Somehow, They're Keeping It Together

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Ben and J-Lo couldn't do it. Tom and Nicole couldn't do it. Even Eisner and Ovitz couldn't do it.

Can Pete and Norm do it?

The fragile ground that often collapses under the weight of Hollywood unions has not yet crumbled beneath the cleats of its latest power couple.

But the groaning and creaking is real.

The revered USC football coach and his respected offensive coordinator are celebrating their fourth anniversary next week with a national championship date night against Oklahoma.

But the relationship has been hard work that's not getting any easier.

Said Pete Carroll: "Norm has had an extraordinary career."

Said Norm Chow: "Pete's the boss. I know my place."

They say nice things because they are truly nice people, and because the Trojans already have had enough distractions on their road to Tuesday's Orange Bowl game against Oklahoma.

But those close to the program have seen how four years can be a long time for college football's best coach and college football's best mind to exist under the same low roof.

As their careers have soared, so have the number of their collisions.

As the air around them is increasingly rarefied, it's getting harder for both to breathe.

Much of it is quiet, most of it is philosophical, but enough of it exists that even parents of high school recruits have heard about it.

Carroll is irked at the national perception that he and Chow operate as co-head coaches, with Carroll running the defense while Chow controls the offense.

"That's really not how it's been," Carroll said Thursday, launching into a lengthy explanation of how he has helped shape it into "USC's offense."

Chow is irked at the national perception that he is not head coaching material despite a 32-year resume that includes one national title and three Heisman Trophy winners.

"I don't have a clue," he said when asked why he has been bypassed. "I guess people look at certain things, and I don't fit those qualifications."

Neither man is publicly irked at the other. Carroll is constantly complimentary of Chow, and Chow is insistently deferential to Carroll.

Their differences just seem to be one of those things that always happens to a power couple, there being only so much available power.

The first USC coach mentioned by Oklahoma's Bob Stoops on Thursday during his welcoming news conference was Chow.