John Robinson and Pete Carroll
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John Robinson and Peter Carroll both coached at USC. (They also both coached in the NFL.) Who would you rather have as your college coach?
John Robinson coached USC from 1976 to 1982 and then left for the Rams in the NFL, where he coached from 1983 to 1991. He then came back to USC and coached there from 1993 to 1997. His last coaching major coaching job was at UNLV from 1999 to 2004. His college coaching record was 132–77–4 with one National Championship and five Pac-8/Pac-10 championships. (His teams in 1976 and 1979 were also picked as National Champs by non-major polls, so it could be argued that he won three National Championships.) His teams played in nine bowl games and won eight of them.
Pete Carroll coached USC from 2001 to 2009. His record there was 97-19 with nine bowl appearances and seven bowl wins. Coach Carroll also won the National Championship in 2004 by defeating Oklahoma 55-19. His tenure was not without controversy, and USC was forced to vacate various victories. (Faniacs does not recognize vacated wins, but we felt we had to mention this.)
Coach Robinson and Coach Carroll coached a similar amount of time at USC, which is the best way to compare the two. Robinson had two more National Championships at USC, although two of those are not recognized by USC. Carroll had higher winning percentage 83.6 vs. 74.1 at USC.
So the data is not very conclusive, but we are going with Coach Robinson for the very simple reason that he did not get USC in trouble. Any coach that brings sanctions to a program is not worth hiring. What do you think? Who would you rather have as your college coach?