‘Unusual Situation’ at USC

USC Coach Pete Carroll knows the most loyal person on his staff is the guy coaching the tight ends.

It’s his son Brennan, 26.

Brennan, who played tight end at Pittsburgh, joined the USC staff as a graduate assistant after his father’s first season and is in his fourth year at the school, his second as a full-time assistant.

“The thing that’s fun about it for me is competing together,” Pete Carroll said.

Brennan called it “a blast.”

“I came here to get an opportunity to work with my father,” he said. “I don’t have aspirations to be the next head coach.”

Coaching is something of a family business at USC.

Former football coach John Robinson’s son was on his staff, and there are two married couples currently coaching USC teams: women’s assistant basketball coaches Jody Wynn and Derek Wynn, and women’s rowing coach Kelly Babraj and director of rowing Zenon Babraj.

(At UCLA, gymnastics coach Valorie Kondos Field is married to associate athletic director Bob Field, but they already were employed at UCLA when they married, and Field does not oversee gymnastics.)

USC university policy stipulates that an employee “shall not participate in any decision (such as decisions concerning initial appointment, retention, promotion, salary or leave of absence) that involves either a direct benefit or a detriment” to a close relative, and prohibits directly supervising or evaluating the work of a close relative. However, USC allows exceptions provided such an “unusual situation” is “adequately managed.”

For example, the policy allows an employee who otherwise would report to a relative to report to a third party with the approval of the university’s senior vice president for administration. (Dennis F. Dougherty, who is married to Carol Dougherty, a senior associate athletic director, held that position when Carroll’s son was hired.)

Instead of reporting directly to his father, Brennan Carroll reports to Steve Sarkisian, assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach.

“In what we do in football, we have a policy that is structured to remove Pete from the management and evaluation of his son Brennan,” said senior associate athletic director Steve Lopes.

“The policy is to make sure we have an understanding of how it’s being managed so we aren’t in violation of the conflict-of-interest or nepotism policy.”

Jody Wynn and Derek Wynn report to Coach Mark Trakh, Lopes said, and Kelly Babraj and Zenon Babraj each report to Lopes.

Pete Carroll says his son has the potential to move up to offensive coordinator.

“I’m hoping that’s where he’s headed, in that direction,” he said, noting that sons follow their father’s steps in other businesses, and it is particularly common in the NFL.

Brennan Carroll said he earlier thought he might go into teaching, and he isn’t sure of his long-term plans. But if he rises through the ranks at USC, the attention will increase.

At Florida State, that has been difficult for Bobby Bowden and his son Jeff Bowden, the team’s offensive coordinator.

“I do know about the Bowden thing,” Pete Carroll said. “The offense was struggling, and he got criticized. It does position you for some unusual scrutiny.”