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Sunday, August 15, 1999 By Shelly Anderson, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
JOHNSTOWN -- When Brennan Carroll tells people how many places he's lived, they immediately figure he's an Army kid.
"A lot of times I just say yeah, because I don't always want to get into the whole football thing about my dad," Carroll said.
That would be Pete Carroll, coach of the New England Patriots, who has moved his family around a lot during his career.
Brennan likes to separate Pete Carroll, his father, from Pete Carroll, well known NFL coach. But it was Pete who indirectly helped his son find yet another address and another team to play for -- the University of Pittsburgh.
Brennan, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound tight end, hopes to settle in with the Panthers for a few years. He and the rest of the team began three-a-day training camp workouts here yesterday.
Pitt Coach Walt Harris and Pete Carroll have been close friends for years, since the early 1970s when Harris was the secondary coach at Pacific and recruited Carroll, a safety, from a junior college. Harris has known Brennan all his life. For two years while Brennan was in high school, Pete Carroll was the head coach and Harris the secondary coach with the New York Jets.
Yet when Harris got the job at Pitt and offered Brennan Carroll a scholarship out of Saratoga (Calif.) High School, Carroll instead went to Delaware, a top Division I-AA program.
Several of Carroll's buddies from Long Island -- where he played at Harborfields High as a freshman and sophomore -- were going to Delaware.
Carroll, who had 33 receptions as a senior at Saratoga, didn't play as a freshman in 1997. And the Fighting Blue Hens barely threw to the tight ends. He became disenchanted.
He was planning a trip to Boston College to see if he might want to transfer there, and Pete Carroll called Harris for some general advice on what Brennan should look for.
"Walt -- I mean Coach Harris -- said for me to come check out Pitt," said Brennan, who has had a difficult time changing the way he addresses his latest head coach after years of a more social relationship.
"He came to visit -- by himself," Harris said. "It wasn't his dad's decision. It was his."
Brennan liked the campus, liked the fact Pitt wasn't stacked at tight end and liked the offense, where the quarterback doesn't forget the tight ends.
He sat out last season under NCAA transfer rules and had a strong spring, catching four passes for 46 yards in the Panthers' annual scrimmage. As a redshirt sophomore, he is likely to get at least some playing time this year behind seniors Ben Kopp and Kirk McMullen. A year from now, he could be a strong candidate to start.
"This is, like, the 10th or 11th place that I've played since I was 7 or 8," Brennan said. "I'm comfortable here. It was the right situation to come here."
One thing Brennan won't do is consult with his father about his Pitt career. Pete Carroll will be kept informed -- Harris has asked the media relations staff to send press releases to the Carroll family in Medfield, Mass. -- but Brennan wants to reserve the little time he gets to spend with his father for other topics.
"We've always found ways to get together. We're really close," said Brennan, the oldest of three children. "But I never liked it when he [offered coaching tips]. I have enough coaches."
If things go well for Brennan at Pitt, perhaps one day he will join Pete in the NFL. But not on the same team. Not if Brennan can help it.
"We've mockingly joked about that," he said. "I've told him he's not allowed to draft me or pick me up off a waiver wire or anything. I don't know if I could play for him.
"But that's something that would be a long way away. Right now I'm just working on playing time."
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