing he’s good at.  He’ll hide behind the fact that “every team is gunning for us.” Well, then that means we need a coach that’s bulletproof. And Pete Carroll is not bulletproof.  As we saw last night, he bleeds.  And we ain’t got time to bleed.

For those of you that think I’m being rash, look at the recurring trends that USC has fallen into under Pete Carroll.

DISAPPOINTED FANS:  This year’s senior class will now graduate without experiencing even a single undefeated season.  And just think, if Carroll is allowed to remain in charge and has two more 11-2 seasons, the current juniors won’t even get the chance to watch the Trojans in a National Title game.  (Not that it wouldn’t end in disaster once again.)

SHUT-OUTS:  Just when it seemed like Carroll had learned his lesson about failing to score in the first half, which he allowed the Trojans to do THREE different times in 2001, he goes and does it again.  Thankfully, the Trojans haven’t been completely shut out since 1997.  But when you consider that Carroll’s teams have been shut out in the second half on two different occasions, you realize how dangerously close he’s come to ending that streak.

ALLOWING THE RUN:  This was the THIRTEENTH time Carroll has allowed a player to rush for over 100 yards on his defense.  More than half of those times, the Trojans lost.  It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that if you go 73-8 in games in which you DON’T allow a 100 yard rusher, you should probably follow that formula.

The sad fact is, Oregon State’s 5 foot 6 running back ran for over 150 yards, making him the FOURTH player to do so against Pete’s “genius defense.”  If he’s allowed to keep coaching, it will likely only be another season or two before there’s a fifth.

KICKING GAME:  Has Carroll learned nothing from the heart-breaking losses to Washington State in 2002 and California in 2003, both the result of breakdowns in the kicking game?  It appears his disdain for field goals also carries over to onside kicks.  But just because he’s so conceited that he doesn’t think they’ll ever be necessary doesn’t mean he shouldn’t make his kickers practice them.

LOSING: Carroll’s sure diverse.  He keeps finding new ways to lose.   Triple overtime.  Giving up big plays on 4th and goal.  Having two-point conversions knocked down.  Throwing interceptions while driving for the winning or tying touchdowns.  And now this, not even having the ball in our hands as the final minute ticks off.  How long before he lets another team beat us by two scores, like he did back in 2001?

The season has barely begun, yet it’s nearly over.  And it WILL be over if we don’t right this ship before it crashes into another pointless Rose Bowl.  Captain Pete has commited mutiny, and he needs to walk the plank.

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Permalink | September 26th, 2008

5 Responses to “The Time For Change Is Now”

  1. Yamamoto Says:
    September 26th, 2008 at 5:19 pm

    Ever since Pete had that falling out with Norm Chow after the Orange Bowl National Championship game, his
    offense has never been the same. Surely he felt slighted
    on national tv during the game as the accolades were given to Norm rather than Pete. And with Kiffin and Sark, they are not the same in adjusting their game plan as the game progresses. Funny…Pete has never been to the National Championship after letting Norm leave SC.

    We will never return as long as we have Norm’s understudy callinjg the plays. I can’t figure out why SC
    did not purse Norm after his fall out with the Titans.

    Time will tell if Pete stays at SC!

  2. lloyder Says:
    September 26th, 2008 at 7:44 pm

    I think you may be mentally retarded.

  3. PeteFanAllTheWay Says:
    September 27th, 2008 at 12:18 am

    This is the most lame website ever and the publisher must get his jollies and much-needed attention, but what an asinine concept to dump the best coach in college football. I am sure the loser who publishes this is not a USC fan. She probably masks her identity.

  4. The truth Says:
    September 28th, 2008 at 2:53 pm

    It appears the publisher of this web-site is Lou Holtz.

  5. Retard Says:
    September 29th, 2008 at 7:35 pm

    This website is hilarious!! I can’t believe someone actually takes the time to write such off the mark garbage. Normally people who can put their thoughts together are fairly bright, not the case here!! Obviously the person putting this together knows nothing about football! Absolutely hilarious!

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