Pete Carroll had U. Southern California at or near the top of the college football universe during his nine-year tenure in Los Angeles.
For much of his stay, the sunny skies and celebrities donning maroon and gold on the sidelines embodied the level the program had attained. Everything was perfect in SoCal. The Trojans, a perennial contender, annually reloaded with five-star recruits and quarterbacks dating starlets.
Carroll, the cool, laid-back coach, was the ringleader of the circus. He led USC to a split national championship in 2003 and an outright title in 2004. The Trojans lost the title game to Texas in 2005.
But without worry, they’d infuse more talent into the roster and be back at it next year.
That is, until the utopian shine wore off.
With former star running back and Heisman trophy winner Reggie Bush under investigation for accepting money, a house and probably more, it appeared sanctions could be on the way.
They were.
Did Carroll want to remain part of a de-glorified program facing a postseason ban?
Suddenly, clouds covered the L.A. skyline; the NCAA was about to deliver a lightning strike, shocking the college football world.
So Carroll bolted.
From 2001-09, he won 97 games at USC (14 of which were vacated as part of the school’s punishment).
Carroll jumped ship before he could capture his 100th win at USC.
Jim Tressel reached the century mark at Ohio State with the Buckeyes’ win over Indiana on Saturday.
The milestone accounts for more than just the annual tally of 11 or 12 victories and a BCS bowl berth. It speaks volumes of Tressel’s imprint on the OSU brand, on a similarly elite status as USC was in its prime, but without the inhibiting baggage.
The OSU program hasn’t maintained a clean slate during the past decade. Troy Smith was suspended for the 2004 Alamo Bowl and the 2005 season-opener after breaking a team rule and accepting money from a booster.
But Tressel’s tenure in Columbus represents everything good about college athletics, which weasels like Carroll, Lane Kiffin, Rich Rodriguez and others couldn’t care less about.
Tressel always expresses his respect for opposing coaches and teams. Tressel believes the next opponent is always the most challenging, even if Michigan is on the schedule two weeks down the road.
He doesn’t run up scores, despite the perception that style of victory counts toward team rankings in the polls.
OSU’s 73 points against Eastern Michigan last month were certainly a break from the norm. The Buckeyes have scored half-a-hundred points only five times in Tressel’s nine-plus years at the helm.
Under Carroll, USC eclipsed the 50-point plateau on 17 occasions.
Kiffin, who took over for Carroll at USC, made headlines for a series of remarks he made about several SEC foes after being hired at Tennessee in November 2008.
First, he accused Florida coach Urban Meyer of a recruiting violation. Kiffin’s accusation actually broke NCAA rules, and he was forced to issue an apology.
Later, he reportedly told South Carolina receiving recruit Alshon Jeffery that “if he chose the Gamecocks, he would end up pumping gas for the rest of his life like all the other players from that state who had gone to South Carolina.”
The common adage, “Nothing in life is impossible,” doesn’t apply here. There is zero possibility of Tressel ever duplicating such malicious remarks about an opposing player, coach or program.
Players leave OSU with the utmost respect for their coach, who hosts the players at his house during summer nights, having them bond by playing video games and grilling.
I find it difficult to picture Kiffin preaching team bonding over burgers and brats in his backyard.
At USC, Carroll routinely pumped in big-armed quarterbacks, shifty, big-play running backs and athletes on defense to run his system. It worked – he coached 14 first-round draft picks, 53 draft selections in all.
Tressel hasn’t had the same plethora of talent. He’s done more with less.
In 2002, he coached Craig Krenzel, a molecular genetics major with a weak arm, into a championship quarterback. Now, he’s trying to do the same with a hyperbolically hyped, major-doesn’t-matter, freak-of-nature athlete under center.
Tressel didn’t scrap his system when he landed Terrelle Pryor, the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the country.
Instead, he stuck the dual-threat signal-caller into OSU’s pro-style offense to better prepare Pryor for the NFL and avoid making drastic changes to what was already in place.
Sure, the Buckeyes have made amendments to their style of attack with Pryor on the field, but now in his third year, the Heisman candidate quarterback has begun to master the nuances of Tressel’s playbook.
The Senator has stuck with his stubborn style of Tresselball, the traditional, grinding, special-teams-happy method of football that proved successful 30 years ago. But Tressel has tweaked his philosophy along the way, implementing techniques to modernize his plan of attack and adapt to changes in the way the game is played.
All in all, he’s a likeable guy. He doesn’t wear a Nike dry-fit polo or an oversized hoodie on the sideline.
He wears his sweater vest, each and every game.
He’s consistent and he has brought stability to a program that is once again familiar with being a perennial championship threat.
Tressel probably won’t coach long enough to turn the “100” into a “200.”
But when it’s time for him to go, he’ll sail off into the Columbus sunset, unlike his counterpart, who jetted his way out of the brewing L.A. storm.