That's a good 2 cents...

1/16/2012 10:59:33 AM
By: The Real Allen Wallace



Pete Carroll's a strange guy. He was undoubtedly an insanely successful, nearly magical HC at USC for 4-5 years. Sometimes I wonder how he did it because he absolutely had the college football world by the tail.

And no, I don't blame him for the Chow departure. Pete was the boss. It was Chow's job to make the boss happy, not the other way around. In any part of the world, if the boss doesn't like you, and Pete had reasons not to like Chow, eventually you are gone.

But Pete's problem was his theory on replacements. He lost good assistants and replaced them with some mediocre people. Can you imagine Nick Saban doing that? Of course not. Nick wouldn't kid himself. Pete would and did. He lost focus.

Success had seemed to come so easily to Pete. So suddenly. He was mediocre and then almost immediately great.

I think the TEXAS glass trophy game took a lot more steam out of Pete than people realize. He had a lot to lose and he lost it that night. Many will say USC should have won that game. But if that's the case, why did USC's defense look like a Pop Warner team during much of the game. They could not stop Texas. Just too many weak spots. Too many places where Pete didn't really pay enough attention.

Jim Harbaugh does not have that problem. Just look at his face. It's got attention written all over it. What Jim did at STAN was remarkable. He literally changed the culture of the team when he was there. He just did the exact same thing with the 49ers and Pete's not even close to making the Seahawks a contender.

If the 49ers don't win the Super Bowl this year, they will soon. The chances of Pete winning a Super Bowl are nil. The Seahawks don't look nearly as well coached as the Niners. Watching the Niners play could actually make me a fan of the NFL. Toughness, precision, balance, discipline, confidence, overachievement. That's Harbaugh for you. He may be crazy and ridiculous off the field, but who cares? He's arrived for good and he got there by humiliating Pete Carroll's talent-laden USC team on its home turf. That's Harbaugh's deal.

Pete was damn good, did some amazing things for USC, and will always be a lot more charming than Jim could ever pray to be. But Pete Carroll is no Jim Harbaugh. Not on the sidelines. And that's not a bad thing. Hardly anybody else is either.

Allen

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