USC legend coach Pete Carroll cannot credibly be listed 4th on a 2000s coaching list

Making a list of the best all-time coaches in the sport is always going to be a difficult endeavor. Where USC icon coach Pete Carroll goes has to matter and should be universally agreed upon for all fan bases.

Having coach Nick Saban for everything he accomplished at Alabama is more than fair. The former Crimson Tide HC has the argument in terms of longevity and accomplishments. From there, it should be very easy to place coach Carroll at a minimum in the top three of a CFB 2000s coaching list.

The criteria specifically say that it is evaluating the hire for the school itself. Even so, there should not be a universe in which coach Carroll would be ranked that low.

That is, for some completely unknown reason, not the option that CBS' Shehan Jeyarajah took. Instead, he has coach Carroll under coach Dabo Sweeney. Coach Urban Meyer is in the second slot beneath coach Saban in his list.

While the argument of coach Carroll being under coach Meyer can carry some weight, there is at least a path in which one can see why that possibility could exist. By contrast, that is not at all the case for coach Sweeney.

While at Clemson, he has earned accolades of his own. More of the argument, however, will rest on his long stay with the Tigers. For one, he has had the fortune, compared to the others in question, of competing in the ACC.

The Pac-12 of old provided a more significant and consistent level of competition to play against each year. Coach Carroll's winning BCS Bowl record of 6-1, including four Rose Bowl wins, should also show how well his Trojan teams played when it mattered the most and how well they would have fared in a college football playoff format.

At the time and until this day, coach Carroll meant so much to football, beyond even the immediate scope of USC. The same cannot be said of the extent of coach Sweeney to any degree whatsoever.

Continued significance for USC to this day

There is a lot against coach Meyer's place on this list as well, especially because the initial list is only taking into account his time at Florida. Regardless of that, coach Carroll cannot be fourth, below coach Sweeney. 

The former Trojan HC did everything in his power and successfully succeeded in bringing USC back as a national power that was feared by all. His importance to the university deserves more recognition than what this post suggests.