Pete Carroll should probably just run for the hills

January 9th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

You are Pete Carroll. You are ruler of Southern California football and a good one at that. You also have an enchanted gridiron grotto. This all all rather nice things. But you might also be royally effed as a matter of circumstance. You see, Yahoo! Sports has been all over this Reggie Bush receiving buckets of cash and living space. (I hope Bush got other cool things, too. Including but not limited to: a lifetime supply of waffles and soft preztels, free tickets to the Nickelback show on campus and maybe even a subscription to Sports Illustrated.)

Anyways, yeah, there’s this book coming out detailing these sordid details entitled Tarnished Heisman (HT: SbB) that’s apparently set to blow the lid of this whole debacle once and for all.

With the explosive information revealed in Tarnished Heisman, Bush stands to be ruled ineligible — a decision that could cost his alma mater the 2004 national championship title, force the forfeit of every game Bush played in after losing his eligibility, and potentially strip Reggie Bush of the shining prize of his college career: the Heisman Trophy.”

Now that’s from the book’s jacket … so it may be a bit of hyperbole. But sweet Jimminy Jehosaphat, that’s kind of a big deal. Now, I know Carroll doesn’t have a ton to do with this.  The compensation supposedly came from New Era Sports & Entertainment on the condition Bush would sign with them when he went pro. But it still happened under Carroll’s watch and I doubt he was completely blind to the whole thing. And I find it somewhat telling that for the past couple years NFL teams have put Carroll’s name in the mix for a head coaching spot and Carroll has been all “no thanks, borskis,” but now with this Atlanta job open, he seems more than a little interested. (I suppose the timing on these two things could also be entirely unrelated and just a matter of coincidence. Who knows, really.)

But yes: go west to Atlanta, Pete. Lessen the spotlight and ramifications of the fallout from this. I mean, it’s not like any Falcons players are pulling tricks like this, am I right?