Tag: Pete Carroll (Page 5 of 15)

The absurdity of erasing college football’s past

June 6, 2011 / Gerardo Orlando

How low can the NCAA and BCS sink these days?

Today we learned that the BCS stripped USC of its 2004 national title, vacating the results of the 2005 Orange Bowl where USC crushed Oklahoma. The BCS also vacated the Trojans participation in the 2006 Rose Bowl that decided the national championship for the 2005 season. Remember that game? Vince Young turned in one of the greatest performances in college football history as Texas knocked off USC, 41-38. According to the NCAA and the BCS, that game never happened.

The NCAA has become a joke (the BCS has always been a joke). The entire college football system has been hijacked by big conferences and universities looking to cash in and keep all the money for themselves through the BCS farce, and then you have the NCAA enforcing a code of ethics developed for a society that looks more like 1950s America than the real world of today.

I’m an Ohio State fan, so I’ve never been a fan of USC, but it’s appalling to see this title stripped away. One idiot on the team was taking money, and suddenly the accomplishments of a great team are nullified by the fools running college athletics. USC may have failed to uncover the problem, but it’s not like assistant coaches were handing Reggie Bush thousands of dollars.

You might say that a severe penalty is in order, but why punish all the college kids who played on that team? Why punish the fans? Why stain the memory of a great season, and then a year later a great game where Vince Young and Texas beat a team many considered to be the best of all time until that night?

If you’re looking for a way to punish the crime, why not follow the money? That’s what college football is all about these days. Instead of forfeiting the game, why not have USC forfeit the millions of dollars paid to them by the BCS that year? The kids never saw a dime of that money, yet they’re the ones getting punished. If you want to prevent this behavior, penalties in the millions of dollars will get the attention of the USC athletic department and the University president.

As for the coaches, punish them as well! In the case of USC, perhaps there wasn’t enough evidence to ban Pete Carroll from coaching for several years, but if he or his assistants were directly implicated, then the NCAA could have suspended them and/or fined them. I understand that Pete Carroll left for the NFL, but he could have been prevented from attending any college football games and interacting with any college football program for a number of years.

In the Jim Tressel case, he should be punished going forward so that he can’t cash in at another university, and Ohio State should lose the money it received for the Sugar Bowl.

Money talks. The big schools have pointed to things like tradition and education as reasons we shouldn’t have a playoff system, and then they play musical chairs with conference memberships and add championship games all while throwing tradition out the window. Nothing matters more than the money . . .

College football needs a complete overhaul, from a playoff system to an examination of all the idiotic rules governing the conduct of “student athletes.” But it needs to start by going after the money, hitting schools where it hurts, and it needs to stop the absurdity of erasing the past every time some dumb kid gets caught accepting money, cars or tattoos from a booster or agent.

College Football, External Sports

BCS Jim Tressel Matt Leinart Ohio State ohio state scandal Pete Carroll Reggie Bush USC

Carroll: NCAA should be more proactive than reactive when it comes to problems

May 11, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Pete Carroll might make his home in the NFL now, but he’ll always have ties to the NCAA (some good, some bad).

That’s why when he was recently asked about the way the NCAA monitors and enforces its rules, Carroll was more than willing to share his opinion on the topic.

From the Seattle Times:

Carroll said he believes the NCAA starts with the objective of finding wrongdoing, something that is reactive rather than trying to protect the game from outside influences to prevent problems. He pointed out that schools are being punished for actions of people who aren’t even affiliated with the university.
“If you notice, it’s people from outside the community of the actual working body of the university,” Carroll said. “In our situation at USC, it was absolutely that. What are we doing about that? How are we dealing with that?”
Instead, the focus is on after-the-fact punishment.
“You can only spank them so many times,” Carroll said. “I don’t think that has anything to do with making things right.”
As for paying college players? “No,” he said. “I’ve never thought that. That’s not the issue. They have a great life.”

When you think about it, college players are already being paid to play. They get free room and board, free tuition, free tutoring and free books. Granted, they also have the pressure of playing a collegiate sport, but let’s not act like these kids aren’t getting something in exchange for their services.

And as far as what Carroll is saying about the NCAA being reactive – he’s right. The NCAA should be spending most of its time trying to prevent these agents, tattoo owners and car dealers from luring players in with free goods and services instead of constantly having to crack the whip. The best way to avoid diseases is prevention.

Of course, that’s easier said than done and I don’t have any solutions here. There’s only so much coaches can do before they have to trust that these players will get it through their thick skulls not to accept improper benefits. The same goes for the NCAA, which can only do so much in order to steer athletes in the right direction.

Still, as Carroll points out, it wouldn’t hurt for the NCAA to get more proactive than reactive. Instead of waiting for these athletes to mess up and then flexing its muscles, how about the NCAA gets more involved in order to prevent these bad influences from penetrating its programs? What’s that old saying: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem?

College Football, External Sports, NFL

college football scandals Pete Carroll

Lendale White slams Pete Carroll

February 21, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Well, it’s nice to see that Lendale White has matured over the years.

A clearly inebriated White made some derogatory comments about his former coach Pete Carroll over the weekend and thanks to TMZ, it was all caught on camera. If you want to watch the video, head over to SPORTSbyBROOKS.com, but the text of what he said is below.

White, who was with former USC teammate Dominique Byrd (off-camera), apparently hasn’t gotten over being cut by his former college coach Pete Carroll when White was briefly with the Seattle Seahawks last season. After a somewhat unintelligible question by the TMZ cameraman, White said:
“If it ain’t Chauncey Billups or Kobe Bryant … f— ‘em. Or if it ain’t the Denver Broncos or Chris Johnson … f— ‘em. Or D-Byrd … or the Trojans … minus Pete Carroll — f— you.” “Except for Pete Carroll, he … minus Pete Carroll I have Trojans love.”

Maybe I should cut White some slack because he was drunk and clearly his inner-filter was down, but this is the exact response I would expect out of someone who clearly doesn’t get it.

Carroll traded for his former player in April of last year and probably fully intended on using him in his running back-by-committee offense. But shortly after acquiring him, word leaked out that White had failed a drug test and would be suspended for the first four games of the 2010 season. Not wanting to put up with any B.S. from a backup running back in his first year with the Seahawks, Carroll released White at the end of May.

This is the second time since he’s been cut that White has sounded off about Carroll, so clearly he hasn’t learned a thing. Many people have wanted to send Carroll a nice F-You, but White was the one who screwed himself. The reason he isn’t in Seattle anymore was because he made a bad decision before arriving to the Seahawks and he put Carroll in a bad spot. Most coaches around the league would have dumped him immediately, too.

White only has himself to blame for the way his career has turned out to this point.

External Sports, NFL

LenDale White LenDale White Pete Carroll LenDale White Pete Carroll comments lendale white video Pete Carroll

Saints crush Seahawks, advance to next round…wait, what?

January 8, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

On any given Saturday right? Here are six quick-hit thoughts on the Seahawks’ shocking 41-36 win over the Saints on Saturday.

1. That’s why they play the game.
Gregg Williams said it perfectly this week when he told the media that if the playoffs were about predictions, the Saints would have advanced to the second round already. Everyone was so sure that the Saints would beat the Seahawks that this upset was almost set up perfectly. I don’t buy that New Orleans took Seattle for granted because there’s too much veteran know-how on that Saints’ sidelines for them to look past any opponent. But a game like this is proof that we as fans get caught up too much in records. The Seahawks only won seven of their 16 games this year but they were the ones that created momentum last week with their win over the Rams, they were the ones that had home field advantage and they were the ones that played with an emotional edge. In the end, those three factors play a bigger role in the outcome of a football game than records do (especially in the playoffs).

2. Matt Hasselbeck can still be a difference maker.
Hasselbeck had some rough games this year but when his team needed him the most, he completed 22-of-35 pass attempts for 272 yards and four touchdowns. He was intercepted once but that came off a deflection and had his receivers not dropped a few passes, his numbers would have been even better than they were. This was by far his best game in years and without his performance, Seattle doesn’t pull off this shocking upset.

3. Roman Harper, Darren Shaper, Gregg Williams, Julius Jones and Devery Henderson.
Fail, fail, fail, fail and fail. That was one of the worst performances I have ever seen out of a safety tandem in any game, not to mention in the postseason. Safeties are supposed to act as a team’s last line of defense, yet Sharper and Harper routinely allowed Seattle receivers to get past them deep coverage. I know the Saints were hurt by Malcolm Jenkins’ injury but Sharper has to play better than that. He looked like he had never played a professional game before and retirement is calling his name. And how about Williams? This was the best he could come up with after a week of preparation? The Seahawks’ offense is the epitome of mediocre and yet they hung 41 points on a unit that was supposed to be one of the best in the NFC. Holy terrible, Batman. Offensively for the Saints, Jones cost his team three points by fumbling the ball deep in his own territory in the first quarter and Henderson couldn’t catch a cold. He dropped at least two potential first downs, including an alligator-armed attempt late in the game when the Saints only needed a touchdown to re-claim the lead.

External Sports, NFL

2011 NFL Playoffs Anthony Stalter Drew Brees Julius Jones Marshawn Lynch Marshawn Lynch run Matt Hasselbeck New Orleans Saints Pete Carroll Sean Payton Seattle Seahawks

Will the Seahawks bench Hasselbeck for Whitehurst?

December 20, 2010 / Anthony Stalter

Nov 14, 2010; Glendale, AZ, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck (8) takes the snap during the game against the Arizona Cardinals at the University of Phoenix Stadium. The Seahawks defeated the Cardinals 36-18. Photo via Newscom Photo via Newscom

Normally when a team is 6-8 at this point in the season, who they play at quarterback isn’t a newsworthy item (unless a rookie is about to make his debut, of course). But thanks to the ongoing suck that is the NFC West, the Seahawks’ QB situation is still worth following.

After throwing two interceptions and also losing a fumble in the end zone that resulted in a touchdown on Sunday against the Falcons, Matt Hasselbeck was benched for Charlie Whitehurst in the fourth quarter. Hasselbeck has been dealing with a hand injury for the past couple of weeks and his play the past two games has been horrendous. Whitehurst came in and moved the ball decently against Atlanta, but he was filthy bad earlier in the year when he started against the Giants so he doesn’t offer the Hawks an easy solution.

Pete Carroll has a tough decision on his hands and he was noncommittal on his Week 16 starter following the loss to the Falcons. He said he would “evaluate where we are and what we need to do and all of that,” but there has been no decision made about who will start next Sunday at the Bucs.

It’s feasible that the Seahawks and Rams could both lose next week and the NFC West crown will come down to Week 17 when the two teams meet in Seattle. One would think that making a change at quarterback now would be a bad idea but then one would have not seen how bad Hasselbeck has played the past two weeks. Again, Carroll has one tough decision to make.

External Sports, NFL

Charlie Whitehurst Matt Hasselbeck Pete Carroll Seattle Seahawks

Tag: Pete Carroll (Page 5 of 15)

The absurdity of erasing college football’s past

Carroll: NCAA should be more proactive than reactive when it comes to problems

Lendale White slams Pete Carroll

Saints crush Seahawks, advance to next round…wait, what?

Will the Seahawks bench Hasselbeck for Whitehurst?

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