Pete Carroll vs. Nick Saban Part II

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In Part I, I took a look at each coach’s backgrounds and how their career’s led them to the point where each skyrocketed into superstardom. LSU hired Nick Saban in November 1999 and USC named Pete Carroll their head man a year later in 2000 and neither were hired under the fanfare that their success should have afforded to them. Definitely not anything like what would happen if either one of them were named the Head Coach at the University of Texas.

Quick success at USC

Pete Carroll’s tenure as Trojan coach started slowly, going 2-5 in his first seven games. It appeared that all the criticism of his hire was going to be correct. Then everything changed…quickly. He went 4-1 to end that season and then went on a run of nearly historic proportions. The 2002 season saw USC begin a run of seven straight Pac-10 titles and win 82 of his next 91 games, including an AP national title, a BCS title and a BCS title game loss to VY and Texas. During that run, Carroll went an unfathomable 6-1 in BCS games and it took a Herculean effort that we all remember vividly for him to lose the one he did. In addition to winning 90 percent of their games during this stretch, Carroll was racking up titles off the field as well, finishing atop the recruiting rankings per Rivals.com in 2004, 2005, and 2006, second in 2007 and third in 2003.  During those five recruiting classes, the Trojans signed 25 5-star athletes from all over the country. By comparison, Mack Brown and the Horns signed 5.

It was all roses (pun intended) for Carroll during his time at USC. When he left USC and went back to the NFL, there was a NCAA investigation ongoing that eventually stripped USC of all of its victories from the 2005 season due to Reggie Bush and his family receiving improper benefits. It is the one major issue that appears to have a lot of Longhorn fans on edge when it comes to hiring Carroll although the NCAA findings fail to show much that implicate Carroll having knowledge of what was going on.

Carroll’s coaching style at USC is definitely something that I believe most Texas fans can get behind. His offense is pro style, but very aggressive. While at USC he had excellent QB play, with Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart winning Heisman Trophy’s under his watch. He has shown that he can win with the spread, zone-read principles in his offense in Seattle, utilizing Russell Wilson’s talents. That should be very good news if he is hired here. Defense has always been Carroll’s forte and the side of the ball that he gets his hands involved in. I think his defensive style would be very similar to what we are seeing currently from Greg Robinson. He uses a four-man front and wants his defenders flying around to the ball. His defenses tend to give up yards, but toughen up in the red zone and don’t give up very many points when it matters.

Multiple stops, multiple titles

Nick Saban did not see the success at LSU as quickly as Carroll did in Los Angeles, but he did win the SEC in his second season, finishing 10-3 and winning the Sugar Bowl. Following a slightly disappointing 2002 where his season ended with a Cotton Bowl loss to Texas, the Tigers became the lowest ranked team in the initial BCS standings to win the 2003 BCS title, knocking off OU 21-14 in the Superdome for their first title since 1959. One year later, Saban left LSU for the Miami and the bright lights of the NFL. While at LSU, he pulled in the top ranked recruiting class in 2003 in what can be deemed a defeat of Carroll off the field.

Saban struggled in the NFL and despite public denials, he took over the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2007. His first season included some growing pains, including a loss at home to the University of Louisiana-Monroe and a 7-6 record, but losses have been few and far between since. In the five seasons since and eight games into this year, Saban has only dropped seven games, while winning 69, three national titles and a pair of SEC crowns. With another title this season, Saban will become the first coach to win three consecutive national titles and will have won four of the last five. Since 2008, Alabama has finished 1^st, 1^st, 5^th, 1^st, 1^st and 1^st in the recruiting rankings, inking 18 5-star athletes.

Saban has a no-nonsense approach when it comes to his coaching style. He is all business on and off the field. Defensively, Saban’s squads run a 3-4 defense that surprisingly does not rely on a lot of quarterback sacks. His teams are very sound and rarely give up big plays. They are extremely physical and deep. On offense, his teams are big, physical and have punishing run games. He does not usually ask his offense to win a lot of games for him, but they have definitely shown they can when needed. In big games, his offense will open things up and it appears as though he has incorporated some spread principles at times, more often when he has an experienced quarterback. He has coached a Heisman Trophy winning in Mark Ingram along the way.

Final Analysis

When looking at their bodies of work, it’s amazing at how much success these two guys have had. And it was sustained success. And both coaches have turned their success on the field into monster recruiting success. When you compare how Mack’s recruiting classes looked following Texas’ title in 2005 and then look at the classes Carroll and Saban signed after their title’s, it is disappointing in one sense, but exciting to think about the possibilities.

Before researching and writing, I was 110% in the Saban camp. I still have no reservations when it comes to hiring him, but if that deal fell through and we had to bring in Carroll we would absolutely be getting a homerun. The one difference between coaching the college and coaching in the NFL is that in college you have the opportunity to bring in the best talent in the country every single year and each of these guys have shown that they are among the best around at signing the best of the best.

Give me Saban right now because what he’s doing at Alabama is unfathomable. As good as Carroll was during his run at USC, he still only won a single BCS title. And following his loss to Texas in 2005, his teams never reached another title game. Saban is turning the college football world into his personal playground and that’s what Texas should be doing right now.