Pete Carroll Sparks Debate at Pac-10 Officials Meeting

by Gary Klein

It was an early morning wake-up call for a 7:30 meeting with the Pacific 10 Conference's coordinator of officials, but that didn't stop USC Coach Pete Carroll from initiating some spirited debate.

Dave Cutaia of the Pac-10 covered a variety of topics during his session with all of the head coaches, including chop blocks, clock changes, horse-collar tackles, face-mask violations, targeting an opponent with the crown of helmet and reviewable plays.

Carroll got rolling after Cutaia showed a video clip of a helmet-to-helmet hit on a punt return and said the tackler would be ejected.

"This stuff just happens and it has nothing to do with the guy's intent," Carroll said of the specific example in the clip.

Carroll continued, saying officials should not be looking to eject players for actions that were not intentional. The subdued meeting then turned into a lively series of exchanges with nearly every other coach weighing in on the topic.

New UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel even agreed with Carroll.

Washington's Tyrone Willingham cautioned that the intent of the rule was to address one of the most unprotected situations in football.

Cutaia said he appreciated the feedback and would take the comments into consideration.

Later in the meeting, Cutaia said egregious errors such as an incorrect good or no-good call on field goals could now be reviewed.

"We don't want to get caught in procedure," he said. "We want to get the darn play right."

Comments

[Donald from Hawaii]

I have to side with UW Coach Ty Willingham on this one. Coach Carroll needs to remember the original intent of such rules, which is to mitigate the chance of serious injury, and not be so mindlessly combative. The fact that UCLA's Rick Neuheisel sided with him is certainly no compliment.

Players need to think at all times while on the field, and coaches need to remind their players of the rules. Further, coaches should be ready to impose stern disciplinary measures themselves upon transgressors who play so recklessly, rather than offer lame excuses about whether or not the player acted with malice aforethought.

[meesh]

There are times in games when a player's momentum in a play keeps them from safely hitting a guy, even if you try to prevent it, and therefore they shouldn't be ejected.

There is a part of the game that needs to be kept somewhat combative since all the rules have been taking over the energy of the game. I agree that there should be a way to protect players from injury, but to a point. Pete Carroll is a players coach, don't mistaken his point of view.

[Bobak]

Nah, Rick and Pete know what they're talking about.

[Redondo]

Carroll teaches his guys to take illegal cheap shots; the last thing he wants is for the ref's to enforce the rules.

[pk-in-the-mesa]

redondo, how can you say that do you really think that if you do that is sad. No coach teaches that, its a game and a tough one at that things happen and that is the risk that one takes in playing.