Coach Carroll

"I'm excited . . . It's good to have someone who has been here and knows about Trojan football. His dad is coming with him and I feel like on both sides of the ball we'll be pretty solid, Coach Orgeron too. I think it's huge to get that guy and get that leadership." -- Matt Barkley , quarterback "Lane Kiffin is the right guy, basically a clone of Coach Carroll with the energy and the swagger, so everyone is excited. . . . I can't wait for the first meeting, because we'll be back in there hollering and dancing just like we did when Coach Carroll was here, so it's going to be fun."

Separation Sunday is in the books. The Green Bay Packers separated themselves from the top of the NFL, emerging from the weekend at 6-0 and the league's only undefeated team. The Indianapolis Colts separated themselves in the other direction, dropping to a league-worst 0-6. St. Louis is 0-5 and Miami, which plays at the New York Jets on Monday, is 0-4. And then there's the separation that had millions of viewers rewinding their DVRs — the quarrelsome quarantine of coaches Jim Schwartz of Detroit and Jim Harbaugh of San Francisco.

Pete Carroll is leaving USC, and the coach the school considered its top choice to succeed him is no longer available. Several Trojans players said Sunday night that they were informed by text message from staff that Carroll would become coach of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. According to a source familiar with the negotiations, the deal will be signed this morning and Carroll will be introduced as the Seahawks coach Tuesday. Meantime, Oregon State Coach Mike Riley, who had been targeted by USC as Carroll's possible successor, agreed to a three-year contract extension.

Shareece Wright couldn't watch anymore. Sitting at home last Halloween night, ineligible to play, the USC cornerback turned away from the television as Oregon decimated the Trojans' defense. Six months later, Wright again couldn't watch. The NFL draft was unfolding and, having decided to return for a fifth season at USC, he was not a part of it. One cornerback was taken, then another, until five were selected in the first round. Three weeks ago, after USC's defense broke down and gave up a second consecutive game-winning field goal, Wright wanted to shield his eyes yet again.

Does Bill Plaschke feel as if he is under pressure to write feel-good fluff articles about UCLA football to balance the current dynastic winning football at USC? I mean a whole article praising Rick Neuheisel for merely asking highly respected and talented UCLA alum Ken Norton to come work with him? And how amazing that he asks fired Titans assistant coach Norm Chow to come work with him even when Chow had already expressed interest in UCLA. Wow, what a gutty little Bruin that Rick is!

Pete Carroll sure said all the right things in his interview with The Times on Wednesday. And darn it if he doesn't have me optimistic about the upcoming season. However, because I've sat through more frustrating USC football seasons than he has, I am willing to point out a few areas of concern for him. A cheat sheet, if you will. 1. Play-calling. I suspect teams have caught on to run-run-pass. Just a hunch. And hopefully our former offensive coordinator took the "three-yard out on third and 10" play with him. 2. Penalties.

With a showdown against third-ranked USC growing close, Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor has found himself in a tight spot from which he cannot seem to scramble free. The sophomore wrote a tribute to Michael Vick across one of his eye black patches in the season opener against Navy. When asked about honoring the convicted felon, he offered an interesting reply. "Not everybody's the perfect person in this world," he said. "Everyone kills people, everyone murders people, steals from you, steals from me, whatever . . . . " This week, as the controversy gained momentum, Coach Jim Tressel offered his support of Pryor by saying: "Whether it was a coverage read or a defensive guy not playing a gap or whatever, these are all moments that we can learn from."

Supposedly, USC didn't want to hire Sonny Lubick because he is 63 years old. Come on, he'll only be 66 when USC starts its next head-coaching search. MICHAEL WALSH Santa Ana I don't mind the Trojans going Carrolling this Christmas, But, next Christmas I want them rehearsing for a bowl game--with a rose in their mouth instead of the same old song on their lips--"Wait Till Next Year." ROBERT H. WILLIAMS Monterey Park My first reaction of the Pete Carroll hiring was like most USC alumni--outrage.

Shame on J.A. Adande [Oct. 29] for suggesting that the Trojans have been masquerading as championship contenders, for it has been sportswriters, pollsters and oddsmakers who have been creating the unrealistic hype since the preseason. USC has not been a realistic No. 2 or 3 team. USC has some great players and fine freshmen, but they lost enough players (including juniors) to the pros to fill an NFL roster. Most teams in that situation would be said to be rebuilding. Any serious fan has known that we have not covered the spread since the first game, usually missing by two touchdowns.

Shareece Wright couldn't watch anymore. Sitting at home last Halloween night, ineligible to play, the USC cornerback turned away from the television as Oregon decimated the Trojans' defense. Six months later, Wright again couldn't watch. The NFL draft was unfolding and, having decided to return for a fifth season at USC, he was not a part of it. One cornerback was taken, then another, until five were selected in the first round. Three weeks ago, after USC's defense broke down and gave up a second consecutive game-winning field goal, Wright wanted to shield his eyes yet again.

The NCAA issued a controversial report Thursday that rates major college coaches by how well their athletes perform in the classroom. These statistics, available to the public online, make use of the Academic Progress Rates that the NCAA has been compiling for Division I teams for the last six years. The numbers are not new — they have been released annually on a team-by-team basis — but this is the first time they have been linked to specific coaches, even as some of those coaches moved from school to school.

Reporting from Renton, Wash. — In a way, Pete Carroll has already transformed the Seattle Seahawks into the Seattle USC-hawks. Eight of his former players are on the training camp roster — and that's after he cut LenDale White — and his staff includes former Trojans coaches Jeremy Bates (offensive coordinator), Ken Norton Jr. (linebackers), Rocky Seto (defensive quality control) and Brian Schneider (special teams). "It's just guys that are used to what Coach Carroll's teaching, guys who can hit the ground running," fullback Ryan Powdrell said.

Congratulations to the NCAA for severely punishing the Trojans. Now the multimillion-dollar industry of college athletics can once again become pure, contested by all those big-time BCS and Sweet 16 programs whose players receive no improper inducements, benefits, preferential treatment, grading favors, pocket change or any consideration whatsoever besides a "free" education from the universities for whom they earn hundreds of millions of dollars....

A Pac 10 head coach has been found in violation of NCAA rules for retaining a paid consultant to attend practices and watch games — circumstances identical to those surrounding former USC football coach Pete Carroll's hiring of an NFL veteran to help with the Trojans' punting and kicking teams — according to an internal Pac 10 report. The document does not name the coach or the sport, but the Pac 10 sent it to the conference's schools after The Times reported last summer that Carroll had quietly employed Pete Rodriguez to monitor practices and games throughout the 2008 season, in apparent violation of NCAA limits on the number of coaches each team may hire.

With national signing day for high school recruits less than 12 hours away, USC Coach Lane Kiffin on Tuesday hastily sat for his media guide portrait in the lobby of Heritage Hall. Total time with photographer: Less than 30 seconds. "Every place I'm at for a minute may be a missed call," Kiffin said as he hustled upstairs to his office. "It's closing time." Six seasons as a USC assistant and one as head coach at Tennessee have made Kiffin cognizant of the importance of finishing recruiting seasons strong.

"I'm excited . . . It's good to have someone who has been here and knows about Trojan football. His dad is coming with him and I feel like on both sides of the ball we'll be pretty solid, Coach Orgeron too. I think it's huge to get that guy and get that leadership." -- Matt Barkley , quarterback "Lane Kiffin is the right guy, basically a clone of Coach Carroll with the energy and the swagger, so everyone is excited. . . . I can't wait for the first meeting, because we'll be back in there hollering and dancing just like we did when Coach Carroll was here, so it's going to be fun."

Congratulations to the NCAA for severely punishing the Trojans. Now the multimillion-dollar industry of college athletics can once again become pure, contested by all those big-time BCS and Sweet 16 programs whose players receive no improper inducements, benefits, preferential treatment, grading favors, pocket change or any consideration whatsoever besides a "free" education from the universities for whom they earn hundreds of millions of dollars....

Steve Carroll, football coach at Simi Valley the last two years, has resigned. The Pioneers were winless during Carroll's tenure.

Jesse Scroggins called his shot Monday night: He will win a national championship at USC in 2012. Unless he decides to go elsewhere. The Lakewood High quarterback has imposed a Saturday morning deadline for the Trojans to name a replacement for Coach Pete Carroll, who has resigned to take the same post in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks. If USC doesn't name a successor by then, Scroggins said, "I'm going to look for a college who could win the national championship in 2012."

Pete Carroll had no choice. Not really. In Carroll's mind, the opportunity to coach again in the NFL, in a situation that appeared to offer him all that he could hope for, was no longer a possibility. "I had given up on it," he said during a phone interview early this morning, "but it came out of nowhere." Actually, it came out of the Pacific Northwest, from the Seattle Seahawks and billionaire owner Paul Allen. The NFL team reached agreement with the 58-year-old Carroll on a five-year contract that will pay him nearly $33 million and give him the control he never enjoyed with the New York Jets or the New England Patriots.