Pete’s on the Hot Seat

We may never know how many people fill out March Madness brackets each year.  Tons of people who haven’t watched a single game get in on the action.  Heck, it probably draws a lot of people who couldn’t tell you any of the rules of the game other than you try to get the ball to go through the net.

So most USC fans would have still been able to join the fun regardless of what happened during last weekend’s PAC-10 Tournament and Sunday’s selection show.  But now that the Trojans will be fighting for a chance at the national championship, we can truly be invested in the excitement of the upcoming weeks.

And it’s all thanks to the genius and tenacity of Tim Floyd, USC’s basketball coach.  After the team’s incredible performance against Arizona State on Saturday, I imagine many of you had the same thought as me:

Finally, a USC coach who makes good second half adjustments:

A recent report has revealed the highest paid people at private universities throughout the country.  Coming in at number two on the list is Columbia’s David N. Silvers, a clinical professor for dermatology.  This man makes 4.3 million dollars a year.

Now, that might sound crazy.  But at least he’s a lot better at dealing with blemishes than the number one person on the list.  In case you haven’t guess it by now, it’s the one, the only, the Pete Carroll.

A 10+ win season.  Pounding a Big Ten team in the Rose Bowl.  Finishing in the top four of the polls.  And sending a number of players to the NFL, many of whom will be drafted in the first round.

I’ve come to expect nothing less from Coach Pete Carroll.  And I’m sick of it.

The title is in no way an attack on Joe Paterno, a coach that deserves the utmost respect.  Unlike Pete Carroll, he has changed his coaching style over the years, and he allows his great coordinators to do as much of the work as possible.

Sure, he’s 82 years old, but that makes him a whippersnapper compared to the Rose Bowl, which was first held 106 years ago.  It’s the oldest bowl game, and it’s definitely showing its age.  If it were a human, odds say it would be dead.  Which it is.  This year’s Rose Bowl is as lifeless as can be.

Perhaps I overreacted just a bit.  Firing Pete Carroll in the middle of the season might be a bit rash.  Though if it were to happen, I’d be all for it, just as the fans of Auburn are dancing in the streets now that the so called “offensive guru,” new offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, has been shown the door.  Their dismal efforts (both in victories and defeats) so far this season reminds me a lot of USC as of late.  Hey, come to think of it, when Pete is finally thrown out, maybe he should take his “defensive know-how” and combine it with Franklin’s “offense” to create an unstoppable team.  They’d be number one year after year…in ESPN’s Bottom 10.

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.

“Nothing special.”

That’s how the Boyish One described USC’s performance last Saturday in our over-hyped matchup with Ohio State. For once Pete and I couldn’t agree more.

For those of us who demand excellence from Mr. $4.4 million there was nothing special about the Men of Troy hanging less than 40 points on a defense missing TWO starters from last year’s team, at home, on national television. ‘Special’ isn’t a word I would use to describe a punchless running attack that never found paydirt, only averaged a little over five yards a carry, and did nothing to resolve the Trojans’ crippling running back controversy (more on this in a later post).

This game represented an unprecedented opportunity for Coach Carroll to tell an indifferent nation that USC was back, and that after three frustrating years in the cellar of the Bowl Championship Series, we deserve another chance in the big show, a chance to play for the ADT Security Services National Championship Trophy rather than have to settle for another^[1] irrelevant engraving on an ancient trophy from yesteryear’s formerly prestigious Rose Bowl game.