Filed under: USC Football, Pac 10, The Word

The man doesn’t sleep, so pretty much everyone outside the 99th percentile where he resides faces that fire

“I don’t want to sound like a jerk,” [USC coach Pete] Carroll says, “But other coaches … they’re just lazy.”

Carroll is gripping about the NCAA’s ban on off-campus visits during the spring evaluation period (April 15 to May 31). That’s a period of time where coaches like Carroll commit to life on the road and find those margins in recruiting and evaluation. Ostensibly, the legislation was an attempt to curb coaches from violating the NCAA’s “bump” rule that limits personal contact with recruits at their schools.

For someone like Carroll, this is an unnecessary and unfair “time out”. The poor man’s got nothing to do except work on his jumper, apparently. Says The Sporting News’ Matt Hayes:

The reality is the new rule penalizes those who work hard and build relationships and rewards those who are, yep, lazy.

Nick Saban visited more than 100 high schools in last spring’s evaluation period. Urban Meyer’s spring jaunts are legendary, and Ron Zook once visited more than 70 schools in 30 days. See the common thread yet?

Those who work hard reap the rewards.

Any coach can watch tape and see potential. The difference is in the details: talking to high school coaches and guidance counselors and teachers early on and getting a feel for intangibles that don’t show on grainy video.

The cold reality is the coaching biz rewards the guys who never leave the office and keep family and social commitments to a minimum in pursuit of every possible edge. Someone like Carroll is willing to make those sacrifices others won’t. I wouldn’t call other coaches lazy (although some are!), but for a competitive freak like Carroll it’s probably near-impossible to see things in any other light.

Previously at FanHouse
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