Do They Like Carroll Any Better This Week?

Supposedly, USC didn’t want to hire Sonny Lubick because he is 63 years old. Come on, he’ll only be 66 when USC starts its next head-coaching search.

MICHAEL WALSH

Santa Ana

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I don’t mind the Trojans going Carrolling this Christmas, But, next Christmas I want them rehearsing for a bowl game--with a rose in their mouth instead of the same old song on their lips--”Wait Till Next Year.”

ROBERT H. WILLIAMS

Monterey Park

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My first reaction of the Pete Carroll hiring was like most USC alumni--outrage. This hiring seems a little too familiar. When I recovered from the shock, I realized Mike Garrett has a unique formula for picking coaches. Like the BCS, the formula makes sense only to the person that put it together. Obviously, Carroll fits that formula because he is just a repackaging of Paul Hackett. Unfortunately for Garrett, the alumni read the ingredients and we are not buying.

My second reaction was to treat this as a win-win situation, because Garrett couldn’t care less how we feel. If Carroll wins, I am happy for the return of our football program. If Carroll loses, Garrett gets fired, and subsequently our football program returns.

WILLIS BARTON

Los Angeles

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Your sportswriters only write about what other people do and what they think about what other people do, and they don’t have to make any decisions like Mike Garrett. Yet they feel free to lay on the criticism. You’d think Mike was besieged by hordes of better qualified candidates, yet I can’t recall one candidate that these know-it-all pundits recommended.

JOHN GARDINER

Costa Mesa

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In J.A. Adande’s piece on Dec. 16, in one sentence, Mike Garrett uses “I” no fewer than four times. That speaks volumes about his arrogance. As a loyal USC alumnus and fan, I’m ready to welcome and support Coach Carroll, but offer him sympathy in having to report to such an insufferable jerk.

TRUDY SIBLEY

Northridge

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Sports can be seen in politics, as politics can be seen in sport. One need look no further than the similarities between USC’s search for a head football coach and America’s search for a president. Let’s analyze.

* Both positions were once viewed as dream jobs in their respective professions (coaching, politics). They have, in time, become viewed as positions that bring unwelcome pressure and stress from the media and the fans/citizens, and therefore are not sought after by many worthy candidates.

* The former leaders are viewed as lame ducks who brought shame to themselves, and the institutions they were hired to lead. Both were impeached (Hackett, by the press and USC fans long ago), and in a month or so, both will be unemployed (provided no other collegiate athletic director has a desire to decimate his/her school’s football program and hires the Hack).

* The pools of possible candidates to succeed each of these men were alike--absurdly thin and lacking in quality.

* The processes used to select leaders for both institutions have proven to be equally flawed. Both processes have failed to identify a successor in a timely fashion, and both were in inept, meddling and indecisive hands. (Mike Garrett/Florida).

* Many of those passionate about filling each position with a worthy, experienced, intelligent candidate will sadly concede at this point, they’d prefer that the lame ducks remain at their respective helms for another term.

OLIVER LANG

Los Angeles

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Well, if nothing else, Garrett provided an excellent case study for the business school.

MATT STEIN

Los Alamitos

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By any chance, is Pete Carroll’s agent Scott Boras?

WAYNE MURAMATSU

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