With the NCAA Infractions Committee reportedly set to announce the results of their investigation into the USC football and men’s basketball programs as early as Friday, former Trojans head coach Pete Carroll appears to be the big winner.
Carroll left the USC program to take the Seattle Seahawks job just in time before the NCAA hammers the school for violations centering around former football player Reggie Bush and basketball player O.J. Mayo.
As with most coaches who “don’t know anything” about rules infractions that may have taken place during their tenure (See John Calipari), Carroll knows a lot more than what he’s telling us.
During Tuesday’s interview on the Dan Patrick radio program, Carroll said that he viewed Bush as basically “just another kid in the program”, claiming he and his coaching staff had no knowledge of what was going on with him or his family.
Uh, yea. There’s some beautiful ocean front property in Nebraska I’d like to sell you too.
Bush was a 2002 Parade All-American and was rated by Scout as the third best high school running back in the nation when he signed his Letter of Intent with USC in January 2003.
Carroll may want us to believe he viewed Bush as just another kid in the program, but that would be hard to fathom following his sophomore season with the Trojans.
Bush led the Pac-10 in all-purpose yards and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy ballot in 2004. Surely after achieving so much, Carroll had to view hm as something more than just another kid in the program.
Not only did Carroll know the incredible talent he had in Bush, he had to know that a player of his magnitude would draw the interest of sports agents around the globe.
For Carroll to suggest he didn’t know anything that was going on with Bush is near laughable.
Carroll wants us to believe that somehow he forgot he was the head coach of one of the most storied college football programs in the nation, whose roster was filled with high-profile players.
He must also have forgotten about the media coverage surrounding a team that had just gone undefeated and won the BCS national championship, thanks in large from the efforts of Bush.
Perhaps his selective memory isn’t allowing him to acknowledge that trouble was brewing for USC when the investigation began four years ago.
Carroll also told Patrick that he “would be surprised” if the Trojans were hit with significant sanctions when the infractions committee releases its report.
Carroll can afford to be surprised now that he’s flown north to Seattle where he’s well-insulated from the realities the USC program is about to be faced with.
Pete Carroll isn’t that naive. In fact, he’s far from being naive. But he’s hoping you and I are naive.
It’s disappointing that he will not have to suffer for all that USC will be punished for. He will only be punished in the court of public opinion, but if he wins, then he will only suffer a short time.