Is Pete Carroll just a tease?
01/25/2008
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To NFL teams, Southern California head coach Pete Carroll must be the equivalent of that hot chick you see on the exercise bikes at the gym. Given the number of potential suitors sniffing around her during her workouts, you just know she’s a long shot, but there’s something about her that makes you want to drop to a knee, build her a house and sell her your soul.
Two weeks ago, ESPN.com reported that the Atlanta Falcons wanted to interview Carroll for their vacant head coaching position. First, Carroll was interested. Then he wasn’t. Then reportedly Falcons’ owner Arthur Blank spoke with him via phone and may have offered him the position.
Carroll was interested again. Then he wasn’t.
More recently, there have been rumors that the Washington Redskins have a mystery candidate for their vacant head coaching position, and it might be Carroll. If the rumors are true, surely Carroll will do a similar song and dance with the ‘Skins.
Doesn’t anyone see what’s going on here? Carroll is luring potential suitors over to the exercise bikes, flirting with them and fawning over their lavish gifts, only to ditch them when his workout is over.
Even if the Redskins’ rumored interest in Carroll isn’t true, it doesn’t matter. Carroll’s name comes up every offseason as a potential candidate for a team in need of a head coach. I just can’t figure out why.
Okay, well, I know why. It’s because owners like Blank and Daniel Snyder view their franchise as a business. Football fans have become stockholders for owners and as long as the stockholders are happy, owners are making money. And bringing in a big name like Pete Carroll brings fans excitement and hope for the future, which brings in more money. It also generates national exposure and the general idea that the bigger the splash, the better the results.
Just like that hot exercise chick, however, flashy doesn’t always mean better.
Carroll is a damn fine college coach. His overall record is 76-14, he’s won six Pac-10 Championships and one BCS National Championship, and he's coached several current NFL players like Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and LenDale White, among many others. But that doesn’t mean that some NFL team should pay him millions of dollars and make him grand poobah of their football operations.
Blank was reportedly willing to give Carroll complete control as long as he could revive the sinking ship in Atlanta. There hasn’t been a shred of evidence to suggest Snyder would do the same thing, but why wouldn’t he? After all, Snyder did hand Steve Spurrier the biggest coaching contract in NFL history in 2002, even though Spurrier had no prior NFL coaching experience. Plus, Snyder is king of the flashy hire.
Blank, Snyder and any other NFL owner would be whacked out of their minds if they handed the keys of their franchise over to Carroll. While it’s true he has more NFL coaching experience than college experience, it still doesn’t make him the right choice to oversee the scouting, drafting and selection of players via free agency for an entire team, and based on his track record, he might not even be a good NFL head coach, either.
In 1994, Carroll guided the Jets to a 6-4 start. After falling victim to Dan Marino’s famous “spike play,” the Jets lost six-straight games to fall to 6-10. Carroll was fired after only one season.
He resurfaced in 1997 to coach the Patriots, who were coming off a Super Bowl appearance the previous year. In three seasons in New England, Carroll made the Patriots incrementally worse each year.
I’m not suggesting that Carroll doesn’t at least deserve consideration for another NFL head coaching gig. He relates well with his players, is a great motivator and obviously knows the game.
However, for some teams to even toy with the idea of giving him complete control is ridiculous. The college game is a completely different animal than the NFL and to think he could make a seamless transition is unrealistic. Plus, given the propensity for college coaches to constantly search for greener pastures (i.e. Bobby Petrino), coupled with the impatience of most NFL owners, it’s doubtful that Carroll would last more than two or three years in the pros anyway. Then that team would be right back at square one, plus it would have a roster filled with players that fit into Carroll’s schemes.
And why would Carroll want to leave USC, anyway? He’s king of the castle and has one of the strongest recruiting programs in the country. Is it out of the question to think that he might only be flirting with the notion of returning to the NFL because the Reggie Bush scandal has grown new legs? Carroll doesn’t seem the type to leave an entire football program in the lurch, but the NFL would make a convenient getaway car if the crap does indeed hit the fan at USC. And what NFL team would want to deal with that baggage, especially if they just gave Carroll complete control?
Word to the wise, NFL teams: Forget Pete Carroll. Even if he would be a good fit as a head coach for some NFL teams, it would probably take a small fortune and complete control to lure him away from USC. So leave him in Cali and move on.
While you’re at it, NFL teams, forget the splash hire and big name; there are plenty of worthy candidates already in the NFL that are dying for an opportunity to be a first-year head coach.
What’s wrong with former Baltimore Ravens’ defensive coordinator Rex Ryan or San Francisco 49ers’ assistant head coach Mike Singletary? Both were passed over for head coaching jobs last year and appear to be out of luck again this year.
What’s wrong with Marty Schottenheimer or another candidate with previous head coaching experience? Tom Coughlin, Norv Turner and Wade Phillips have proved that hiring a retread head coach might not be such a bad idea.
The chances of a team luring Carroll back into the NFL this year are dwindling. The Falcons are on the brink of hiring Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Smith and the Redskins are considering ex-New York Giants head coach Jim Fassel. Nevertheless, it remains an interesting topic.
There’s no doubt that Carroll’s name will be mentioned again next year when more NFL teams are looking to fill head coaching positions. And while the Falcons and Redskins might not pull the trigger this offseason, who’s to say another team won’t finally persuade Carroll to come back to the NFL next year (or beyond) by offering him a ring, a house and their soul?
Questions or comments? Send them to astalter@bullz-eye.com.