Fact A: Pete Carroll preaches competition. It's a cornerstone of the USC football program.
Fact B: Carroll believes college football should have a playoff system, not a convoluted Bowl Championship Series formula, which has left the Trojans out in the cold this season.
Fact C: The NFL is football's competitive mountaintop. It determines its champion in a common-sense way and will have no shortage of head-coaching openings this winter. What's more, as an NFL coach, Carroll was no better than average.
So, with so many pro teams changing coaches -- possibly as many as three on the West Coast -- is this the right time for Carroll to return to the NFL?
It's nowhere near as simple as A-B-C.
"I'd like to see it a different way," Carroll said of the BCS system, "but I'm not using that as an issue that frustrates me so much I would want to bail. Not at all. I don't care that much about it, and I don't give it that much regard. . . . I can't do anything about it."
Unlike in other years, people in NFL circles haven't been talking about Carroll this season. They respect what he's done. They know he might be a good fit in several cities. They might even be on board with his desire for top-to-bottom control of personnel decisions.
But for the moment, the big fish aren't nibbling.
That's not to say it won't happen. Situations can change very quickly in the NFL, and some starry-eyed owner might decide to pry open his wallet so wide that Carroll simply couldn't refuse. But Carroll is paid handsomely where he is, with a total compensation north of $4 million, and people close to him constantly insist that it's not money that would persuade him to leave.
"With Pete Carroll, it's never about the money, that's not what drives him at all," said Syracuse Athletic Director Daryl Gross, a former USC associate athletic director. "What drives him is the challenge of life. If it's a challenge, he's going to go after it. He's driven by something that goes beyond normalcy."
Maybe it's unfinished NFL business that gnaws at him. In four NFL seasons -- one with the New York Jets and three with the New England Patriots -- Carroll was 33-31. Compare that with his 86-15 record in eight seasons at USC.
Then again, winning in the NFL isn't what it used to be. Consider the success this season of anonymous assistants-turned-head coaches Mike Smith, Ken Whisenhunt, Mike Tomlin, Jim Zorn, Tony Sparano and John Harbaugh. In the pros, a winning season -- sometimes even a string of them -- does not a legend make.
