You need a Pete Carroll experience

Pete Carroll is the coach of USC’s football juggernaut in case your spaceship just arrived to our planet. He’s the guy with the program that recruits players by itself and yesterday was a glimpse of why we all need a Pete Carroll experience.

The case-in-point is a true freshman named Matt Barkley who was named the starting quarterback just before their season opener against San Jose State. Barkley attended Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, CA and left one semester early to get started at USC. Through spring practices and into late summer, Barkley competed with the prowess of a veteran and somehow convinced a man with extensive NFL coaching experience and the highest winning percentage among active football coaches that he should be the starter.

Convincing is one thing but the other, more important side of the equation for Matt Barkley is that Coach Carroll trusts him. With this season’s hopes of a national championship hanging in the balance and less than 6 minutes remaining in yesterday’s Ohio State game, Carroll trusted Barkley. USC struggled to find any rhythm throughout the game but when the Trojans needed to drive more than 80 yards for a game winning touchdown, Carroll let a true freshman determine the outcome by leading them to an 18-15 victory over the Buckeyes.

Can you remember the last coach, instructor, director, etc. who trusted you when it mattered? What can’t a person do if they are superbly prepared for battle and then trusted to execute that preparation. Coach Carroll is not a fool. He doesn’t indiscriminately hand over the reigns. Down the stretch he may even call all of the offensive plays but he has faith in his team, not just the freshman. From the cheap seats, it looks like Pete Carroll wins because he trusts. He runs a tight ship, never talks down the competition and makes his players believe that they can run through concrete naked. A coach who trusts his players is the coach of a team you don’t want to play.