A decade ago, in one of the greatest renaissance stories college football has seen occurred in Los Angeles when an unlikely candidate was thrown the keys to the USC football empire – and what an empire the Trojans have amassed – and asked to bring an ailing program back to national prominence.
Pete Carroll, a head coach in the NFL with the Jets and Patriots, was a choice lampooned and criticised by many when it was announced, but history tells us that then-Athletic Director Mike Garrett made an inspired decision. Carroll’s youthful exuberance was exactly what the Trojans needed. He revitalised one of the nation’s most famous football brands, and it wasn’t long before USC were back at the top of the college football pile.
Between Carroll’s coaching and his ability to recruit insane amounts of talented players, USC became the go-to school for so many of the nation’s best and most promising high school stars: Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, Mark Sanchez, Clay Matthews, Brian Cushing, Marqise Lee and Rey Maualuga, to name just a few. In a city where there is no NFL franchise, the Men of Troy were rock stars, feted by all and sundry in Los Angeles as they delivered memorable beat-downs of traditional rivals UCLA and Notre Dame, and embarrassed other big-time programs like Ohio State at the Coliseum.
Yet, beginning in 2010 with the revelation of NCAA sanctions coming after the Reggie Bush scandal, Pete Carroll was out the door, headed to the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks where, I guess you could say, he’s done pretty well. In his place, back from Knoxville, Tennessee, was the controversial Lane Kiffin, one of the co-offensive coordinators at USC during Carroll’s tenure in SoCal.
It’s fair to say that Kiffin’s time – three full seasons, 2010-2012 and five games last year before being dismissed – was controversial. He managed to bring in some incredible talent, and there were patches of on-field brilliance, but the Trojans were underwhelming for the most part, running a system very similar to Carroll’s.
In Kiffin’s place came Ed Orgeron, who had been Carroll’s defensive line coach, and, you know, USC fans could’ve been forgiven for thinking that Pat Haden and the USC Athletic Department were stuck trying to relive the past, what with all these Carroll protégés following their master in the line at SC.
In that regard, it wasn’t a huge surprise to hear that Steve Sarkisian, the other half, with Kiffin, of the offensive brainchild that was key to so much of what Carroll’s Trojans did, had been brought in from Washington to replace Orgeron, who’d replaced Kiffin, who’d, in turn, replaced Carroll. See the pattern?
Well, sure, by name and reputation, Steve Sarkisian is another Carroll disciple, and it’s an easy narrative for those who want to find fault with USC’s hire – and, let’s face it, there are a lot of people who don’t mind piling on the Trojans when it suits them – but if you take a close look at what Coach Sark, as he’s now known around Los Angeles, is doing, you’ll see some not-so-subtle changes, which point to the expansion and development of Sarkisian’s own football philosophy.
Sark isn’t following anyone’s footsteps, not really, and nor is he scared to implement something new, even if it does raise the temporary ire of the USC fan base. Naturally, when a few wins go up on the board, that ire will die down.
For a start, gone is the pro-style offense that has been king with the Trojans ever since Pete Carroll’s first season. Sarkisian is instead installing a no-huddle spread offense that worked well in Washington, and with the upgrade of talent Sark has available to him in Los Angeles, you can only wonder at how potent the Trojans might be when they have the football.
Similarly, on defense, Sarkisian is making changes. A 4-3 defensive scheme that Carroll and Kiffin favoured is out the door. Instead, the 3-4 formation will be the base set for the Trojan defense that will be under the tutelage of Justin Wilcox, who, like his head coach, came from Washington.
It’s an interesting position for Sarkisian, who has come up against two elephants in the room in recent times, being the championship legacy that Carroll left behind in Los Angeles – a dynasty that many USC fans cling to after the uneven success under Lane Kiffin – and the one in Seattle, where Carroll took the Seahawks to the top of the NFL tree, winning February’s Super Bowl in convincing fashion over Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos.
Trying to emulate Carroll’s run at USC didn’t work at all for Lane Kiffin, and Sarkisian will likely be the beneficiary of that lesson – albeit one that’s come at a cost for his former co-offensive coordinator. But don’t weep for Kiffin, not too much, anyway, for he’s landed in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and will run offense for Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide this season. If there’s one thing that’s undeniable about Kiffin (aside from being a hugely controversial figure, that is) it’s his ability to call offense.
One thing Sarkisian certainly won’t forget is the scholarship reductions and what they did to USC. Over the past four years, the entire length of Kiffin’s tenure, the Trojans forfeited thirty scholarships and were subjected to a two-year Bowl ban, not to mention ongoing probation as a result of the Reggie Bush/ Todd McNair incident under Carroll’s watch.
Last year, when USCS beat Fresno State 45-20 in the Las Vegas Bowl, they did it with forty-five scholarship players, which is forty-one fewer than the NCAA maximum. Where Carroll had a roster stacked with incredible talent, all on scholarships, Sarkisian has to work with restrictions, which makes it nigh on impossible for him to follow in the exact footsteps of his mentor.
I can’t help but think this is a positive. As much as Pete Carroll’s work on and off the field at USC will be remembered and celebrated for as long as Trojans play football, there is a need to move onward and upward. We saw via Kiffin’s spectacular implosion that a carbon copy of Carroll is not what’s needed. The game has changed. Pro style offenses are still prevalent, but the spread is now king – that or the run-and-gun scheme.
Sarkisian seems hell bent on doing things his way, remembering the past but not letting it control his football team’s future, and he should be applauded for that.
No comments:
Post a Comment