Should Reggie Bush lose his Heisman? Pete Carroll is non-committal
Prior to USC's big announcements yesterday, the former Trojan football coach didn't exactly back his former player...
Pete Carroll has been on a non-stop publicity tour the last couple of weeks promoting a book about, what else, his coaching principles. One principle that may not have its own chapter is "Having Reggie Bush's Back." Throughout the radio tour he's been asked some variation of the question, "How could you not know what was going on with Reggie Bush?" to which he has responded "the people doing the dirty deeds in San Diego didn't want us to know."
The folks on the Kevin Calabro radio show in Seattle managed to come up with an original question within that subject matter by asking Carroll directly if he thought Bush should keep his Heisman Trophy and his non-response response is telling:
"I don't know. I don't know how that goes. I don't know what dictates that and I'm not part of that committee or how they mandate that."
A coach interested in defending his former player would say something along the lines of, "If the Heisman Trophy is given out to the most outstanding football player based on what he does on the field that season, I don't see why Reggie should have to give up the trophy."
But he didn't say that.
While everyone who has or had some sort of authority at USC attempts to distance themselves from Reggie Bush, it will be fascinating to see if the new regime in Los Angeles will look to do the same thing with the entire Pete Carroll era.
USC president Max Nikias and new athletics director Pat Hayden will likely treat Carroll like he's radioactive until at least the completion of the NCAA appeals process. After that, the Trojans would be wise to eventually embrace their past. Rarely do programs succeed when they attempt to ignore and alienate former regimes.
Two fairly recent examples are Oklahoma and Florida. Bob Stoops made Barry Switzer a comfortable name in Norman again as part of the process that rejuvenated the Sooners program. Urban Meyer did the same thing with Steve Spurrier in Gainesville.
Granted, Spurrier never had the NCAA breathing down his neck at UF. But if Switzer can walk around the Oklahoma campus with his head held high, I like Carroll's chances long term in LA.
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