The Great Debate: Pete Carroll Cont'd  

As always, the big man comes out swinging. He's got a point, just not enough:

• Pete Carroll put USC back on the map. It's that simple. LA might be a great place to play, but it takes a special guy to take the top quarterback or running back in the country year after year and make them WANT to compete against eachother. That's how Petey does it, he makes guys who have never had to compete for a snap in their lives relish the challenge. THAT is a coaching miracle, especially in a day where guys go to college already dreaming about NFL millions.
  
• It's bold to say that Carroll had nothing to do with Palmer breaking through. The guy was a classic underachiever, and looked like he was going to waste his talent. Then Carroll shows up and finally gets the kid to play, and he becomes a star. It was a coincidence? That seems unlikely, it seems far more likely that under a good coach, a talented star finally managed to reach his potential.
  
• Since USC is in a BCS conference, basically all they have to do is not lose and they can play for the title every year. I mean, it'd take a rare season with three unbeatens to change that. So the fact that Carroll takes on the big boys on the road just speaks to his having tremendous balls.
• The PAC-10 certainly isn't peaking, but part of that is due to USC dominance. Some PAC-10 records he has set (in six season, this can't be understated): 5 consecutive PAC-10 titles, 33 consecutive home wins, 34 game win streak, 27 game conference win streak, 23 consecutive conference home wins. Other records: NCAA record 63 consecutive games scoring 20 points (staggering) he has a 80% win percentage over the top-25, league record 85.7% winning percentage in conference play. The aforementioned NCAA record of 33 consecutive weeks being #1 by the AP. Also, the first team in history with 3 Heisman winners in 4 years.
  
• He's also a great bowl coach, 4-2 with one loss his first season against a very good Utah team, and the other the last second loss to Texas. The wins were over a pair of #3's a #4 and a #1. Wow.
  
• Who is his competition? The Rose Bowl against Mack Brown wasn't his shining moment (although one more yard and history is completely re-written on this one) but Mack isn't a superior coach. The best argument is probably for Bob Stoops. Except they met once, with a team most considered to be Stoops absolute best. A juggernaut by any definition. USC won 55-19, and you know as well as I do that the score could have been 100-10 if USC had felt like it. He's dominated Beamer and Tuberville in their own backyards, stole Stoops lunch money, blown out Kirk Ferentz, decimated Charlie Weiss and Lloyd Carr. I mean, who does he have to beat? Who's left? Does he actually have to switch sidelines and coach another team in order to convince you? Hell, his USC team could probably have taken Saban's Dolphins, would that have been enough?