For those that still think Carroll is a cheating bum...

[Coffeeman]

For those that may think Coach Carroll cares only about winning games, and doesn't care about his lesser players who are not destined for the NFL, this is from the official USC footbal website:

 

"The Academic Progress Rate (APR) is a measurement of student athletes' academic success and progress toward graduation. In the three years since the APR was introduced, the Trojans have exceeded the NCAA's minimum APR standard of 925. The NCAA doesn't release official APR results until January, but USC's projected three-year APR score is 945, which is one of the top scores among elite football programs. The program has improved its APR score each year -- the projected score for the 2005-06 school year is 981 out of a possible 1,000.

 

In team and position meetings, Carroll and his staff routinely stress the importance of academic performance. Last year, three Trojans were named to the Pac-10 All-Academic first team, while another was awarded honorable mention.

 

USC is an elite academic institution, and the coaches make sure the players know that they are privileged to have such stellar professors and educational resources at their disposal. In addition, there are a variety of people in the athletic department who are dedicated to making sure the Trojans reach their academic potential. USC Student-Athlete Academics Services (SAAS) is located just a few steps from the team locker room in Heritage Hall. SAAS promotes individual responsibility first and foremost, and is committed to helping the students with academic advising, career development, community service, tutorial programs and learning specialists."

 

Here was the most interesting part to me:

 

"But SAAS wasn't enough for Carroll, who is committed to 'doing it better than it's ever been done.' In 2004, he created a position on his staff to promote player success in the classroom. Terrell Ray, a former Trojan football player, keeps close tabs on players' academic performance and gives feedback to Carroll and the rest of the coaching staff."

 

How common is this? While this does not prove or disprove any of the allegations surrounding the Bush situation, it does show a coach that looks out for his players and the team as a whole. It just does not make sense to me when the hater blowhards say he's a cheating coach who looks the other way while uspeakable crimes (or at least major NCAA violations) are happening under his nose.

 

It also appears to me that he has such control over the whole team that Bush's family - and anyone else who might want to cheat - would take great pains to never let any info slip out any where near him or his other coaches. That is, the cheating goes so far underground that he has no chance to hear about it. This would account for those that say 'how could he NOT know about this stuff?' Easy, really. But that's just me....

[Akfatha]

After playing USC, seeing their fans, their coaches, their players, and the program in a different light than I ever had, I really give props to Carroll and his staff. He has a great staff out there and I think he's going to be in LA for a long time to come. I don't think he's going to be going back to the NFL, so USC is going to be near the top for a long while to come. I earned a heckuva lot of respect for the Trojans after Saturday.

[Kid Cid]

Funny, Joe Pa's been doing that for years. Not that I'm busting Carroll for implementing this, I think it's great that he's promoting the concept of student/athlete with the student portion being first. I just want to say that it isn't exactly a novel concept. When I was a grad assistant at Penn State (95-98) I was contacted by the sports department on a bi-weekly basis about classes and labs I taught that had football and basket ball players in them. The people from the sports department wanted current status of the student in the class, and any that were border line passing they wanted to know where they were behind and how to catch them up. Extra study sessions, tutors or extra credit were encouraged by the sports department. This was not about eligibility either. The mantra always was, only 1% of college athletes play professional sports. The rest have to earn a living like everyone else. Your degree is your ticket, go earn it.

 

Kudos to Coach Carroll and the USC sports programs.

[Chavez]

Nice to see programs doing it right.

[GWPFFL BrianW]

Coffee, I think from my previous posts you can see I have the utmost respect for Pete Carroll and the USC program. So I hope that wasn't directed at me in anyway. I met many of there fans during the 2003 Orange Bowl, and thought they were class all the way.

[Coffeeman]

Coffee, I think from my previous posts you can see I have the utmost respect for Pete Carroll and the USC program. So I hope that wasn't directed at me in anyway. I met many of there fans during the 2003 Orange Bowl, and thought they were class all the way.

 

 

Nope, not meant for you at all. Not for any one person here, actually - I just know there are haters out there...