The_herd
12-11-2003, 07:57 PM
An LA Times source says it pretty much a done deal. After reading the article though, I have my doubts.
Entire article here:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-simers12dec12,1,1056605.column?coll=la-headlines-sports
Carroll to the Falcons? Are We on Same Page?
Biography:
T.J. Simers
Recent Columns:
Carroll to the Falcons? Are We on Same Page?
December 11, 2003
The other night, my NFL sources were telling me that on Jan. 2, the Atlanta Falcons will call a news conference and announce the hiring of Pete Carroll to replace Dan Reeves.
I was left with the impression it was already a done deal.
Let me start at the beginning. I got a phone call from someone who knew someone in the NFL, who said he had a Page 1 story for me. Nothing I write ever makes it to Page 1, of course, but it's nice to dream.
These guys knew I knew Bobby Beathard, the former GM for the Chargers while I covered that crummy team, and they reminded me that Beathard has been working as an advisor and confidant to Atlanta owner Arthur Blank the last couple of years.
Well, I know how much Bobby Beathard admires Pete Carroll, and I also know that Carroll's name had been mentioned as a possible successor to Reeves as early as Oct. 26 in the Macon Telegraph. You could look it up.
And I've already gone through something like this before with Beathard when he landed Bobby Ross as the Chargers' coach.
Ross had put Georgia Tech back on the college football map, just as Carroll has done at USC, and after Georgia Tech won a split national championship in 1990, ranking No. 1 in the coaches' poll while Colorado was No. 1 in the Associated Press media poll, his name began to appear on everyone's wish list. Sound familiar?
Georgia Tech failed to lock up Ross and make it financially impossible for him to leave. So, even though he sounded at home in the South, the big money lured him away.
Beathard beat everyone to Ross. He interviewed him weeks before firing Dan Henning and told Ross the Charger job was his for the taking. He did the same thing when he hired Joe Gibbs to be the Redskins' coach.
Beathard still makes his home in Leucadia — just down the road from Carroll — and I can clearly see the two of them meeting. Down by the ocean. Jagged rocks on the right. A surfboard next to Beathard.
Like Ross, Carroll is the hot property now, and nationally has become a sympathetic household name because of the BCS wrong done to USC.
The BCS has overlooked USC, and now the Heisman Trophy voters have made it clear they never saw Matt Leinart or Mike Williams play. Very discouraging.
Carroll, however, has the cachet to go anywhere. He's already a marketing picture of enthusiasm. This is a coach who embraces challenges, and what challenge is there any longer in beating UCLA every year?
I won't be surprised if we learn that Karl Dullard was the one who put Beathard in touch with Carroll.
Carroll remains haunted by the criticism that he failed as a head coach in the NFL. It's also known what a competitor he is, and how he would like to prove to everyone that he has what it takes to be the best coach at any level. Being the best in the NFL while working in Atlanta gets you into the Hall of Fame.
It also gives you the chance to work with Michael Vick every day.
Entire article here:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-simers12dec12,1,1056605.column?coll=la-headlines-sports
Carroll to the Falcons? Are We on Same Page?
Biography:
T.J. Simers
Recent Columns:
Carroll to the Falcons? Are We on Same Page?
December 11, 2003
The other night, my NFL sources were telling me that on Jan. 2, the Atlanta Falcons will call a news conference and announce the hiring of Pete Carroll to replace Dan Reeves.
I was left with the impression it was already a done deal.
Let me start at the beginning. I got a phone call from someone who knew someone in the NFL, who said he had a Page 1 story for me. Nothing I write ever makes it to Page 1, of course, but it's nice to dream.
These guys knew I knew Bobby Beathard, the former GM for the Chargers while I covered that crummy team, and they reminded me that Beathard has been working as an advisor and confidant to Atlanta owner Arthur Blank the last couple of years.
Well, I know how much Bobby Beathard admires Pete Carroll, and I also know that Carroll's name had been mentioned as a possible successor to Reeves as early as Oct. 26 in the Macon Telegraph. You could look it up.
And I've already gone through something like this before with Beathard when he landed Bobby Ross as the Chargers' coach.
Ross had put Georgia Tech back on the college football map, just as Carroll has done at USC, and after Georgia Tech won a split national championship in 1990, ranking No. 1 in the coaches' poll while Colorado was No. 1 in the Associated Press media poll, his name began to appear on everyone's wish list. Sound familiar?
Georgia Tech failed to lock up Ross and make it financially impossible for him to leave. So, even though he sounded at home in the South, the big money lured him away.
Beathard beat everyone to Ross. He interviewed him weeks before firing Dan Henning and told Ross the Charger job was his for the taking. He did the same thing when he hired Joe Gibbs to be the Redskins' coach.
Beathard still makes his home in Leucadia — just down the road from Carroll — and I can clearly see the two of them meeting. Down by the ocean. Jagged rocks on the right. A surfboard next to Beathard.
Like Ross, Carroll is the hot property now, and nationally has become a sympathetic household name because of the BCS wrong done to USC.
The BCS has overlooked USC, and now the Heisman Trophy voters have made it clear they never saw Matt Leinart or Mike Williams play. Very discouraging.
Carroll, however, has the cachet to go anywhere. He's already a marketing picture of enthusiasm. This is a coach who embraces challenges, and what challenge is there any longer in beating UCLA every year?
I won't be surprised if we learn that Karl Dullard was the one who put Beathard in touch with Carroll.
Carroll remains haunted by the criticism that he failed as a head coach in the NFL. It's also known what a competitor he is, and how he would like to prove to everyone that he has what it takes to be the best coach at any level. Being the best in the NFL while working in Atlanta gets you into the Hall of Fame.
It also gives you the chance to work with Michael Vick every day.