How Has the 2009 Season Affected Pete Carroll?

It started way back in early January when Mark Sanchez announced that he was entering the NFL Draft, and things have been spiraling downhill for Trojan football ever since.

The offensive and defensive coordinators left along with the director of football operations, and the revolving staff door went into an absolute tailspin.

More staffers were quickly promoted for on-the-job training to fill the vacancies along with the usual NFL suspects.  And they certainly were suspect as far as coaching college kids who are not pulling in seven-figure salaries. 

The only bright spot had been the luminous true freshman, Matt Barkley, whom the entire coaching staff was agog over.  But his luster, too, wore away as he has been caught up in the downhill spiral like everyone else.

Injuries started to occur early and often.  Players never fully recovered.  Even the healthy ones found the going difficult in the fourth quarter.

The team just couldn’t seem to finish when it counted.  The coaches, on the other hand, never seemed to get started.  They never had a good feel for their players, let alone their major opponents.

So, how has this season affected Pete Carroll?

Do you think he will consider it a simple aberration?  Will he just chalk it up to injuries and new coaches getting adjusted to working with one another?

Or do you think he will make wholesale changes in the way the Trojans practice, in the way the coaches game-plan, and in the way the players are conditioned?

Pete Carroll has pretty much stuck to his guns during his time at USC, and I admire him for that.  He has continued to promote staff from within as well as draw from his contacts in the NFL.  

He usually stays with his starters especially at quarterback, come hell or high water.

But in recent years, despite winning the Pac-10, his teams have not achieved some key goals.  

The positive turnover ratios have dwindled or disappeared.  The Trojans have had their problems holding onto the ball and making fumble recoveries and interceptions.

They have been one of the most heavily penalized teams, not only in the Pac-10, but also in the nation.

The penalties, plus defenders overrunning plays and missing tackles, have shown a lack of discipline.  Can they play hard and still play smart?

Of course, every year except this one they have achieved the stated goal: to win the Pac-10 championship.  But they have not achieved that unstated goal that you know is in Pete Carroll’s heart: to return to the BCS Title game.

The last truly classic BCS Title game was in January, 2006 at the Rose Bowl between Texas and USC.  This year two of those three elements are in place once again.  

The BCS Title game is at the Rose Bowl, and Texas will be there.  It must really weigh on Carroll that his Trojans are not on the slate.  

This year we won’t hear him state with supreme confidence, “We’ll play anybody, anytime, anywhere.”

Not with this team.

The Trojans are losing 19 seniors and maybe even a few key juniors from a team that didn’t play all that well by Pete Carroll’s standards.

So, what does that say about next year?

That hackneyed adage about reloading instead of rebuilding does not apply.  The Trojans certainly need to rebuild from the ground up.

So, I ask you Trojan fans, how will the way this season has ended affect Pete Carroll?

Do you think he will make changes or maintain the same course?  In the way he chooses his staff?  In the way he has his coaches game plan?  In the way they call plays?

Will their practices be any different?  Will they practice even harder and faster to match the tempo of the Oregon Ducks?

Will the conditioning focus on running and stretching to cut down on injuries and enable strong finishes?

What about recruiting?  Will Carroll rethink the way in which his staff selects recruits?

Four losses, two in the Coliseum, two huge blowouts, a couple of games where the Trojans barely managed to hold on at the end, I doubt these things will rest very easily with Pete Carroll.

What do you say?