USC's Carroll Flirts With Falcons

Coach leaning toward 'no thanks' to latest courtship, sources speculate

By Jesse Andrews, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 11, 2008 3:27 AM CST

Copied

USC's Carroll Flirts With Falcons — Southern California head coach Pete Carroll yell to his team during the first half of their NCAA Football game against Stanford, in this Oct. 6, 2007 file photo, in Los Angeles. No. 11 USC's loss at Oregon last month appeared to knock the Trojans out of contention for their sixth straight Pac-10 title... (Associated Press)

It wouldn't be a high-profile NFL coaching search without an appearance by USC's Pete Carroll—and Atlanta owner Arthur Blank is actively wooing the former Jets and Pats coach, ESPN reports. Blank and Carroll spoke yesterday by phone to discuss the vacancy, but Carroll is expected to turn down the job if it's offered.

Carroll has a 74-16 record at USC, including two national titles and a few other near-misses. He was 34-33 in the pros. A USC official maintained that Carroll "understands that his name is going to come up for NFL jobs, as it has in each of his past years here, but he's not going to comment." (More NFL stories.)

Report an error