This Move Right One by Garrett

The words will bounce through the Trojan nation this morning like thunder.

Some will huddle inside and curse. Others will nod with relief.

Whatever, it is a noise signifying the onset of rain upon scorched earth.

Mike Garrett says he is not firing Paul Hackett.

Not now. Not at the end of the year. Not before Hackett has a chance to implement a program gnarled by player injury and coaching inexperience.

“Let me be very clear,” Garrett told The Times. “Paul Hackett is our coach and I support him. He definitely will be back next year.”

Those are not easy words from an emotional USC athletic director being damaged more than anyone by the struggles of his football coach.

Those are not trendy words. They are not safe words. They will not be popular words.

Some might think they are unnecessary words, considering Hackett is in only the second year of a five-year contract that will cost the school plenty.

But with sideline boosters whispering, “Terry Bowden,” and e-mailers screaming, “Buddy Hackett,” and even a student newspaper running a survey about his survival, they are important words.

And, at least right now, they are the right words.

This space has been as critical of Hackett as anyone, continuing to wonder whether he is suited to coach outside a film room, and around players other than quarterbacks.

In losing seven of his last 10 games dating to last year’s Sun Bowl fiasco, Hackett has sometimes seemed confused, ill-prepared, and simply overmatched.

With less evidence than this, I once proposed the removal of Hackett’s predecessor, John Robinson.

But the timing here is all wrong.

To fire Hackett now is simply not fair.

Not only because he has been without his star quarterback and team linchpin for most of the season.

Not only because he has been hampered by rookie decisions--such as in assembling his coaching staff and dealing with team discipline--that have improved with time.

You don’t fire Paul Hackett now because you would still be firing an unknown.

Two years is not enough time to evaluate a coach who was hired to finish the job in five.

Two years is not enough time in an ever-changing college environment where stability is critical to success.

Every time they watch Florida State, the alumni of West Virginia must wonder about the time they burned then-coach Bobby Bowden in effigy.

Arkansas has been wonderfully successful since that September day in 1992 when it fired Jack Crowe immediately after an early-season loss to the Citadel, only 24 games into Crowe’s tenure.

What plays in Morgantown and Fayetteville should not be allowed to play here.

After only two years, there are still too many questions.

How will the quarterback guru be looking after a full season with quarterback Carson Palmer, who some scouts have said could be the best quarterback prospect in the country?

How will he be looking after his first two classes of recruits--featuring the likes of Kareem Kelly and Marcell Allmond and Markus Steele--continue to mature?

Maybe he will look the same.

Maybe the Trojans will be 3-6 at this time next year, even with Carson Palmer, even with a retooled coaching staff, even with all those good young kids.

If that is the case, then you will read here that it is time for Paul Hackett to leave.

Even if Garrett gives him five, common sense gives him three.

But until then, it is time for everyone to pipe down and give him a chance.

In John McKay’s first two seasons at USC, he was 8-11-1.

So far, Hackett is 11-11.

Admittedly, comparing the two men may be considered blasphemy.

But history reminds us that in McKay’s third season, 1962, the Trojans won a national championship.

Two years is not enough time.

“Of course, I’m disappointed in the results of this season, just like Paul, our players and our fans,” said Garrett. “But let’s give Paul time to fully implement his program.”

Hackett realizes how badly things have disintegrated, and what part he has played in that process.

“I have no excuses,” he said Tuesday. “There are areas I can improve in.”

His biggest problem this year, of course, could only have been prevented by tackling Carson Palmer before the Oregon guys got to him, breaking his collarbone.

If you believe that great football coaches should be able to recover from the loss of franchise quarterbacks, then you haven’t been looking at the NFL, or even across town to Westwood.

His second problem, though, was all Hackett. Instead of being flexible or prepared enough to change the Palmer-friendly offensive scheme once Palmer departed, he stuck to a plan that the backup quarterbacks were ill-suited to consistently carry out.

“Should we have changed the offense dramatically the moment Carson got hurt?” Hackett said. “Maybe we should have.”

It was an offense that led to Hackett’s third-biggest problem, that of not paying enough attention to everything else.

His game management suffered. Team discipline that led to penalties suffered. The defense continually failed under pressure.

The penalties are decreasing, and the games are running smoother, and Hackett promises to work harder.

“Game management is an area I can improve upon,” he said. “Not having done it for a while, it’s something I’m getting used to.”

Then there is the subtle issue of how this previously quarterbacks-only teacher deals with every other player.

Although he’ll never say it publicly, Hackett probably wishes he’d seen the dollar signs in R. Jay Soward’s eyes and advised him to turn pro last summer, before he showed up this year as more of a distraction than a star.

And do the rest of the Trojans buy into his program? Is he winning their respect? When will they start winning close games for him?

“We lost our team leader, and since then I just have not found the trigger to set us off,” Hackett said. “And that’s my fault.”

He needs to find that trigger, and quick.

With Garrett’s comments presumably removing all locker room distractions and questions, Hackett needs to find a way to inspire his team in the Trojans’ final three games--all winnable--this year.

Then he needs to coach next season as if it is his last, which it easily could be.

But at least he will have a next season.

No matter how that thunder sounds this morning, Mike Garrett is right in giving that to him.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.