Carroll's Quick Exit Is Suspicious

The Seattle Seahawks will officially name Pete Carroll their new head coach on Tuesday. But I can't help thinking that Carroll's sudden move to the Seattle has more to do with USC's recent troubles than it does with his desire to return to the NFL.

Southern Cal's football team has been under investigation for illegal contributions allegedly made to former player Reggie Bush for quite some time. Add to that the questions surrounding running back Joe McNight's use of an SUV not registered to him. McNight was held out of the Emerald Bowl recently, leading me to believe there may be some truth to the rumors of illegal contributions to him. Perhaps McNight didn't play for fear USC would have to forfeit the game at a later point in time.

The NCAA is said to be getting close to making a ruling on the Reggie Bush situation. Add to that the fact that USC recently sanctioned their own basketball team for violations concerning O.J. Mayo. Those sanctions included a ban from post season play and a loss of some scholarships. I believe that Carroll could read the writing on the wall. The NCAA is likely to crack down on the USC program sometime soon. If not there is a better chance that the university will impose it's own sanctions to pacify NCAA investigators.

Rather than stick around and face the music Carroll made a hasty retreat to the NFL. And where does that leave the kids who signed on to play 4 years of football for Carroll? It bothers me that coaches can ruin collegiate football programs and skate out the back door as they sign multi-million dollar contracts to coach elsewhere. Maybe Carroll didn't know about the alleged contributions to his players, and maybe he did. But if it happened it happened on his watch. He owes it to the university that pays his salary and the players who win his games for him to make sure it doesn't happen.

Whether he was compliant in the alleged payments made to his players or just sloppy in the oversight of his program he should have to be accountable in some way if any of the allegations are proven to be true. Of course that will never happen. Instead he will be laughing it up at his press conference on Tuesday as he accepts his new position with Seattle. Carroll isn't the first coach to be in this position nor will he be the last, and just how much he knew about alleged payments to star players will likely remain a mystery. But if sanctions are handed down by the NCAA I sure would like to see someone pay the penalty other than the players left behind who played by the rules and didn't receve illegal compensation, while the real culprits go on to make millions in the NFL.