Pete’s on the Hot Seat

It’s been a week since Signing Day, but we’re not closer to sorting through the rubble.  Some overly optimistic sources rank USC’s incoming recruiting class as high as fourth, while the more realistic ones put it around seventh.  But at least there’s one thing they can all agree on:  As usual, Pete Carroll isn’t first.

Well, it’s official.  Current USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian will be the new coach of the Washington Huskies.  USC’s offense will never be the same again.  The Rose Bowl will be the last time to witness play-calling that no mortal man can comprehend.

Sarkisian’s creativity (his brilliance) is in his lack of creativity.  He follows the mantra that the best offense is a good defense.  And since he isn’t in control of the USC defense, he applies this rule the best way he can:  By essentially telling the other team’s offense that he thinks it sucks.

We’ve been inactive for quite awhile.  Some might have taken that as a sign that we were content with the job Pete Carroll was doing.  Far from it, as the season is about to come to an end in just the way we predicted, with USC lined up to play in its fourth consecutive Rose Bowl, against a pushover Big 10 team, this particular one being led by a man who’s likely to coach from home.

So no, we’re not happy.  We’ve just been biding our time watching the coaching carousel spin round and round, hoping the administration would be smart enough to tell Carroll his ride is over instead of allowing him to continue reaching for that elusive brass ring that he will never grasp.

As a USC football fan (and college football fan in general), I spend a lot of time on ESPN reading every bit of news, trivia, and biased opinion that I can find.  The other day, Ivan Maisel’s column pointed out a very interesting bit of information: “In just one game, UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel has measured up to USC coach Pete Carroll. The Trojans’ 14 losses over the course of Carroll’s seven-plus seasons have been by a total of 59 points. The Bruins needed only one loss for Neuheisel to tie Carroll.”

Now as much as we love seeing the ucla bRuins get blown out (by a Mountain West team!), what really caught our attention was the fact that Pete Carroll has lost 14 games.  For those of you keeping score at home, that averages out to two losses a season, and that kind of playing ain’t going to bring home anymore crystal balls.

After looking into it further, we learned some things that are worth pointing out.