For the first time since word first broke that Pete Carroll would be leaving Southern Cal for the NFL -- with the exception of a brief text message early on -- the now-former head coach has spoken.
And, in that conversation with the Los Angeles Times, Carroll is doing his best to quash at least one of the rumors looming over his resignation from his Trojans post in order to make yet another run at the NFL.
As the thinking goes, the NCAA is about to come down -- and come down hard -- on the USC football program for the whole Reggie Bush scandal, and Carroll was looking to leave before the school was slapped with what could be severe sanctions by the governing body. According to Carroll, that’s simply not the case.
“Not in any way,” Carroll told the Times when asked if potential sanctions played a role in his departure. “Because I know where we stand. It’s just a process we have to go through. We know we’ve fought hard to do right.”
(chuckle)
(guffaw)
Carroll also told the paper that he did not have any regrets about leaving the program -- the program he took off the scrapheap and rebuilt -- in a state of chaos because he’d “given everything I’ve had”, and that "[t]here was never going to be a good time to leave.”
While there may never be a good time to leave, we can think of a good time not to leave, coach: 23 days ahead of national signing day.
Carroll is expected to officially screw the Trojans over be introduced as the Seattle Seahawks’ new head coach at a press conference on Tuesday.