Discover the answers to some of the most important questions while on the recruiting trail
By Ben Malcolmson
USCRipsIt
PeteCarroll.com
Between visiting coaches, going to high schools and attending track meets, the recruiting trail is marked with long days, long flights and long drives all across the country.
The USC coaching staff spent nearly all of May going coast to coast to evaluate prospects for the class of 2009. Minus an occasional weekend off, the Trojans’ nine assistant coaches were on the road for essentially the entire month, accumulating frequent flier miles, rental car reward points and enough fast food receipts to make Jenny Craig moan.
Find out what life is really like on the recruiting trail in this light-hearted Q&A with the USC coaching staff:
Favorite fast restaurant or meal
Running back Todd McNair: “Gino’s cheese steak in Philadelphia. When I go to the East Coast and land in Philly, the first thing I do is go straight to Gino’s.”
Passing game coordinator John Morton: “McDonald’s. I get something different every time.”
Defensive coordinator Nick Holt: “Starbucks and Subway.”
Recruiting coordinator/tight ends coach Brennan Carroll: “Wendy’s chicken sandwich.”
Offensive line coach Pat Ruel: “Taco Bell.”
Secondary Rocky Seto: “Taco Time in the Northwest, Seattle area. I also like stopping at the fruit stands in the central valley and picking up strawberries and peaches. Otherwise it’s a sausage burrito from McDonald’s.”
Offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian: “Starbucks venti drip.”
Linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr.: “It’s got to be Waffle House, I love the Waffle House.”
Window or aisle?
McNair: “It depends. If it’s a five-hour flight to the East Coast, then I’m a window guy for sure, so I can sleep.”
Morton: “Window.”
Holt: “Aisle, up front.”
Carroll: “Window, so I can nap.”
Ruel: “Aisle, so I can stretch out.”
Seto: “I like the window because it gives you privacy, you’re sort of tucked away.”
Sarkisian: “Aisle, because I like to get up when I want.”
Norton: “Aisle, because I don’t like to fly so I don’t like looking out the window.”
What do you do on the plane?
McNair: “I’m a current events guy so I read a lot. I’m also studying all the time.”
Morton: “I read, sleep and watch movies on my little DVD player.”
Holt: “I read books, check over recruiting lists, and map out my plan for when I get in. I like to look at maps. And I like to read newspapers.”
Carroll: “Sleep.”
Ruel: “I like to plan my days and then watch a movie on my iPhone.”
Seto: “Listen to Podcasts on my iPod — Greg Laurie’s ‘Focus on the Family,’ John Wooden books on tape and other audio books. I also like to read and journal.”
Sarkisian: “I attempt to sleep, listen to music and read the sports page.”
Norton: “I review my schedule, review what players I’m going to see and plan out my schedule. You’re driving a lot and you don’t have too much time so you want to get the most out of your time.”
Favorite rental car
Carroll: “One time they messed up and I got a Lincoln Navigator.”
Ruel: “When Pete [Carroll] came with me last year, I got a nice car [laughing]. Otherwise, I got a PT Cruiser one time because that was all they had.”
Seto: “Whenever they run out of the Taurus, you get a nice SUV.”
Sarkisian: “It doesn’t matter as long as you have NeverLost [a GPS product] — because with NeverLost, you’re never lost.”
Most played songs on your iPod during the trip
McNair: “I’m heavy on current events so I listen to the radio, the talk shows, when I’m in the car.”
Carroll: “Something to put me to sleep on the plane.”
Norton: “I always forget my iPod and DVDs at home so I end up listening to the radio. The best is when the rental car has XM radio, because it’s good all the way through your car ride.”
What’s something you did during your limited free time?
Holt: “There is no free time [laughing]. But I like to sleep a little more and get a workout in if I can.”
Carroll: “Sleep.”
Ruel: “Workout.”
Seto: “If possible, I like to visit friends in the area where I’m staying.”
Sarkisian: “No such thing as free time on the road.”
Hardest thing about being on the road?
McNair: “Being away from the family because I’m gone for three weeks”
Sarkisian: “Sitting in a car all day long.”
Morton: “Being away from my family.”
Norton: “You’re not staying in the best overnight accommodations and you don’t eat very well. When your trip is over, you look in the back of your car and see a bunch of wrappers and then you think, ‘What did I do to myself?’ There’s Sonic, McDonald’s, Taco Cabana, all that stuff in your backseat.”
Holt: “Missing my kids’ sports games.”
Ruel: “Being away from my wife and daughter. By the second week on the road, you’re really missing everyone and wondering how they’re doing.”
Seto: “Being away from my kids and wife. I really wish I could be there and play with my girls.”
What got you going in the morning? Coffee or red bull or what?
McNair: “Coffee with lots of cream and lots of sugar.”
Morton: “I don’t need any of that to get me going.”
Carroll: “The thought of making the Trojans better.”
Ruel: “Diet Coke.”
Seto: “Waking up early and working out on the hotel treadmill or elliptical machine. Also, some devotional time really gets me going.”
Sarkisian: “Same answer as before: Venti drip from Starbucks.”
Norton: “A really good breakfast. I like the hotels that give you a breakfast buffet, where you get an omelet and a big hearty breakfast.”
Best meal you had on the road?
Holt: “I didn’t take the time to go to any nice places.”
Ruel: “A mozzarella salad from room service at a Marriott [laughing].”
Sarkisian: “I went to Outback Steakhouse one night and the ribs they had were on point. They were perfect.”
Norton: “I went to Papadeaux's in Texas one time, that was real good.”
• Ben Malcolmson is the Director of Online Media for USCRipsIt/PeteCarroll.com. You can contact him at Ben@PeteCarroll.com.
