Pete Carroll's Winning Coaching Style

Cameras Also Follow Him On His Late-Night Missions To Stop L.A.’s Gang Violence

(CBS)  One of those e-mails, sent to the L.A. Times, read, "What was it about Pete Carroll that made you want to hire him for the head coaching job? Was it his complete lack of recruiting ties to the West Coast? His limited college coaching experience? His reputation for being soft on players and not a good motivator?"

Carroll's reaction? "Isn't that a beautiful thing? It's a beautiful thing. I love runnin' into those guys. They come up. It's like their final confession now. You know, they, 'Coach, I was one of those guys that sent the fax.' 'Oh, it's okay. It's all right, you know. You didn't know. I understand,' you know. "

At USC, Carroll finally found his calling - his boyish, enthusiastic style that seemed too soft for the NFL has been a perfect fit with younger athletes. He is now one of the highest paid college football coaches in the country, earning an estimated $4 million a year.

Carroll says one of the real secrets to his success can be found on the practice field.

"A great coach once said that the best players don't always win, the players that play the best do. That's why we work so hard. That's why we train so hard. That's why we focus so much on practicing better than anybody’s ever practiced before," Carroll said.

"Better than anybody else has ever practiced before?" Pitts asked.

"That's the whole idea, you know, you want to do things better than it's ever been done before or don't you," Carroll explained.

He makes practice as much like a real game as possible - that includes piping in fake crowd noise during a scrimmage, letting fans in the stands, and learning to stop for TV commercials.

Unlike more traditional coaches, Carroll doesn't tear down his players, he builds them up.

We did see him get tough on a player when a fight broke out. "C'mon Christian we don't ever do stuff like that never, never do stuff like that. You are out of the football game. Go put your helmet down… God dawg it," he told a player.

"One of our players, you know, punched a guy, you know trying to get away from him. I ripped his tail pretty good. But I needed to get right back to him and teach him what just happened, you know," Carroll explained.

"We don't fight. Fighting is nothing in this game, it's no aspect in this game. It's just not okay, c'mon," he told the player.

That's what he calls a teachable moment. Take a mistake and learn from it.
It's part of a philosophy that he calls "Win Forever."

Asked what "win forever" means to him, Carroll said, "It’s about finding out how good you could become at something and then making it come to life."

Carroll sees that as his life's work: teach young people, not just ball players, to seize every opportunity and make the most of it.

That's why, during football season, and more often in the off season, this high profile celebrity coach goes into some of the most violent neighborhoods in Los Angeles recruiting not star athletes but gang members in an effort to end gang violence.

He started these night time trips in 2006. There were nearly 300 gang related murders in L.A. that year alone. "The need was so obvious. Kids getting killed in the streets is just not okay. It's not all right," he told Pitts.

Two days after the Trojans beat Ohio State, he took 60 Minutes to Watts, reluctant to let us bring our cameras because he didn't want the young people he met to think he was looking for publicity or exploiting them. He usually travels with no entourage and no security. This housing project is ruled by one of L.A.'s most notorious gangs, the Crips.

[hawkeyes11a]

Way to go Coach Carroll. How many other division one coaches do you think gets that involved in there community without it being in their contracts. LA is a better place with him!!

[itdfactsu]

Pete Carroll''s

I''ve always been a big blue MICH fan but you won me over Pete, GO USC beat Penn State

Great job Coach, you''re not only a great coach but a great person as well

[w-jefferson]

I never cease to be amazed at the vitriolic comments expressed by some on the blogs toward USC, the Institution, its students and alumni when the subject is USC football or has any relationship to USC football. I guess in the case of Pete Carroll who, as the 60 Minute segment pointed out, is the most successful active Division 1 coach, it''s simply jealousy.

[tomtennis3]

to lovely1210 yes he is married

to byron pitts, u r onefantastic reporter and you got this story spot on! I have been a fan of Pete Carroll''s for a number of years. He is absolutely for real.

People wonder how he recruits so well: if you were a parent of a young athlete, wouldn''t you want this kid to learn from pete carroll for 4 years?

Thank you CBS!!!!!

[thehounddawg]

Your love-fest for Carroll is a disgrace. He is the highest ranking piece in the chess game of the University of Spoiled Children, running the biggest scam in college sports, flouting the rules of the impotent NCAA, and committing the most flagrant rules violations of any school in the country. sc influence has kept them from NCAA sanctions despite the single biggest scam in NCAA football annals - Reggie Bush and his family receiving more than $1/2 million in illegal benefits (free rent for more than a year in a luxury home, debt payoffs, all-expense paid trips and luxury hotels) have been well documented, and the subject of civil lawsuits, but no NCAA sanctions. Any other program and Bush would have had his Heisman taken away, sc stripped of his national championship (they only won ONE under Carroll, not two as they claim).

Combine this with the OJ Mayo''s flagrant violations in Tim Floyd''s dirty little basketball program, and sc should long ago have received the NCAA death penalty. Yet, Floyd and his thugs like Leonard Washington are allowed to continue their cheap shot assault on other players, risking serious injury to unsuspecting opponents.

CBS and 60 Minutes need to investigate the real sc sports department and not pull the wool over the eyes of the public. Take a look at the evidence, take a look at how sc has subverted the NCAA and curtailed any investigation of the NCAA violations and rampant criminal activity in the sc sports department.

[mseville]

GREAT job, Coach Carrol! May God bless you. Even BETTER job 60 minutes for this story AND for FINALLY giving an African American a shot at the Ed Bradley vacancy! Good job, Mr Pitts and I hope 60 minutes realizes we African Americans like to see ourselves represented in the media. There must be SOMEONE worthy of 60 minutes who looks like me. We watch 60 minutes also, you know.

[puentebr]

An excellent piece on your part. Coach Carroll has all the tools that coaches in this and age fail to have he can win, his players love to play for him and he pays back to the community in more ways than one. LA and USC are very lucky at a time when coaches solely care about wins and promoting themselves.I live in Louisiana, although I grew up in Los Angeles, and here coaches are Gods, but not in the fashion of Coach Pete. More power to him.

[cyberdogg1]

Pete Carroll''s humanitarian work is commendable, but I find his prowling late at night without a bodyguard and unarmed questionable at best and naive at worst.

Pete, I encourage you to learn concealed carry by taking firearm training class in carry and tactical and receive a concealed firearm license. Because you''re wealthy and connected with impeccable reputation, the process will be much easier in L.A. County. Lose anti-gun attitude because it doesn''t help prepare you for the unforeseeable. Take self-protection seriously.

Ask your friends who are law enforcement officers to give you pointers.

Sincerely, Utah residential concealed carry permit holder.

[shabba1705]

I just want to say thanks to Mr Carroll for giving back to society.Mr Carroll your story is very amazing,your story motivate me to do more for for the kids in my community.This is the most wonderful story,I read and seen in awhile.I want to say thanks to CBS,for wonderful story.Mr Carroll,I hope the Lord keep on blessing you to do his work.Shabbakc

Check out the "A Better LA" website at www.abetterla.org.