Carroll's staff gets a passing grade

There is a good chance the USC football team will look less like Tailback U.--and more like pass-happy BYU--next season. That’s because new Coach Pete Carroll announced Tuesday he has hired

Norm Chow, an offensive coordinator with a history of spread offenses and rapid-fire quarterbacks. “Looking at our talent, looking at our league, we need to throw the ball with emphasis,”

Carroll said after meeting with his players to announce the hiring. Carroll added five other assistants to his growing staff, including running backs coach Wayne Moses, offensive line coach

Keith Uperesa and inside linebackers coach Nick Holt. Moses represents something of a coup, making the jump from Rose Bowl-winning Washington. But among USC players, most of the buzz was

about the new offensive coordinator. Chow built a reputation as a quarterback guru by nurturing Steve Young, Jim McMahon and Ty Detmer during two decades as a Brigham Young assistant. Last

season, he directed the offense at North Carolina State, where the Wolfpack averaged 31 points a game with freshman Philip Rivers at quarterback. “It’s going to be a complete turnaround,”

USC receiver Kareem Kelly said. “You can just feel the reaction and the energy of the coaches.” Quarterback Carson Palmer couldn’t help grinning at the thought of working from a spread

formation and throwing 50 passes a game. But before anyone could get too worked up, Carroll offered some perspective. The Trojans will continue to employ a two-back set--at least some of the

time--and they will run the ball. “Championship football always goes back to balance,” he said. “It starts with two backs and spreads from there.” Carroll talked about the need to boost the

USC passing attack when he arrived last month and Chow’s hiring had been rumored for days, if not weeks. Negotiations stretched into Monday night and, though no contract figures were

released, sources said USC gave Chow a raise from the $165,000 a year he was earning at North Carolina State. Also important, Carroll promised the veteran assistant a good deal of autonomy

in running the offense. That leaves Carroll, known as a defensive specialist, free to serve as his own defensive coordinator. Among the other coaches hired: * Moses spent the past four

seasons at Washington. “This was a very tough decision to make,” the San Dimas native said in a release. “I bleed purple and gold, but this is an opportunity to move back home and be closer

to my immediate family.” * Uperesa comes from Idaho State, where he spent the last two seasons as assistant head coach. He formerly worked with Chow as a graduate assistant at BYU. * Holt

was the defensive line coach at Louisville. Carroll coached him when he played linebacker at Pacific. * Mike Sullivan comes from the U.S. Military Academy to be the director of football

administration. * Mark Jackson, who will serve as program manager, comes from the New England Patriots, where he was an assistant under Carroll. As expected, defensive line coach Ed Orgeron

joined outside linebackers coach Kennedy Pola as the two assistants retained from former coach Paul Hackett’s tenure. A few spots remain open on the staff, which Carroll hopes to fill soon.

Most of the new assistants are expected on campus by Friday, in time for weekend visits by recruits. There had been some concern about how Carroll, with his long NFL history, would adapt to

this aspect of the college game. But the Trojans got good news this week when Long Beach Poly linebacker Marvin Simmons, one of the top prospects in the state, changed his mind about

committing to UCLA and announced he would attend USC. Simmons could fill a gaping hole for a defense that loses senior linebackers Zeke Moreno and Markus Steele. “He seemed pretty excited,”

said Kelly, who spoke with Simmons. “He has a chance to get some playing time.” His decision only boosted the mood on Tuesday, the first time that Carroll had gathered his players. The

agenda was otherwise mundane--they talked about off-season workouts and recruiting--but the new coach got high marks. “I can’t see why anybody wouldn’t like him,” Palmer said. “He’s fun and

you can tell he has a lot of purpose in what he says.” (BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC) NEW FACES Personnel Pete Carroll has hired: NORM CHOW Offensive Coordinator * WAYNE MOSES Running

Backs Coach * KEITH UPERESA Offensive Line Coach * NICK HOLT Inside Linebackers Coach * MIKE SULLIVAN Football Administration * MARK JACKSON Football Administration * DeWAYNE WALKER

Secondary Coach Ed Orgeron and Kennedy Pola were retained. Grand Tradition Is in the Past Thousand-yard rushers have become the exception rather than the rule at USC: Seasons: 1,000-yard

backs 1960-69 FOUR Mike Garrett, 1965: 1,440 O.J. Simpson, 1967: 1,543 O.J. Simpson, 1968: 1,880 Clarence Davis, 1969: 1,351 1970-79: EIGHT Anthony Davis, 1972: 1,191 Anthony Davis, 1973:

1,112 Anthony Davis, 1974: 1,421 Ricky Bell, 1975: 1,957 Ricky Bell, 1976: 1,433 Charles White, 1977: 1,478 Charles White, 1978: 1,859 Charles White, 1979: 2,050 1980-89: FIVE Marcus Allen,

1980: 1,563 Marcus Allen, 1981: 2,427 Fred Crutcher, 1984: 1,155 Steven Webster, 1987: 1,109 Ricky Ervins, 1989: 1,395 1990-2000: FOUR Mazio Royster, 1990: 1,168 Delon Washington, 1995:

1,109 Chad Morton, 1999: 1,141 Sultan McCullough, 2000: 1,163 MORE TO READ