Pete Carroll to Author “Win Forever”

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Pete pairs with Penguin to pen and publish. Say that ten times fast.

Next Spring look for Pete Carroll on the practice field and in your local book store, as the USC head coach has joined with Penguin Group (USA) to publish a book based on his now famous philosophy: win forever. The release from the publisher, as quoted on LA Times, reads:

‘Win Forever’ will include previously untold details and anecdotes about USC football, as well as Coach Carroll’s advice for building teams that stick together and consistently outperform expectations. He will also discuss leadership off the field, based on his charitable work with kids on the toughest streets of L.A. And he will show how the five principles of the ‘Win Forever’ philosophy can be applied to any kind of endeavor.

The win forever mantra stems from an ESPN.com article by Eric Neel, profiling the prolific coach. And while the article itself definitely worth the read, it is this Carroll quote buried somewhere in the middle of the article that seems to capture the essence of the coach that has captured a nation:

I love trophies, but f— ’em. They’re for old men, for guys living in memory…I’m talking about: Are we competing today, every minute, in everything we do in practice. Are we letting loose and daring to be great here and now? And can we sustain that? And repeat it. Trophies are great, but we’re trying to win forever.

  1. Does he really need a whole book for that? Here are what I take to be his ten golden rules.

    1) Recruit superior athletes.
    2) Compete in a conference where the best competitive matches tend to occur in water polo pools. (No, I didn’t play on the water polo team.)
    3) Fire the best offensive coordinator so that a string of incompetent offensive coordinators can take his place and solidify your legacy. This is fine as long as principal 4 is assiduously followed. (But but but: Jeremy Bates is in town!! Yeah! – finally a man worthy of the job.)
    4) Take as few risks on the field as possible.
    5) Drink a ton of Red Bull, get amped, and then give plenty of breathless pep talks, especially to the news media. (Feed the kitty – see principle 1)
    6) Stubbornly insist to your best athletes that they are much better off working for free when they could be making a gazillion clams in the NFL.
    7) Over-recruit at the crucial skill spots and then let nature take its course. When these athletes hit the field on Saturdays, they’ll be so freaked out and desperate with fear that they might lose the spot to someone else that they’ll play right on the razor’s edge.
    8) Use your former NFL contacts to take a chance on a former bench-warmer to provide an example of the excellent preparation that warming the bench can provide for the NFL.
    9) Turn a blind eye to many of the conversations going on at your “open practices.” Protect your athletes from annoying distractions like writing papers and following the California penal code.
    10) Remember always: image is everything.

    And – I am not a UCLA, Notre Dame, OSU, LSU, Arizona State, Cal, Stanford fan. Or any other school for that matter. My blood is crimson with a little gold, I hope. But all of this PC-worship is starting to make me sad.

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