At least the guy’s honest. That was Pete Carroll to Scott Wolf of the L.A. DAILY NEWS yesterday from San Francisco, where the Trojans will tee it up in the Nut Bowl against Boston College today.
Carroll’s 2009 nut shelled:
a) Stafon Johnson injury
b) Joe McKnight investigation / AD Mike Garrett not sticking up for Carroll
c) Charlie Weis comment about Carroll’s personal life
d) Losing to god-awful Washington and former Carroll protege Steve Sarkisian
e) Damian Williams turning pro
f) Three USC players academically ineligible for Nut Bowl
g) Ongoing Reggie Bush investigation
h) Horrific performance by USC defense this season, of which Carrroll is de facto coach
i) Worse loss in team history against Oregon / Home loss to Stanford
j) Jeremy Bates as OC
Okay you probably know all about the first nine things I listed there, but what about Bates?
On Christmas eve, Scott Wolf wrote in the L.A. DAILY NEWS:
With the season nearly over, it’s only natural to wonder whether quarterbacks coach Jeremy Bates will return next season or attempt to coach in the NFL, where he spent the previous seven years.
A natural question for everyone but Bates, of course, who refused to discuss job possibilities Thursday.
“We’ve got a big game on Saturday and we’re not going to deal with anything like that,” Bates said.
USC coach Pete Carroll said he expected Bates to receive NFL offers after the season.
“I think he might be hot,” Carroll said.
Apparently, NFL teams will ignore USC’s offensive performances. The Trojans are ranked 98 th nationally in third-down conversion percentage (34.8) this season.
The same day the McKnight SUV fiasco exploded, I talked to a source inside the USC football program. Unsolicited, he told me that Bates would not be back next season, and not necessarily because it was a given that he’d be re-joining Mike Shanahan.
I was told that Carroll hadn’t taken to Bates coaching style, which is bereft of the rah-rah element that Carroll covets in his coaches. Coupled with USC’s less than savory offensive performance under Carroll-proclaimed wunderkind Matt Barkley, the head coach was going to enthusiastically nudge Bates to leave the program and return to the NFL.
Which makes Carroll calling Bates a “hot” coach prospect completely expected.
As Wolf points out, Bates’ performance at USC would hardly warrant that description, but now we know what’s really behind Carroll touting his top offensive assistant.
4:30 pm on December 26th, 2009
Give me a break dude, that statement was followed by “We’ve had some rough spots. I’m ready to get started on the next one.”
That was nowhere near Hamels-esque. Pete is not going to give up. All the SC and Carroll haters can go f*** themselves.
4:31 pm on December 26th, 2009
I still don’t understand why Carroll isn’t being pressed about his personal life. Tiger’s whoring around didn’t affect his golf one bit but it became an issue. Players and coaches are whispering that Carroll’s “indiscretions” are preventing him from devoting the time necessary to run the team yet it gets ignored. It’s the same issue: USC is big news in town and no one want to lose their access to Pete just the way the golf writers were afraid of Tiger. Pete is not going to enjoy TMZ Sports one bit when it launches.
11:33 pm on December 26th, 2009
Brooks, you left this off about USC’s 2009 season…
8 starters from last year’s defense now playing in the pros.
New defensive coordinator
New offensive coordinator
True freshman QB
I repeat…8 starters from last year’s defense are now playing in the pros. What the hell did people think the defense was going to be like this year?
1:18 am on December 27th, 2009
I agree, Ron. Throw in a few blowjobs from someone that’s not your wife and you get 9-4 with all that talent missing. He stays with his wife and maybe they go 11-2.
7:23 pm on December 27th, 2009
Forget about his personal life, how about the incompetent boobs at the NCAA investigate his program…Bush was on the take, allegedly, and no doubt many more up to the present.
10:20 pm on December 27th, 2009
To all of you who know nothing abouit USC bite me. Pete and the program has done nothing wrong. Bush 5 years later no evidence that is credible. USC had a blip in 2009 but will be back in 2010.
12:57 am on December 28th, 2009
lol, Poor aunt carol can’t catch a break. She can’t coach, she needs good assistants, la county jail cell buddies and a host of “alleged” thugs and student???/athletes that take payoffs and cars to play for her. usc has deep pockets, thats why aunt carol likes her deal.
payola on, aunt carol!
5:07 pm on December 28th, 2009
Jeremy Bates does not belong at USC. Coach Pete Carroll needs great coaches who know how to improve on what they have. Look at all the other previous seasons; each season, USC took one step backward. Each season, USC lost at least another good coach, who should have stayed on the program. Each coach who leaves, after another successful USC football season, needs to be banned from USC permanently. IF they leave when they should be staying, then don’t come back, ever. To purposely work toward ruin, to leave USC without the qualities these coaches possess, it is sickening. Coach Carroll needs great coaches who do not plan on leaving and should be signing (after the first year) extended contracts, which prohibit them from leaving. USC has the same players they always had, yet his year, they can’t win? It is because the good coaches are always leaving, leaving Coach Carroll with cleaning up the mess.
1:03 am on December 29th, 2009
@fingers
Welcome to the world of college football. You think every program doesn’t have this same problem? Good assistant coaches become head coaches. That’s just part of the game. Deal with it.
5:09 pm on December 29th, 2009
fingers, not many young great coaches want to stay coordiators so this is the next step. carrol is no different in looking for the next guy to come down the pipe. NO program is untouchable or immune from falling down a bit………programs struggle at times. There are no acceptions.
10:33 am on December 30th, 2009
usually petey’s crying about being left out of a bowl, now he just cries to be crying.
5:07 pm on December 30th, 2009
You know…. All this hype about USC and Petey Carrol… Ah and no credible evidence about “The Bush’s Payoff” LOL Give me a break. Bush’s mother was living in a house just off campus and that is a known fact and that is not credible? Face the facts USC fans when the story breaks about his personal life and with his football team failing, all the blocks are going to come tumbling down around him.
6:05 pm on December 30th, 2009
Waaaaa!! And “losing to god-awful Washington” WTF?!? Sorry, dipsh*t but the Dawgs going 5-7 (should’ve been 6-6) isn’t “god-awful,” now last year was! The Trojans have trouble most years playing in Seattle and in the Northwest, so give it a break!