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USC Football: Top 10 coaches in program history

By Quinn Douglas

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 05: Coach Pete Carroll of the USC Trojans leads his team to the field prior to the start of the NCAA college football game against Arizona Wildcats at the Los Angeles Coliseum on December 5, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 05: Coach Pete Carroll of the USC Trojans leads his team to the field prior to the start of the NCAA college football game against Arizona Wildcats at the Los Angeles Coliseum on December 5, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /
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SAN FRANCISCO – DECEMBER 26: Head coach Pete Carroll of the USC Trojans celebrates after defeating the Boston College Eagles during the 2009 Emerald Bowl at AT&T Park on December 26, 2009 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO – DECEMBER 26: Head coach Pete Carroll of the USC Trojans celebrates after defeating the Boston College Eagles during the 2009 Emerald Bowl at AT&T Park on December 26, 2009 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images) /

3. Pete Carroll: 2001-2009

Career Record: 97-19

Awards and Accomplishments: Pac-10 Champions 2002-’08, 2003 & ’04 National Champions, 2003 Home Depot Coach of the Year Award

Pete Carroll is the man who brought USC out of the shadows of mediocrity in the early 2000’s and did it in a big way. Carroll played his college football at the University of the Pacific and played as a free safety. He was hired as an assistant at Pacific following his graduation and eventually found assistant coaching positions at Arkansas, Iowa State, Ohio State, NC State, the Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings and the New York Jets. Carroll became head coach of the New York Jets for one season in 1994 and was fired following the season.

He then spent two years with the 49ers before being hired as head coach of the New England Patriots in 1997. He was fired following three mediocre seasons, but was not out for long as USC hired him as head coach in 2001. Following a slow 2-5 start in 2001, Carroll’s Trojans finished with a 6-6 record and continued to climb in 2002 winning the Pac-10 and winning a BCS bowl game in the Orange Bowl over Iowa.

During seven of Carroll’s nine years at USC, the Trojans compiled an 82-9 record, winning seven conference championships and two national championships, establishing themselves as the first college football dynasty of the 21st century. However, it all came crashing down with the Reggie Bush scandal in 2010. Carroll had already moved on to the Seattle Seahawks and their empire was burned to the ground by NCAA sanctions. However, their historic run will never be forgotten by the USC faithful.

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