That's a another great comparison. USC in the years immediately before Pete Carroll was hired had annual records very similar to ours in recent years. They also had a stretch where they were drubbed by UCLA for something like 9 or 10 years in a row and people thought that was no longer a rivalry.
I recall an article written not long after Butch was hired, comparing him to Pete Carroll. Supposedly, Carroll was USC's 4th pick for the job the year he was hired - their top 3 didn't want to leave what they had to take over a program with such a bad recent track record and "unrealistic" expectations. Carroll, on the other hand, jumped at the chance. Leaving aside the NCAA violations, Carroll knocked it out of the park and reestablished USC as a national brand.
Exciting times for us on Rocky Top. Butch is going to get us back into the elite, I'm confident.