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WATCH: Pete Carroll Responds To NCAA Sanctions Against USC

Pete Carroll doesn’t coach at USC anymore, but that didn’t stop him from weighing in – not happily, unsurprisingly – on the news that the NCAA levied harsh penalties against USC’s football team for violations committed during Carroll’s tenure. Carroll is famous for his upbeat attitude, but you won’t see much of that in this video.

Carroll fires away right off the bat:

I’m absolutely shocked and disappointed at the findings of the NCAA. I never, ever thought it would come to this.

He also adds, “I’m extremely disappointed that we have to deal with this right now,” and while it’s hard to doubt that’s true, one can’t help but also realize that those still at USC will be feeling the effects of the NCAA’s ruling much more than Carroll himself, not the least of whom are the coach who replaced him, Lane Kiffin, and USC’s players – especially incoming freshmen, who won’t experience postseason play for half their careers no matter how well the team does (which will probably still be pretty well).

It was also a bit strange hearing him use one of his favorite adages in this setting:

I think it’s important for you to know that through all aspects of the program we were vigilant. In the way we approached every aspect, we always were out there to do things better than [they've] ever been done before.

(Emphasis ours.) “Do things better than they’ve ever been done before” is a familiar refrain with Carroll, and one that has served him awfully well on the field. But it just felt off hearing it here. It just didn’t seem like the time to hear about winning forever, though perhaps part of that is unfamiliarity with hearing Carroll so downcast.

Overall, his delivery seemed somewhat awkward, almost like he’d been practicing and rehearsing too much, and was sometimes prone to overuse of cliches/buzzwords (ex. “It’s time for the NCAA and the universities to come together, to elevate the awareness, the understanding of the vulnerability of college athletes and their families”). But his “fight on” at the end was a nice nod to his USC days, evoking not only his time there, but the way he always seemed to be the most perfect fit imaginable at the school.

Of course, he’s not there anymore. And even if everything in Carroll’s response is true, he still won’t be at USC to deal with the fallout of the sanctions. And that’s why, probably for the rest of his career, people will ask about Carroll: Did he know what he was getting out of when he bolted for another shot in the pros?

Video of Carroll’s response: