Shake-up Saturday

First, on the Mora thing.  I don’t know about you, but I guess it wasn’t all that shocking.  When he said in his press conference on Wednesday that they were still evaluating things and he hadn’t yet been assured he was returning next year, you had to believe that the situation was far from decided.  Now here we are. 

Was it fair to punt Mora after one year?  Well, it’s hard to say.  Mora inherited a thin, aging team in some very key positions, so it wasn’t like he was coaching the NFC Champs from 2005.  But Mora’s overall record isn’t exactly stellar.  Sure, he had a great first year in Atlanta, winning 11 games and a playoff game, getting the Falcons to the NFC title game.  But from there it went downhill, and he was fired by the end of his third season.  Now we have his 5-11 ’09 season in Seattle, and a career record under .500. 

But it isn’t so much the 5-11 record in Seattle, which is bad enough on it’s own.  But it was the way the team mailed in so many uninspiring performances that makes you really question what the hell was going on. 

The 24-7 home loss to a 1-win Tampa Bay team with a rookie QB, where they were just horrible? 
The 48-10 lay-down job at Green Bay? 
How about the 35-9 wipe out in Minnesota, or the 34-7 embarrassment in Houston? 

You have an NFL team losing by such wide margins, in a league where you rarely see point spreads set at more than a TD?  You know something is really, really wrong!  No matter what the coach said at the podium, it looks an awful lot like a guy who lost the locker-room.  And the thing is, it’s the NFL.  It isn’t like you need to give a coach a full recruiting cycle to see what you’ve really got, like you pretty much need to do at the NCAA level.  While one-and-done isn’t common, it certainly isn’t unheard of in the NFL.  The Dolphins were the latest to do it, ditching Cam Cameron after a disastrous 1-15 season in ’07.

And if you’ve been following the story, you likely know that Pete Carroll is a member of the one-and-done club, going 6-10 in his first and only season as head coach of the Jets.  Carroll would rebound fairly well in New England, leading them to the playoffs and even winning a playoff game a few years later.  So it’s not as if Carroll is some sort of miserable failure in the NFL.  And with all the off-the-field BS going on in the land of Troy, maybe it’s the perfect time for him to take one last kick at the NFL can?  Carroll has always said that he fully believes if he had more personnel control at the NFL level that he would have had more success.  With the ‘Hawks set to give him the title of President and head coach, with full input on player decisions, we’re about to find out. 

I have to admit that initially I wasn’t thrilled with this news.  I thought about Dennis Erickson, you know, the guy who was a success in the college ranks but had failed twice as an NFL head coach?  And then I thought about other recent NCAA-to-NFL guys, like Steve Spurrier or Nick Saban.  All successful, championship coaches in the NCAA, yet their styles or personalities or schemes just didn’t translate to the pro game. 

But maybe there are some bigger differences between the Spurrier’s and Saban’s of the world, and Pete Carroll.  First, Carroll has already been an NFL head man – twice.  This after a long career as an NFL assistant.  He knows what he’s getting into, so, the culture shock of jumping up to the top level of the profession shouldn’t be a big problem.  Second, Carroll is going to get an extra level of control that guys like Spurrier and Saban did not have in their brief NFL careers.  And third, while the perception is that Carroll was some sort of awful head coach, well, do the facts back this up?  He was over .500 in the league, and his first season as the Jets head man was the only losing season he actually had as an NFL head coach.  His three years in New England, he never was less than 8-8 (10-6, 9-7 and 8-8 in three seasons).  Is that really so bad?  As a Seahawks fan who just lived through 9-23 the last two years, I’d take 8-8 in a heartbeat!

Here’s a cool story on Carroll, from 60 Minutes a while back. Check it out:

The fascinating part to all this is the musical chairs game that is about to go down.  USC, at least if it’s USC that isn’t in deep trouble anyway, is a top-5 job in the country.  You put it right there with Florida, Texas, Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State.  So you know that the names floated and the rumors and such are going to be really interesting.  Already the first name mentioned by the ESPN-types is Mike Riley of the Beavs, so you wonder what the repercussions would be if he bolted. 

First, it would be a little sad to see that happen.  He’s their version of Mike Price, really, the guy who brought them back to such a wonderful level of success after so many dismal years, heck, dismal DECADES is more accurate!  Hard to believe now but Oregon State went 27 consecutive years with a losing record, but that all changed with the arrival of Riley.  But there are other names out there as well, including NFL coaches Jeff Fisher and Jack Del Rio, both former USC players and both coaches who’s time might be just about right to give the NCAA game a shot.

But on ESPN News this AM, Bruce Feldman floated another name…

Of course, we’re talking Steve Sarkisian.  Now obviously Sarkisian has a good thing going at UW right now.  Strong recruiting class, a nice turnaround in ’09, his QB coming back for his senior year, etc.  But even if he says all the right things, which he is right now and pretty much has to no matter what, still, you had to know his name would be added to the list by at least someone?  But I would bet he stays put, simply because of what’s possible at UW.  He has huge alumni support from top to bottom, and everyone is on the same page as to the direction of the program.  And with USC clearly reeling with the idea of losing Pete Carroll as well as the uncertainly over possible sanctions, the stars might be aligned for someone in the Pac-10 to make a big climb up the ladder.  I’m sure UW fans believe Sark will lead them back to the top.

We’ll see how it all plays out.  More names are going to be out there.  I wonder where Jim Harbaugh fits in all this?  Would he consider the move?  What other names will make the rumor mill?  All I know is that the domino effect of Petey Carroll bolting LA is going to be fascinating to watch!  Stay tuned.

All for now. GO COUGS!