After leading the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl victory, Pete Carroll is living large in the NFL. His days at USC were among the most dominant in the nation under his watch, and now the university will induct Carroll in the athletics hall of fame.
USC announced the new hall of fame class via Twitter Monday, with Carroll serving as the headliner. Former Trojan football players Jack Del Rio (currently the Denver Broncos defensive coordinator), Jimmy Jones, Tim Rossovich and former coach Dave Levy will also be inducted. Jones was the first African-American quarterback to appear on a cover of Sports Illustrated.
USC finished in the top five of the final AP Top 25 in seven out of nine seasons under Carroll, and he coached three Heisman Trophy players (one of which was later vacated, of course). The Trojans were kings of college football, winning a BCS national championship and grabbing a pair Associated Press national championships along the way.
There is no question Carroll revitalized the once dominant power out on the west coast, and that deserves to be honored. Before his arrival, USC had finished a season ranked in the top 25 just three times between 1990 and 2001. During his time at USC, Carroll coached the Trojans to a record of 97-19 (adjusted by the NCAA to 83-19, which is still pretty darn impressive). That number includes a total of seven bowl victories, six of those coming in BCS bowl games. Carroll was undefeated in the Rose Bowl, aside from the year it served as the BCS Championship Game and Vince Young led Texas to a thrilling victory in a game for the ages. If USC was in a big game, they were often the favorite and more than often came out on top when the program was at its height under Carroll.
Of course, the legacy of the Carroll era took a hit in the later years once the NCAA stripped the program of victories and scholarships and slapped the program with a postseason ban as a result of former running back Reggie Bush receiving extra benefits. Carroll left USC after the 2009 season to accept a position as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. Having done all he likely could have accomplished at the collegiate level, Carroll may have had a thirst for another crack at the NFL. That has obviously gone well, but the timing of his departure from USC raised some eyebrows at the time.
The Trojans being saddled with Lane Kiffin as a head coach did not help the cause, nor did the sanctions levied against the program. Carroll has defended the USC program in the wake of NCAA investigations and sanctions time and time again though, and he continues to say his leaving the program had nothing to do with the state of the program.