Hordes of USC football fans are lamenting the departure of head coach Pete Carroll to the NFL\u2019s Seattle Seahawks. They are left behind with the threat of impending NCAA sanctions and the bitter taste of the Trojans\u2019 worst season since Carroll arrived in 2001.<\/p>\n
What makes it sting is that USC fans actually believed that \u201cBig Balls\u201d Pete might be the modern college football enigma \u2014 a coach who is perfectly content to ignore NFL opportunities and stay loyal to a university. When Carroll was asked whether he would consider retiring at USC, he responded: \u201cI am prepared to do that. That\u2019s the way I look at it, like this is the last job I\u2019m ever going to have. I approach it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pac-10 teams up and down the west coast are celebrating the apparent end of the Southern California dynasty. Adding insult to injury, SI.com reported on Monday that USC is currently engaged in a lawsuit stemming from a former assistant coach\u2019s allegations that team doctors were irresponsible with painkiller prescriptions. The plaintiff\u2019s civil suit claim is supposedly in the seven-figure range.<\/p>\n
While the thought of obnoxious, bandwagon USC fans crying on each other\u2019s shoulders may not garner any of your sympathy, there is a lesson to be learned from Carroll\u2019s exodus.<\/p>\n
The message rings loud and clear \u2014 college football coaches do not care about their players, schools and fans as much as they would like you to think. The same ambition that makes them great recruiters and motivators leads their eyes to the big stage of the NFL.<\/p>\n
The recent decade has proven that an NFL coaching gig is still the ultimate goal for successful college coaches. Carroll follows in the footsteps of Butch Davis, Nick Saban and Bobby Petrino \u2014 a group of coaches who had Super Bowl dreams, but never even won a playoff game in the pros.<\/p>\n
It seems that except for a select few, most notably Bob Stoops of Oklahoma, the luster of building a lasting and successful college football program has faded. No one wants to be Joe Paterno or Bobby Bowden anymore.<\/p>\n
The unfortunate reality for Stanford football fans is that every win brings an NFL team closer and closer to offering Jim Harbaugh a deal he cannot refuse. Harbaugh has orchestrated a miracle turnaround at Stanford. With success comes national attention and rumors that Harbaugh will join his older brother John as an NFL coach.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be fooled by Harbaugh\u2019s recent contract extension and declaration of loyalty:<\/p>\n
\u201cMy resolve and future proudly remains as head coach at Stanford University . . I\u2019m a Stanford man.\u201d<\/p>\n
These comments should be taken about as seriously as a headline in the Stanford Flipside. First of all, Harbaugh is most definitely a Michigan man. He played quarterback for the Wolverines and idolizes legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler. And if you think he wouldn\u2019t ditch the Farm for an NFL head-coaching job, look up at the ceiling \u2014 it says \u201cgullible.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no reason to be mad about Harbaugh\u2019s misleading statements \u2014 in fact, they\u2019re in our best interest. It\u2019s crucial that recruits believe that Harbaugh will be around for their entire college careers.<\/p>\n
Stanford fans have a choice to make. We can be like Ed Helms\u2019 character, Stu Price, in \u201cThe Hangover.\u201d We can spend every moment of our waking lives fearing that we\u2019re going to get dumped. If you\u2019ve seen the movie, you know that this approach doesn\u2019t work out.<\/p>\n
Or we can accept the inevitable \u2014 Jim Harbaugh\u2019s time as the head coach of Stanford football is coming to an end in the near future \u2014 and enjoy the time we have left.<\/p>\n
Make sure to appreciate Harbaugh\u2019s red-faced rants at officials and questionable 4th down decisions. He\u2019ll be leaving the Farm before you know it.
\nJack Duane just got himself into a duel with Wyndam Makowsky over Harbaugh\u2019s honor. Wish him well at jduane “at” stanford.edu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hordes of USC football fans are lamenting the departure of head coach Pete Carroll to the NFL\u2019s Seattle Seahawks. They are left behind with the threat of impending NCAA sanctions and the bitter taste of the Trojans\u2019 worst season since Carroll arrived in 2001. What makes it sting is that USC fans actually believed that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2720,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-173396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2720"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173396\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}