The day after the BCS Championship is supposed to be a day of rest; instead, immediately after finding out that Jim Mora was fired by the Seattle Seahawks, the college football and NFL worlds were straight shocked by a Sportscenter report from Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter that Pete Carroll, architect of the powerful -- albeit scrutinized -- USC program and the Seahawks have "mutual interest" in Carroll returning to the NFL.(Update, 10:20 a.m., Jan. 9: Schefter is reporting, citing sources, that Carroll has reached an agreement to become the Seahawks' next head coach. The deal is for five years at $7 million annually for Carroll to be coach and team president, the Los Angeles Times is reporting.)
The Seahawks were earlier rumored to be "pursuing" Carroll, but that's nothing new -- Carroll's name comes up in a lot of coaching searches, both college and pro. However, the notion of "mutual interest" and Schefter's strong indications that this might actually happen change things entirely.
So, too, do the possibility of sanctions from the NCAA -- it's been at least rumored, if not supposed, that USC took on basketball sanctions to deflect attention from their football program -- and the fact that Carroll, whose team finished out of the BCS top-20 after a relatively abysmal 2009-10 season, has seen his reputation at Southern Cal sullied in the past few years.
Not so sullied, of course, that he couldn't talk the Seahawks into giving him a little personnel control (they currently have no GM) and a monster contract.
Carroll doesn't need the money, of course, but leaving USC to pursue "success at the next level" -- or whatever cliche you prefer -- gives him the perfect reason to leave before anything bottoms out at USC and keeps his reputation intact.
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