Barring a pretty large 180, Pete Carroll is gone from USC and heading to Seattle for the riches of the NFL. While you can say he’s running from NCAA sanctions, or unwilling to deal with the first real blip in the Trojans’ Pac-10 run, if Trojan fans are looking to blame someone for losing Carroll, look no further than athletic director Mike Garrett.
The former Heisman Trophy winner has been in charge of the Trojan athletic department since 1993, and has been asleep at the wheel through the controversies of Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo, and before that basketball player Jeff Trepagnier (and plenty more minor blips on the NCAA radar).
As Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times wrote today, Carroll and Garrett’s relationship has soured over the past few years, with Garrett unwilling to take a back seat to Carroll, who had become the face of the university.
As assistants came and went, players left early for the NFL, and the microscope tightened on his program, Carroll managed to keep the program churning ahead, until the Trojans stumbled this season.
Carroll’s never hid his desire to return to the NFL, where he has to feel like he has unfinished business. With the Seahawks, he has an elite ownership team, player personnel power, and a thirty-five million dollar contract that made moving up the coast a pretty attractive deal.
While Trojan fans may question the timing of the decision, Carroll brought back a football program that was practically obsolete when he arrived. For the university’s administration, which is in transition with president Steven Sample retiring, they’ll need to look long and hard at replacing Garrett, an athletic director whose best decision -- hiring Carroll -- was only because his first choices said no.