Wideout Damian Williams will forego his senior season and enter the 2010 NFL Draft, he announced today.
"After a great deal of thoughtful discussion and prayer, I have decided that I will forego a fifth year of eligibility at USC and enter the 2010 NFL Draft," said Williams, who led the Trojans in receiving each of the last two seasons. "It was a difficult decision, but I am blessed to have some great people around me to counsel me, including my family and Coach Carroll.
"The NFL has been a dream of mine since I can remember and I feel that it is my time to take this step to the next level. I am proud to have earned my degree from USC, and that was an extremely important part of this decision for me and my family.
"I want to thank Mr. Garrett, our athletic director, Coach Carroll and the entire staff for preparing me to take this next step. I want to thank my teammates who will always be my Trojan family. I also want to thank the USC fans who embraced me and made me feel like home, and the Arkansas community who supported me throughout my career."
Williams was an All-Pac-10 first team selection in 2009 as both a wide receiver and punt returner. He also won All-American third-team honors and was USC's team MVP in 2009. He had 70 receptions for 1,010 yards with six touchdowns this past season and was sixth nationally in punt returns with a 14.2 average. His two scoring punt returns were one shy of the school season record set in 1952. He was the Emerald Bowl Offensive MVP following his 12-catch, 189-yard performance.
Williams' early departure follows those of tailback Joe McKnight and defensive end Everson Griffen, who both have announced they will also forego their senior seasons to enter the NFL draft.
"After a great deal of thoughtful discussion and prayer, I have decided that I will forego a fifth year of eligibility at USC and enter the 2010 NFL Draft," said Williams, who led the Trojans in receiving each of the last two seasons. "It was a difficult decision, but I am blessed to have some great people around me to counsel me, including my family and Coach Carroll.
"The NFL has been a dream of mine since I can remember and I feel that it is my time to take this step to the next level. I am proud to have earned my degree from USC, and that was an extremely important part of this decision for me and my family.
"I want to thank Mr. Garrett, our athletic director, Coach Carroll and the entire staff for preparing me to take this next step. I want to thank my teammates who will always be my Trojan family. I also want to thank the USC fans who embraced me and made me feel like home, and the Arkansas community who supported me throughout my career."
Williams was an All-Pac-10 first team selection in 2009 as both a wide receiver and punt returner. He also won All-American third-team honors and was USC's team MVP in 2009. He had 70 receptions for 1,010 yards with six touchdowns this past season and was sixth nationally in punt returns with a 14.2 average. His two scoring punt returns were one shy of the school season record set in 1952. He was the Emerald Bowl Offensive MVP following his 12-catch, 189-yard performance.
Williams' early departure follows those of tailback Joe McKnight and defensive end Everson Griffen, who both have announced they will also forego their senior seasons to enter the NFL draft.
and don't forget Pete Carroll's departure, as reported in the
Here's the statement.
Pete Carroll did not officially inform USC he was leaving as of Friday afternoon but sources within the university said he accepted a job with the Seattle Seahawks and only needed to agree to final contract details.
USC sources said Carroll agreed to a five-year deal with the Seahawks with the only question how much power he would have in the organization. The Seahawks lack a coach and general manager and Carroll's often expressed a hope to do both when he returned to the NFL.
Athletic director Mike Garrett is expected to target Oregon State coach Mike Riley as his No. 1 choice. The other top candidates are former USC players: Jacksonville Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio and Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher. Another possible candidate, according to sources, is Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh.
Well, there goes the neighborhood.
Talk about a fresh start, and we all thought that perhaps Carroll could get Norm Chow back.....
Hmmm.......
Fight On.
And what about ABLA - gang members will again be abandoned this time by someone they trusted to have their backs...PC. I hope PC isn't leaving; and if he is I sure hope it's not because the going is getting tuf w/possible sanctions - PC always taught that is the time that things get exciting and we must replace fear with fervor to win, win, win!!! If PC leaves, I will lose respect for all he has said in the past about wanting to stay at USC forever since he can TEACH and not babysit "pros". Very disappointing.
Are any of you, who are criticizing PC, ready to turn down a guaranteed $35M contract? C'mon, really? You'd do that?
Think about whatever job you do. If someone offered to double your salary somewhere else, are you telling me you wouldn't take it?
Pete did a lot for USC in restoring it's image and prestige. I'm sure this was a tough decision for him as it was in previous years. I think this time the $, the likelihood of some sanctions from Bush-gate, and the realization that Mike Garrett only cares about Mike Garrett finally pushed him over the edge.
He was a hero and it was magnificent while it lasted. I wish him well. Fight On Coach!
I agree with Mitch Kreeger to some extent. Pete did so much off the field around Los Angeles. He was more than a football coach, he was/is really making a difference around Los Angeles and inspiring others.
Yes there is the 35 million, tough to turn down. Tough. However, does money and power have to motivate every damn person in this country? For some reason, I thought Pete was a bit different.
I won't be pissed at Pete if he leaves, how can I be after what he's done at USC. Now Mark Sanchez is another story, give him a shot and he just uses us and bails, he's a greedy little beoootch. Pete? not in the same category. If he feels it's time to move on... go. But damn will we miss Pete. I've sat in the Coliseum practically since I was 2 watching games and I've never seen such good energy in a coach. LOL... DONT LEAVE PETE... and USCRIPSIT.... GET ON THIS STORY.
Funny...Mark Sanchez is about to play in the playoffs as a rookie...remember the half shake-half shove that Pete issued Mark at his farewell press conference a year ago...I wonder if AD Mike G gives Pete the same treatment as he bolts after going 9-4 and facing major sanctions and the loss of up to 10 scholarships next year...DWill you go...make that paper!
This is about Damian not Coach Carroll. This kid had success at USC and is leaving with his degree. I'm proud of him. He won me over with that big smile and great attitude. Best of luck to him, he deserves it.
On that same note, ABLA is not about Pete Carroll. It is about a program put into place by him. Do you think *he* is the one running it? He's the face to the program but what about the credit to all those volunteers and staff that make it happen! He will never abandon it. Try volunteering at an event and see the faces of those involved.
Oh Coach Pete why did you have to leave USC - you had the world bythe tail. The young men at SC looked up to you and you could teach them and they learned from one of the best coaches in sports. In the NFL they are grown men who will not want to listen to you. You maybe promised this and that now but it could all change soon when you have a losing season or if the owner dies. I have heard you many times say SC was your last coaching job - if you and Garrett were having problems why did you go to the President of SC? Isn't that what you'll be at Seattle President/Coach and will want players and personnel to come to you. What about your Foundation and your going into the inner cities? Have you not thought what it will do to those troubled youths they will feel you have abandoned them like the players on the Trojans! Power and money are important but not everything if you are not happy. I don't think you will be happy in WA - face the music with the NCAA - you can't always run away from your troubles. I am not buying what they are saying on the radio about you wanting to be near the water - you have homes on HB and MB. It seems as though you are running away from someone or something? You will be married to the Seattle Seahawks and not have time for yourself or the water or the someone or something! Bad move Coach Pete! If it's not too late don't make what could be a big mistake in your life.!
Pete: If we didn't love you would we feel so bad today? You brought excitement into our lives for these 9 years. You made us care again, as we hadn't since John McKay left us. We're Trojans forever Pete and hoped that you would be too. If it isn't to be then so long and thanks for wonderful memories.
Are these whiney adults on this website! Please! Pete is a grown man who can make a decision best for him and his family. He does not owe SC anything. He does not owe A Better LA anything. He has already given both groups so much. It is unfair for us to hold a ball and chain to him. We have to carry on his legacy! Believe in the Trojans...not the coach. Belive in a better LA - not the founder. Come on people, get a life and let the man live his dreams. We love him, we appreciate him, and we have to let him go. The future will be great and exciting for us all! FIGHT ON! PS - Pete, welcome back anytime! You are forever Trojan Family! Looking forward to a halftime honoring you!
Good luck Damian, you will go far in the pros.
Everyone knew this day would come when Coach Caroll decided to leave USC. Wish he would have given more of a heads up. Hope they go after a quality coach that will bring same intensity to the school. I vote for Herm Edwards and I hope he brings a better offense coordinator.
Did Pete confide in these young players who are opting to go for the NFL? What about his younger players? Those that came to Sc because of his charisma and energy. Here's hoping that Big Ball Pete has big enuff balls to face the players this Monday and explain his decision. They are reeling from the news and scared about their future. I hope his character is strong enough to face their confusion and dissappointment and help them sort through their emotions. He owes them that!
Why is there no news on this website about Pete Carroll??? This is a joke. The recruits are jumping ship left and right. I have no problem if he goes, great coach and all, but he is killing the program. Please give us loyal fans an update either way.
I agree Jon Matrix... USC is losing recruits left and right and Garrett is chilling in Berkley with the team he just punished... hmm... FIRE GARRETT!
Second, I just read comments and quotes from several 4 and 5 star recruits who were committed to USC and now are not, including a JC transfer, and even Baxter and Prater... this is a joke, USC needs to answer the phone and tell these kids whats up and hire a new coach asap... we already lost 2 recruits, about to be more... hire a new one asap... love pete carroll and damian williams thanks for all the memories but pete, you are hurting usc by being quiet.
Pete,
you have always been open with your loyal fanbase, how about updating the Trojan nation. You have caused a stir with recruiting. It seems like you have put your self interests before your team and current employer. Please address these issues either way. It would be classes to cut and run. Although you have done a TREMENDOUS amount for the University, never forget it was USC who initially took a chance on you for you to come here and achieve everything you have to date.
A Concerned Alum
Will USC ever be able to replace Pete Carroll?
On the one hand, they certainly can. As a recruiter, Pete was great, but there are other guys who are great as well. Whoever gets the job, can go out and get a coaching staff that can do as good or better job (certainly better than this last year). And as a gametime Xs and Os guy, Pete was good, but not great. So from a purely coaching perspective, I think Pete is replaceable.
What can't be replaced is the MYSTIQUE that Pete Carroll brought to and created at SC. Win forever. Competition. Having fun. Bringing guys like Will Ferrell and Bill Withers to campus. The invincibility at home and the invincibility in November. All the BCS games.
PC created a kind or program that never existed before in college football. In that respect, I'd compare him to Steve Jobs at Apple, who created a company not like any other. People want to work for Apple because it is Apple and recruits want to play at USC because it is USC. Without Pete Carroll, that mystique will be gone. And that's the part that will be the hardest to replace.
Oregon State athletic director Bob DeCarolis is prepared to offer football coach Mike Riley a lifetime contract to remain at the school as a preemptive move against any offer USC could make to Riley if Pete Carroll does leave for the NFL next week, according to a report in the Oregonian.
FIRE MIKE GARRETT!! Only Garrett would remain unconcerned and have no plan in place of any worth to limit the bleeding from something like this. Minus a Heisman, and the hirings of Carroll and O'Neill from his resume, and Garrett has done next to nothing to better the land of Troy. The AD's job is to shield the university and its sports programs from fire. Garrett should have taken it on the chin as it is his job, but time and time again, he has ran from cover. Alumni like myself need to demand his firing. Why is there no news on Carroll's website? And why are SC players like Shoemate in the same situation as the general public in not knowing a thing?
Come on SC give Coach Pete a lifetime contract after what he has done for SC and the football program-he hasade the universityi millions and Pres. Sample and Mike Garrett and us alni should offer Coach Pete a starting yearly salary of $8 million and increase it yearly. SC can afford it with alll the footballs, etc. that are sold at the SC bookstores. Come on the brass at top of SC show Coach Pete how much he means to ALL of us at SC! Coach Pete I've read you want Norm Chow back with you - great! I would love to see him work with Matt Barkley and bring out more of his talent and polishness-Norm and Matt would be awesome. Also SoCal fits you Coach Pete you are a California boy not a Seattle Seahawk but a true Trojan and we need you here with us. You have worked hard to get the top recruits for 2010 and we need you to say no to Seattle and stay at SC. Also the Trojan players needs you- everone needs you Pete! Maybe if Garrett retires or moves on you could be AD/Head Coach that would be great and you could handle it. Why go */- a thousand miles just to be a head coach when you have more responsibility here at SC?! Seattle a couple of days ago promised you wine and roses and then look at yesterday they breached the Rooney Rule why would you want to go way up there when you have do much here in SoCal and SC?? The NFL players won't appreciate your wanting to have fun and at the ivories like the boys at SC do! You maybe 58 but act more like a 20 year old college guy. Have fun and stay with us here at SC! If Seattle promised you things before and now can't deliver what makes you think they would keep you the five years in WA? Stay here Coach Pete at SC - this is your home for life. Fight on and I will be looking forward to seeing you at spring practice, fall camp and at the Coliseum this coming season and seasons to come. Coach Pete you were never a failure in the NFL - you just belong to us alumni and future alums here at SC. You are the greatest Coach of all time in the college and pros! Fight on and Stay here at SC!
Hey Sanchize stop drinking the Kool Aid and open your eyes. Carroll is the one who is abandoning us. Garrett is the one who gave Carroll the opportunity to achieve what he has achieved. If Carroll wants to leave, then good riddance. HE is not bigger than the University. Lets see Brennan drink those beers behind the press box after the Hawks are 4-12. If you truly care for USC and have not joined the band wagon when we started going to the BCS then you will realize the steadfast leadership of Garrett and say goodbye without any remorse to the brass ring chasing Carroll. Thank god we have Garrett to make this decision.
I don't think Pete would really want to leave USC where he has really enjoyed himself. His thoughts about leaving no doubt comes from internal circumstances beyond his control. That's a shame. Hope he decides to stay.
I don't think Pete would really want to leave USC where he has really enjoyed himself. His thoughts about leaving no doubt comes from internal circumstances beyond his control. That's a shame. Hope he decides to stay.
I can't believe there hasn't been an update on the blog about the Pete Carroll situation. This used to be one of my favorite websites until this season, when I realized how overly optimistic and subjective the writing is. Any posting I wrote that slightly criticized anything about the Trojans was deleted. This is obviously a HUGE story and no updates...ridiculous
Yeah! Where are you now Ben, packing up for Washington? It has always been clear to me that Ben Malcomson was a mere pawn, a yes man, who followed Petey around and reported whatever looked good on paper. All the team parents I have encountered loved the site for the behind the scene look at our boys experiences (except when their son was overlooked as was often since Malcomson definitely shared Petes crush on certain players). I agree with the statement that the charisma and excitement Pete brought to the team will be sadly missed. The whole LA experience will not follow Pete to Seattle. Lets hope the new coach embraces the atmosphere and keeps it fun for the boys. I know my son is devastated, hurt, and angry having refused other offers two years ago to play for Pete. The whole thing sucks!
Remember everybody that Pete had no job after 2 stints in the NFL. Mike Garrett reached out to him to come to USC. Look how self centered he is. He obviously played favorites playing big JOE instead of Allen Bradford when the clear consensus was he was the better back. Competition Tues had become a farce. PETE LOVES PETE end of story. Thanks for being so open at the most critical time No Fuzz PETE.
Everyone keeps forgetting, fourth choice or not, it was Mike Garrett who put his neck on the line and gave Pete a job when he was jobless in 2001. But Pete has proven to be ego-driven man who has scared away great coaching talent and as a result he has not been to a NC game despite the glut of talent we have accrued since 2005. I think bringing in fresh blood like riley/chow or del rio/chow/orgeron would improve the quality of coaching at USC and would prove to be another great hire by MG...just look at what he has found in Kevin O'neill...people can criticize him all they want, but they have no facts.
The CANCER IS OUT. dePlETE will be the next Spurrier. Way to treat your coaches, recruits and most importantly MG and the University. Do not let the proverbial door hit you and your ego on the way out.
There is only one reason why PC would bolt....he knew the smoke was here before anyone else saw a fire coming.......NCAA sanctions have to be headed this way.
Hey USCFORLIFE: The only one drinking anything seems to be you. Mike Garrett was AD for years before Pete Carroll ever entered Heritage Hall and I don't see any championship trophies his other coaching hires managed to win last I checked. Last I checked, Pete Carroll was the one, not Mike Garrett, who recruited the players, who hired the staff, and who coached the teams that won the championships, that won the Pac-10, that beat Dame 8 straight, that won UCLA and made them look silly in the process, and that changed the culture of how USC alumni like myself view the football program. It seems to me you are a little uninformed in your views. Read TJ Simers of the LA Times. Read Bill Plaschke of the LA Times, watch Shelley Smith of ESPN, and even read Scott Wolf of the LA Daily: all of them to a person think Carroll deserves all the credit and Garrett all the blame. Wonder if they are wrong considering they cover USC for a living? And please everyone stop blogging about looming NCAA sanctions. The NCAA is about as effective and influential as the UN. They have been investigating Bush for four years now? He isn't Bin Laden. Tells me there is really nothing there worthy of print. The one thing I will say that someone on another blog wrote is that leaving and how you leave is just as important as what you did in determining one's legacy and they pointed to Green Bay die hards and Brett Favre and how they hate him now. I can see USC fans feeling that way about Carroll as well with how things imploded weeks before national signing day and a top five recruiting class potentially coming in. I hope we all remember that while PC maybe an egomaniac (and I challenge you to tell me a coach who is not at any level - comes with the territory), he was USC football and I fear both the program and its superstar leader will have seen its better days in the rear view mirror.
The LA Daily News is now reporting Pete Carroll officially gave USC his resignation this evening. Sad. We'll miss yah Pete.
What a great run! For many of us who remember when 9-4 was a great year, thanks Pete, to you & your whole staff, for the last 10 years of awesome, exciting football & more wins than any time in the last 40 years. Road games were always a blast, & for a few years you really did own LA. I wish you kept all you built going, but good luck up in Seattle & thanks for everything. FIGHT ON!
Very disappointing to see PC bail on us. Thanks for the run Pete but the way you handled this is pathetic. You are stealing our best recruiter in Norton away as well. Now we know why Bates was brought in here and why PC went for it against UCLA... because he knew he was done here. Love him as a man and as a coach but how he has thrown the entire school under the bus is sickening. We are going to lose SEVERAL recruits that we had locked up... it really is time for a change. I vote for Gruden, Fisher, Mariuchi, or even call Tony Dungy!
Garrett needs to be fired and I am ashamed to see how our school has handled these players and future players... A TEXT?! Way to go Pete..
For those of you criticizing Ben Malcolmson for not updating this blog immediately upon the rumors of Pete leaving, same on you! This entry was posted after working hours on Friday evening. Do you really want Ben to hound Pete Carroll for information so he can spend his weekend appeasing you people? And of course a lot of the posts on this blog are positive; it's a USC blog! I love the uscripsit blog and I think we are very fortunate to have someone like Ben giving us the inside scoop on practices and games. Most teams aren't lucky enough to have something like this.
Kim,
Ben is (normally) great, but this was a major story and he didn't make any comment whatsoever. It was a dumb move not to post one single thing, even something little. "We should know more Monday." Etc. To be silent, again, was just dumb. Doesn't take away from the good work he normally does.
Perhaps he's off to Seattle also.
Have to admit...I was crushed when I heard the news and reading the posts above of venting and frustration makes me sad....it's the typical reaction of people when someone dies. They're in shock at first, sad, then bitter... But Pete's not dead -- he's just moving on. They made an offer he couldn't refuse. He has his life to live and so do we. We must live it through ourselves and not through others. Goodbye Pete, I wish you and your family success. Thanks for all you've taught us and hopefully we'll keep with us what we've learned and be the best we can be --- A loyal Trojan fan from Fresno....
Fight on, Damian!! We'll miss you, but we'll be rooting for you in the NFL. Same goes for you, Coach :) Thank you both for your love for the Trojans.
Ben, thank you for the posts. It's always great to catch up here.