Carroll inherited a New England Patriots team that had just lost a Superbowl, but should have won it. That team was almost completely intact, though losing Curtiss Martin was a hit. Still, Robert Edwards looked to eclipse Martin here, and had it not been for that freak injury, he'd have likely been a potential Hall of Fame guy.
But Carroll took that bunch, who had learned some discipline under Parcells, and with his "Surfer Dude" attitude, let them slide. He mismanaged games that he should have won, and had everything he needed to get that team back to the Superbowl, but crashed it. In my opinion, he was lucky to get that USC job afterward.
Yet, at USC, Carroll again took a laid-back attitude to recruiting and when the NCAA was ready to bring down the hammer on them, he managed to quit the team and look for better pastures, leaving others to clean up the disaster he left the Trojans in.
Now he's ready to lose the Seahawks locker room too, judging from comments by players and whispers in the media. Yeah, it's a tough loss for Seattle, and it's easy to start pointing fingers. But in this case, there's some truth behind those accusations. Players have to trust their coach, and right now, that faith in him is more than a tad bit shaken. He had the talent, but the culture he brought along with him, that baggage of "The Dude Abides" isn't what an NFL team needs, and especially not what these young men need. That team deserves better than Pete Carrol and his clown-car surfer posse.
They need a real coach.
