Carroll and the Trojans aim for never-ending success
By Ben Malcolmson
USCRipsIt
PeteCarroll.com
On Sept. 4, 1994, the New York Jets traveled to Buffalo and beat the Bills, 23-3.
Oddly enough, that game’s significance lives on today and into eternity at USC — in a glistening Heritage Hall, in the founding philosophies of the USC football program and in the heart and mind of Coach Pete Carroll.
It was that game — that seemingly any-given-Sunday game — that eventually birthed Carroll’s “Win Forever” mantra, which has now become the blood that pumps through the Trojans and has driven the program to unprecedented triumphs.
“After the game I went back into the stadium before we got on the buses and looked around,” recalled Carroll, who was in his first year as Jets head coach that season. “On the wall, the Bills had documented their division championships year after year after year. Even though they didn’t win the world championship, they won the division for years and years and just showed great consistency.”
The Bills won five AFC East division titles in a six year span from 1988 to 1993, and with each division championship proudly displayed above that tunnel, Carroll saw the writing on the wall.
“I remembered thinking, that’s what it means to really be successful, showing you can maintain success over a long period of time,” Carroll said. “Looking back now, that’s when I decided that I wanted the team I coached to Win Forever.”
He says it with such gumption that you almost brush it off as another motivational tool. But it’s much bigger than that.
Try and rationalize it, and it’s just not possible.
Attempt to picture it, and nothing comes up.
Sit and dwell on it, and the phrase gives you goose bumps.
How can you possibly do something forever? Much less Win… Forever?
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Humans have a difficult time grasping eternity. It’s probably because life works in myopic segments. Go to work today, pay the next bill, plan the next weekend.
But doing something forever?
Doing something well forever?
It just doesn’t compute.
“It makes perfect sense to me,” Carroll says with a shrug.
Maybe it’s because Carroll and his mantra are so ballsy, so resolute, so downright ludicrous that you want to believe him. As the saying goes, a crazy person doesn’t think he’s crazy, but now you’re starting to think you’re crazy for not believing someone so soundly sure of himself.
History also helps that cause.
In Carroll’s seven years at USC, the Trojans have gone 76-14, been to six BCS bowl games, won two national championships and produced 30 All-American first-teamers.
And then there are the conference titles and season finishes.
USC has had a stranglehold on the Pac-10 this millennium, winning the conference each of the last six seasons. Before the current Trojan reign, no team had ever won more than four in a row, and that’s dating back to 1916. Yes, 1916.
The Trojans also have a string of six straight AP top-4 finishes. In the span that the Trojans have remained a constant in the top-4, 11 other teams have come and gone and only four programs have appeared more than once.
The consistency is exactly what Carroll means when he says Win Forever.
“That really solidifies the fact that you’re a winner and your program’s a winner,” he said. “It’s the over-arching vision of the program, to show that we can win over a long period of time.”
But the stats and accolades only play a small fraction of the grander picture. The philosophy is bigger than the past, and a whole lot more significant than the next win.
“Trophies are nice, but we want to Win Forever,” said Carroll, who admittedly has never worn his championship rings and whose office doesn’t feature a single trophy. He often gives away the coach-of-the-year plaques and individual awards he receives.
Winning forever is much more than winning next Saturday’s game. It’s about maximizing the opportunities in front of you, Carroll says, so that each player can become the best he can be and each team can achieve its fullest potential.
“Of course we want to win every game, but winning forever is simply realizing your potential and making yourself as good as you can be,” Carroll said. “Realizing that is a tremendous accomplishment, whether it’s football or in life.”
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“Win Forever” has already trickled down into the USC football program. Carroll mentions the phrase — with animated zeal, emphasizing “forever” — every once in a while during team meetings. The eternality part of the phrase plays out in the weight room and on the practice field every day, when players focus on the long-term benefits and consequences of each little action, habit and exercise.
That’s the interesting thing about the philosophy — to accomplish the grand, you have to focus on the small. To exist in the eternal perspective, you have to live in the moment.
Each practice takes on utmost importance. Each strength and conditioning workout carries significant weight. They’re all monumental, yet none more valuable than another.
And it goes to even more minute scales than that. Each repetition of each drill at practice means everything, because you can’t get to forever without right now.
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Win Forever has caught fire in Carroll’s heart and mind so much that it’s become a part of who he is. He mentions it at nearly all of his speaking engagements and drops the phrase to whoever will listen. Win Forever has become truth and reality in his life inside and outside of football.
“The best way to advance something is to live it out, in everything you do,” Carroll said. “So that’s what I’ve done.”
It’s also become a part of who the Trojans are.
The team has won 74 of its last 83 games. The Trojans essentially know nothing but BCS bowls. The last six Pac-10 championship trophies sit in Heritage Hall.
And there’s no end in sight.
“It’s what we’re all about,” Carroll says, as a grin rises on his face. “Let’s Win Forever.”
• Ben Malcolmson is the Director of Online Media for USCRipsIt/PeteCarroll.com. You can contact him at Ben@PeteCarroll.com.
