UPDATE II: Bumped again in light of the hilarious story of Carroll now recommending the SDSU job for DeWayne Walker. Originally published on August of 2006, the bumped again after December 6, 2006. -N

UPDATE: Bumped. pimp put up this post back in August. He called it. -N

From the diaries. No surprise here. The physical genius is a typical classy Trojan. - N

Sorry to post another diary so soon after the other, but I just spotted this article from Brian Dohn in the Daily News:

When DeWayne Walker was contacted about turning around one of the worst defenses in college football, he received advice from many colleagues.

One was his former boss, USC coach Pete Carroll. And in describing UCLA's defense, Carroll apparently did not hold back.

According to sources outside of UCLA, Carroll's assessment of the Bruins' defense was brutal, if not brutally honest, as he told Walker the Bruins' defense was soft and needed an upgrade in talent before it could be fixed and advised Walker not to take the job.

Walker, who was a defensive backs coach with the Washington Redskins, accepted the challenge anyway, shunning a larger NFL paycheck to become UCLA's defensive coordinator.

Walker declined comment about what Carroll said, saying it was a private conversation. "I spoke with a lot of people, and I received positive and negative feedback," Walker said. "Ultimately, I decided it was something I wanted to do. I could have stayed in the NFL, but one of the reasons I came back to college was to work with a guy like coach (Karl) Dorrell."

I love this development.  As the article continues to say, "Several UCLA players said they were aware Carroll did not have pleasant things to say about them," which can only be a good thing come December 2 at the Rose Bowl.

Does anyone envision any coach in this situation not revealing the details of a conversation like that just before the big game to provide extra motivation?

What we have here is a coach who can tell his team that he took the job because he believed in them, and Dorrell's system, despite all the stuff he was hearing from everyone else.  An "us-against-the-world" mentality is exactly what this defense needs following last year's performance.

Plus, it makes Carroll look like an asshole, his old employee calling to ask for advice and then completely ignoring it to go work for the competition.  If the defense shows the improvement we're told it will, Carroll looks like an idiot for years to come, with every crisp tackle any of the players on this year's roster makes.

What was the quote? "We just have to beat those f***ers"?