LOS ANGELES — He is between jobs for the first time in nearly 15 years, and his age has crept past 70, and Pete Carroll’s present relationship with football is undoubtedly complicated.
Come the spring, the legendary Trojan coach told local Seattle radio station 93.3 KJR on Tuesday, he’d return to work at USC – but to teach a class. He is quite intentionally keeping his distance from the Seattle Seahawks after his firing in January, and has no ties with the Washington Huskies despite his son Brennan’s hire as offensive coordinator, and is helping consult with some specifically non-football clubs, he made clear.
But he left the door a wide sliver open for a return to the game, too.
“Honestly, I feel great,” Carroll said Tuesday. “I could – I never was worn out by the game, by coaching. I never ran out of juice or stamina to do that.”
Now, Lincoln Riley is sticking a hand directly through that doorway.
“I’d love to have him,” Riley said Thursday, when asked on a Zoom call with media if there was any potential Carroll could join USC as an analyst.
It’s the latest development in what’s become a summer of love for USC’s heights in the Carroll Era, a host of familiar faces from those national-championship days suddenly promising to reappear around campus come 2024-25. In April, Riley and USC — on a FaceTime call with Matt Leinart — announced the hiring of former All-American wide receiver Mike Williams as the program’s newest director of player development. A week later, Reggie Bush’s long-contentious Heisman Trophy was restored, cementing the likely possibility Bush could lead USC out of the tunnel at the Coliseum this fall.
And Carroll, certainly, will be on campus come the spring, in one form or another. USC confirmed to the Southern California News Group that Carroll was set to return for classroom instruction, saying in a statement he’d be welcomed back “in a new capacity in which he can, as a legendary coach and leader, share his knowledge and experience with our students.”
“It’s going to be a really exciting endeavor, when it all is finalized,” Carroll said on 93.3 KJR.
But Riley, too, made it clear he intends on taking advantage of Carroll’s presence for the good of the program. He’d caught up often with Carroll, he told media, speaking of the 72-year-old as a kind of mentor – “a great person to be able to pick his brain,” Riley put it.
“We’d be crazy to not take advantage of having him around, so, whether it’s in an official role or not – he’s made it very clear that we’ve got a good, open line of communication,” Riley said Thursday.
Anthony Lucas buzz
After a disappointing season in 2023, junior defensive lineman Anthony Lucas was again one of the standouts of USC’s spring camp, with coaches praising his effort and versatility.
New defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, though, made it clear Thursday that Lucas has even gone a step further.
“He had a good spring,” Lynn said, “but he had a great summer.”
A former five-star lineman who transferred from Texas A&M in 2023, Lucas was “aware he has a lot of potential he hasn’t tapped into yet,” Lynn said. His ability as a pass rusher and run stopper in open space had improved, the defensive coordinator emphasized, and Lynn didn’t hold back on Lucas’ importance to USC’s defensive front come 2024.
“Him taking that next step is huge,” Lynn asserted, “not just for the defensive line, but for the entire defense.”
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