USC football coach speaks in Oceanside

By: MATT NULL - Staff Writer | Tuesday, June 12, 2007 1:05 AM PDT ∞

OCEANSIDE -- More than 300 Trojans fans dressed in their cardinal red and gold turned out to see Pete Carroll at the New Song Community Church on Monday. The University of Southern California coach talked about the importance of academics and the success he has had in college football.

"You've got to take care of your schoolwork," Carroll said. "You've got to be dedicated to school and your academics so that you can play this beautiful game ---- even at our level.

"It is academics first, and I am sure it is the same in your league as well."

Carroll appeared for free to help raise money for the San Luis Rey Trojans, an American Youth Football team based in Oceanside. The team is the newest in the AYF which has more than 6,000 players and cheerleaders throughout San Diego County.

The league was started as a less-expensive alternative to Pop Warner. Four divisions exist for players 15 years old and younger with no residential boundaries.

Currently, there are two North County teams, the Trojans and the 4S Ranch Falcons. Rikki Kinsfather, the commissioner of the San Diego chapter of AYF, said that will change soon.

"We are getting a lot of interest from North County," Kinsfather said.

Dan Armentrout said the money raised will be used to subsidize the $100 entry fee for players who cannot afford to pay. There are 150 players on the Trojans roster and Armentrout said nearly 40 percent need financial help.

Armentrout wasn't sure how much money was raised, but said their goal of getting their message out to the community was achieved.

"Even though we shut our deadline off (for signing up kids), we are (still) going to take kids," Armentrout said. "This will allow us to go out and get more kids all the way until practice starts. This is giving us the opportunity to get the message out, and we couldn't have done that if coach Carroll hadn't come down."

A lot of interest was drummed up by Carroll; the coach of the two-time national champions was greeted with a standing ovation and stayed after to sign autographs for the fans.

One fan, 10-year-old Trojans player Zach Lofting of Vista, said he liked Carroll's advice to play hard and succeed on and off the field.

"It was pretty cool," said Lofting, who got Carroll to autograph his Trojans T-shirt. "You don't always get a great opportunity to see somebody famous like Pete Carroll."

Carroll talked about the academic standards at USC and how players must abide by the rules or they will not be able to participate.

He then mentioned another good reason to be successful in the classroom.

"We need some of you guys to come play for the Trojans at USC some day," Carroll said with a laugh. "I don't want to hear any stories about the good athletes that don't get to play for us because they don't have their school work done."

-- Contact staff writer Matt Null at mnull@nctimes.com.

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