Pete Carroll, 1969, football, basketball, baseball—Carroll is the most successful Division 1 college football coach in the modern era, having led the University of Southern California since 2000 to an astonishing 88-15 record—a winning percentage of 85 percent.

Although he spent 15 years in the National Football League, coaching with the Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers and the New England Patriots, his greatest success has been as a college football coach. It is a niche that he occupies arguably better than any current big university coach and one that has him talked about in the same breath as such immortals as Bud Wilkinson, Papa “Bear” Bryant, Woody Hayes, Ara Parshegian and Bo Schembechler.

Born in San Francisco, Carroll grew up in Greenbrae and attended Redwood from 1965-69. He was a triple-threat athlete who lettered in football (he played quarterback, wide receiver and defensive back), basketball and baseball, and was named Senior Athlete of the Year in 1969. After Redwood, Carroll first attended College of Marin, lettering in football there in 1970, then the University of the Pacific in Stockton, where he majored in business. At UOP Carroll was named twice as a free safety to the All-Pacific Coast Conference(UOP inducted Carroll into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995).

After graduating from UOP, he tried out for the World Football League and spent time selling roofing materials around the Bay Area. He subsequently returned to UOP where he earned a secondary teaching credential and a master's degree in physical education.

After he graduated from Pacific, he spent a year trying out for the World Football League and selling roofing materials in the Bay Area.
He entered coaching as an assistant at UOP for three years, 1974 through 1976, beginning a 35-year career that garnered increasing fame and success:

College Level Coaching:

• Assistant coach, wide receivers and secondary, University of the Pacific, 1974-76
• Assistant coach, secondary, Arkansas, 1977 (Arkansas won the 1978 Orange Bowl)
• Assistant coach, secondary, Iowa State, 1978 (Iowa State played in the Hall of Fame Bowl)
• Assistant coach, secondary, Ohio State, 1979 (which lost to USC in the 1980 Rose Bowl)
• Defensive coordinator and secondary coach, North Carolina State, 1980-82
• Assistant head coach and offensive coordinator, University of the Pacific, 1983
• 2000-present, head coach, University of Southern California

Professional Level Coaching:

• Defensive backs coach, Buffalo Bills, 1984
• Defensive backs coach, Minnesota Vikings, 1985-89 (The Vikings reached the NFC Championship game in 1987, and its secondary led the NFL in passing defense in 1989)
• Defensive coordinator, New York Jets, 1990-93)
• Head coach, New York Jets, 1994
• Defensive coordinator, San Francisco 49ers, 1995-96 (the team won the NFC Western Division title both seasons)
• Head coach, New England Patriots, 1997-99 (the team reached the playoffs in his first two seasons)

In 2000, Carroll returned to college-level coaching at USC. In the time since he picked up the reins of a failing program, he has led the Trojan team, as well as himself, to several all-time bests:

• Reached 50 career USC wins faster than any head coach in Trojan history.
• Won two successive national championships (2003, 2004)
• The Trojans have won an unprecedented six consecutive Pac-10 titles
• Finished in the top 4 of the final AP poll six straight times
• Appeared in a record six straight BCS bowls, including two national championship games
• The team’s 11 wins in each of the past six seasons is a school and national record
• First school to have three Heisman Trophy winners in a four-year span

A partial list of Carroll’s coaching honors includes:

• 2006 Pac-10 Coach of the Year
• 2005, The Sporting News names him as the top coach in the nation.
• 2005 recipient of United States Sports Academy Amos Alonzo Stagg
• 2005 Pac-10 Co-Coach of the Year
• 2005 American Football Coaches Association Division I-A Region 5 Coach of the Year.
• 2004 National Quarterback Club College Coach of the Year
• 2004 ESPN.com Pac-10 Coach of the Year
• 2003 Pac-10 Co-Coach of the Year
• 2003 American Football Coaches Association Division I-A Coach of the Year
• 2003 Home Depot National Coach of the Year
• 2003 Maxwell Club College Coach of the Year
• 2003 ESPN.com National Coach of the Year
• 2003 Pigskin Club of Washington D.C. Coach of the Year
• 2003 All-American Football Foundation Frank Leahy Co-Coach of the Year.

Carroll currently resides in Los Angeles.

For more detailed information about Carroll, go here.