When Pete Carroll took the job as head football coach at USC, he should have read up on his history.

He would likely have found that the Trojans of Southern California share many similarities to the Trojan Horse of ancient lore - lots of promise, then a disastrous result.

When the former New England Patriots head coach took the top post for the USC football team, the Trojans were coming off a season where they went from preseason top-25 to the most disappointing team in the Pacific 10 Conference, if not the country.