He’s Caught Between the Lines

Welcome to the double life of Paul Hackett.

As a freezing rain fell Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, Hackett clapped his hands and paced the field in a hooded red rain suit, running the Kansas City Chiefs through a few final plays before retreating to the press box to orchestrate the offense during a 25-13 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

By this afternoon, he will arrive at Heritage Hall as USC’s coach for the first time since being named to replace John Robinson on Wednesday.

Not that he’ll be staying long. Three days, and Hackett will be off to Kansas City again for Christmas with his family, then back to work Friday on the Chiefs’ plans for their first playoff game following a bye this week.

So as congratulations were offered in the locker room after Sunday’s regular-season finale, a gracious Hackett didn’t even always know what they were for--being named USC’s coach or winning the AFC West championship outright.

“Talk about juggling,” he said. “I’m introducing myself to people and I call and say, ‘This is Paul Hackett of the Kansas City Chiefs and the USC Trojans.’ People just start laughing.”

Hackett is part of something big in Kansas City, where 12,894 Chiefs fans stayed home in the 14-degree wind-chill conditions--and 66,772 actually went to the game, many of them tailgating despite the weather.

This afternoon, Hackett will go from assessing the Chief quarterbacks--Elvis Grbac’s return and Rich Gannon’s new role--to checking on where USC stands with such recruits as Justin Fargas and Jason Thomas.

Decisions on his staff should begin within a week or so--and his key hire figures to be defensive coordinator, with Keith Burns expected to be named defensive coordinator at his alma mater, Arkansas.

Though people are already wondering if Hackett might bring in former USC quarterback Paul McDonald--”a great friend,” according to Hackett--he also said, “There are a lot of ways our Trojan people can help--and only one is coaching.”

Between Heritage Hall and Kansas City, Hackett is being pulled two ways--and hard. Only last week, he easily could have misplaced his USC contract among the pages of his Chiefs’ game plan.

“I was worried he’d be reading ‘F-46 Red’ instead of ‘It is your obligation to comply with all NCAA rules,’ ” agent Leigh Steinberg said.

Still, Hackett says he will not shortchange the Chiefs on his commitment to them--a commitment USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett was well aware of even though he knows NCAA rules prohibit Hackett from visiting recruits’ homes while he is employed by a professional team.

“Now, are we going to lose a couple of guys? We might,” Hackett said. “I’m not there. I’m not in their homes. They’ll have to see me on TV, and hear my voice until I can get in their homes.

“[But] I’m not going to be coerced into changing this approach. I have a commitment here. That was made very clear, and I’m not going to waver from it.”

Even at Arrowhead Stadium, there are USC reminders for Hackett.

Bold letters on the facing of the upper deck pay tribute to a former Chief--21 MIKE GARRETT 1966-70.

Over near one end zone, there is another reminder--42 JOHNNY ROBINSON 1960-71.

No, it is not the same man--instead a safety/halfback out of Louisiana State--but Robinson’s firing is a matter Hackett must deal with.

Hackett says he “agonized” over being approached to replace Robinson, who still held the job. But advisors told him somebody would be replacing Robinson whether it was him or not, although Garrett has since said there was “a possibility” Robinson would have remained coach.

Hackett, who is waiting to talk to Robinson in person, is also waiting to find out if the person he sees as a friend and protege might now see him as a saboteur. Only then will he know if the friendship has been damaged.

“I hope not,” Hackett said. “I need to get with him, talk with him, see the details of what’s gone on.

“What you can’t do is listen to what everybody says because everybody has an agenda. I can’t do that. I have to go talk to the man. He’s one of the two or three greatest coaches in the history of USC and a dear friend.

“I wasn’t part of that. . . . I’ve got to move beyond what happened.”

Not pretty, but not his fault, is his message.

“We’re now buying our 10th house,” he said. “The ninth is here, and I’m not out of the norm. Change is part of the profession. I’m not proud of that, but that’s the way the world is.”

Chief running back Marcus Allen supports Hackett but is uncomfortable about what he has heard of the handling of Robinson’s departure.

“I don’t know the details, but if it went the way I’m hearing it did, I think it’s a travesty,” said Allen, the 1981 Heisman trophy winner at USC. “That man deserves far more respect than he received. So I do have mixed emotions. I still think Paul will be good for SC.”

There is no shortage of people who agree.

Under Sunday’s slippery conditions--and in a game where avoiding injury was one of the biggest goals--the Chiefs had a mere 50 yards passing and 156 yards rushing in a game in which Tamarick Vanover’s punt returns were the biggest plays.

But overall this season, Kansas City had an efficient offense under Hackett, even though the Chiefs (13-3) lost Grbac to a broken collarbone for six games--a stretch when Gannon led them to a 5-1 record.

They also made do with a corps of running backs led by Allen, 37. Andre Rison is the big receiving threat, but Hackett has made ample use of fullback Kimble Anders on swing passes--enough so that he is second on the team with 59 catches.

“It’s the chemistry of this team,” Hackett said. “It’s not a team of stars. It’s a team that does what it has to do. We’ve got four running backs. Everybody might like to have that one guy, but I want to win.”

What Hackett will bring to USC is another version of the West Coast offense the Trojans installed this year.

“People have taken that term, West Coast offense--a short, controlled, high-percentage passing game--and used it loosely,” Hackett said of the system popularized by Bill Walsh with the San Francisco 49ers, where Hackett coached from 1983-85.

“The Paul Hackett version of that. . . . We used to say Midwest Offense. Power running from the I-formation with a great back has now been mixed in with this style of coaching the quarterback. This is not five receivers and no back. It’s quite different. You’ll see two backs, power football, with great runners.”

If not a great runners, then an effective group of runners. In 1995 the Chiefs led the NFL in rushing, averaging 138.9 yards a game.

But more than anything, Hackett is about quarterbacks--and he’s best known for his work with Joe Montana with the 49ers and later the Chiefs.

“I’ve got the easiest thing to say, and it tells the whole story,” said Billy Joe Tolliver, the Chiefs’ No. 3 quarterback. “Steve Bartkowski, who played at Cal and was the No. 1 draft pick, went to Paul Hackett and asked him to make him an All-American, and he did.

“And that story was related to me by Steve Bartkowski, so that’s not a deal where the coach gets the credit just because he had a great player. Bartkowski said it was all Hackett.”

USC quarterback Mike Van Raaphorst, although sad to see Robinson leave, is excited to know he’ll play under someone with Hackett’s reputation.

“I remember back when Montana went to the Chiefs after the 49ers, mentioning that a big draw was being with Hackett,” Van Raaphorst said. “If Montana wants to be with Coach Hackett, I really want to be with Coach Hackett.

“What quarterback in his right mind would leave with Coach Hackett coming in, with all the great things he’s done with quarterbacks?”

In Kansas City, however, there is still plenty of talk about the 1995 Chiefs--a team that went 13-3 and then lost to Indianapolis in the first round of the AFC playoffs.

Should Kansas City bow out early, Hackett better duck on the way out.

“Ninety-nine percent of the people here don’t give a . . . [about my next job],” he said. “I’ve been under some harsh criticism from people who think there’s no way I can keep from being distracted.”

Already, Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock has compiled a Top 10 list of reasons USC hired Hackett, including “Choice came down to Hackett and former USC great O.J. Simpson,” and “Hackett owns a collection of compromising photos of USC’s beloved Trojan horse at a campus toga party.”

Hackett can laugh at some of the comments, but the pressure for Kansas City to live up to expectations is real.

Truth of it is, all Hackett wants is to be delayed--the day after the Super Bowl would be fine.

“The 26th of January,” he said. “That’s my target date.”