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Carroll Eyeing Assistant

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Two teams from distant schools playing in a bowl game far away--doesn’t sound like much for Los Angeles fans to get worked up about.

But when North Carolina State plays Minnesota in the Micronpc.com Bowl in Miami this afternoon, USC fans might want to watch.

As soon as the game ends, USC Coach Pete Carroll has permission to interview North Carolina State offensive coordinator Norm Chow and is expected to make a bid to lure him to Los Angeles.

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Carroll declined to comment on Chow but acknowledged that filling the offensive coordinator spot is his top priority. Having forged a reputation as a defensive mind in the NFL, the new USC coach could benefit from an offensive specialist who is well-grounded in the college game.

“It’s a critical hire,” Carroll said. “I’ve done tons of homework and I’m going to take my time doing it.”

Chow spent two decades at Brigham Young grooming quarterbacks such as Jim McMahon, Steve Young and Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer. This season, his first with the Wolfpack, he has designed an offense that scored 31 points a game with freshman Philip Rivers at quarterback.

Sources close to Chow say he is very interested in the job. But the 54-year-old assistant has given no clues--at least not publicly--about his inclination in the days since USC contacted North Carolina State Coach Chuck Amato.

“Chuck said it was OK to talk,” Chow told the Raleigh News & Observer. “So we’ll talk.”

One stumbling block might be Chow’s salary: He earns $165,000 a year on one of the best-paid staffs in the nation. North Carolina State has reportedly offered to add a one-year extension to his three-year contract.

But a move to Los Angeles would bring Chow closer to his wife and four children, who remained in Utah when he left for Raleigh.

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And, as one Wolfpack assistant said this week, “It’s Southern Cal. . . . That would be awfully hard to pass on.”

Other candidates have been mentioned in connection with the job, including former Rutgers coach Terry Shea and Dave Baldwin, who coached San Jose State and Cal State Northridge. Baldwin favors a spread offense--the kind of passing attack Carroll mentioned in a news conference when he was hired.

Another prospect, Louisiana Tech offensive coordinator Rob Spence, was hired by Utah earlier this week.

Meanwhile, current USC assistants are waiting to learn their fate. DeWayne Walker was hired to coach the secondary and Dennis Thurman, the man Walker replaced, did not expect to be kept in another capacity.

Carroll is expected to retain defensive line coach Ed Orgeron and running backs coach Kennedy Pola. He declined to comment but said he has been considering numerous candidates and hopes to have a staff assembled before mid-January.

“It’s an ASAP thing, but I’m not going to rush it,” he said. “It’s more important to make sound decisions.”

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