You might have noticed that USC football coach Lincoln Riley recently said Mike Leach should be in the College Football Hall of Fame. Yet, Leach is not in the Hall. Why? The College Football Hall of Fame has a strict requirement: Coaches must have won at least 60 percent of their games. If it’s 59 percent, not good enough, period. No debate. No discussion. No allowance for context.
Leach coached at Washington State, Texas Tech, and Mississippi State, all hard places to win. If a coach goes 9-3 at Ohio State, that’s a failure, but it’s still a .750 winning percentage. Winning percentages should be guidelines, not absolute requirements.
Pete Carroll of USC isn’t in the Hall of Fame because the College Football Hall of Fame requires coaches to have coached at least 10 seasons. Carroll coached only nine, so he’s out.
Pete Carroll, beyond any shadow of a doubt, should be in the College Football Hall of Fame. USC won 34 straight games and two national titles under Carroll, plus an additional appearance in the BCS National Championship Game at the 2006 Rose Bowl, viewed by many as the greatest college football game ever played. Carroll made a BCS (now New Year’s Six) bowl in seven consecutive seasons. He won the Rose Bowl four times. He won the Pac-10 title six straight years, seven if you include the shared title in 2002 with Washington State.
Pete Carroll is easily a Hall of Fame-level coach in college football. We’re all wondering the same thing: Why hasn’t the College Football Hall of Fame reformed its standards and its rules for induction? What’s taking so long?
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