By WeAreSC staff
Posted Jan 6, 2009
A pair of former USC football staffers–Carl Smith and Mark Jackson–are returning to the program, Trojan head coach Pete Carroll announced today.
Smith, 60, has been hired as the quarterbacks coach and the assistant head coach of the offense. He will have playcalling responsibilities. He was USC’s quarterbacks coach in 2004 when Matt Leinart won the Heisman Trophy and the Trojans won the national championship.
Jackson, 36, will serve as senior associate athletic director for football. He previously was USC’s director of football administration during Carroll’s first 4 years (2001-04) at Troy, taking on the additional title of assistant athletic director in 2003.
Carroll also said that John Morton, who has been USC’s wide receivers coach the past 2 seasons, will take on the additional duty of offensive coordinator. Earlier, Carroll announced that secondary coach Rocky Seto will take on the added title of assistant head coach of the defense.
Carroll added that the positions of defensive coordinator and director of football operations have yet to be filled. Those positions opened when Nick Holt and Dennis Slutak, respectively, left to join the Washington program.
Smith has 35 years of collegiate and professional coaching experience. He most recently was the offensive coordinator with the Jacksonville Jaguars for 2 seasons (2005-06). He began his coaching career at his alma mater, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, in 1971, then worked at Colorado (1972-73), Southwestern Louisiana (1974-78)–where he first became an offensive coordinator in 1977–followed by Lamar (1979-81) and North Carolina State (1982). He then moved to the pro ranks, starting with the USFL’s Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars (1983-85), then the NFL’s New Orleans Saints (1986-96), New England Patriots (1997-99) and Cleveland Browns (2001-03). He and Carroll coached together at North Carolina State and the Patriots.
After leaving USC, Jackson became an executive senior associate athletic director at Syracuse in 2005, vice president of athlete development at A2 Holdings in 2006 and director of football development with the Oakland Raiders the past 2 years (2007-08). The Colby College graduate was an assistant coach at Trinity College (1995-96) and with the Patriots (1998-2000), where he worked with Carroll.
Morton, 39, who also served as USC’s passing game coordinator the past 2 seasons, previously coached with the Raiders (2002-04), University of San Diego (2005) and Saints (2006) before coming to USC. He is a Western Michigan grad.
Seto, 32, has spent his entire coaching career at USC, beginning in 1999, after playing for the Trojans.
