The Secrets to Pete Carroll's Success

Pete Carroll, the coach of USC since 2001, is one of the most successful coaches in college football. What makes Carroll stand out from the pack - including the rest of the Pac-10 - as he continues to field a BCS contender every single season? Before we look at the keys to success for USC coach Pete Carroll, let's first take a look at what he has accomplished in his time there.

-Entering the 2009 college football season, Pete Carroll has an 88-15 record at USC. The Trojans haven't lost more than two games in a season since Carroll's first year, 2001.

-During his tenure at USC, the Trojans have gone to seven BCS bowl games, sporting a 6-1 record. The six BCS bowl game wins is a record.

-The Trojans have twice won the national championship with Pete Carroll as head coach.

-Pete Carroll has seen 53 of his players get drafted to the NFL, including 14 in the first round. Three have won the Heisman Trophy, and 25 have been first-team All-America players. Just a few of the marquee players to have left Pete Carroll's USC squad to enjoy successful NFL careers include: Carson Palmer, Troy Polamalu, Lofa Tatupu, Reggie Bush, LenDale White and Matt Cassel.

So what exactly is the secret to success for Pete Carroll and the USC Trojans? Pete Carroll's success comes from three factors. The first, and the most important, is his stellar recruiting. In the NFL, excluding the true superstar player the talent spread across most teams is fairly equal. Everyone is good enough to play at that level.

However, the talent disparity between top flight college football programs and smaller or less successful programs is huge. Carroll's biggest problem over the last few years has been too much talent, resulting in disgruntled running backs. He so successfully recruits top talent, that running backs which would thrive and put up huge numbers at other programs get stuck at the fourth position in the depth chart.

In the 2009 NFL draft, the USC Trojans had three picks in the first round, and five picks in the top 56 picks. Five times in Carroll's tenure at USC, the Trojans have hauled in a top-5 recruiting class.

The second main factor for Carroll's success is that he sticks with what's working for him. He isn't following trends, he is creating them by sticking with his formula and his pro-style offense. Carroll exploits whatever his strengths are and he sticks with the style of play that has been working so well.

He recruits for speed, athleticism and versatility and with one draft class as talented as the next there is never a drop off in performance. Not only that, but because there is so much depth to the talent, one injury will never derail the entire season, or the entire program. He has had countless opportunities to jump ship to the NFL but he hasn't, and in doing so he has a creating a legacy of excellence and a stretch of dominance that's truly hard to match.

So the secrets to Pete Carroll's success aren't anything extraordinary. It's just he has the ability to pull them off year after year, producing spectacular results with USC. By consistently recruiting top players and by sticking with the system he has installed, the USC Trojans have been a BCS Championship contender year in and year out.

Sources:www.petecarroll.com, www.usctrojans.com,