Carroll will lead Seattle

LOS ANGELES --- Pete Carroll loves challenges and the NFL game. The Seattle Seahawks offered both.

Advertisement

Carroll ended his nine-year tenure with Southern California on Monday, leaving behind a program facing multiple woes for a lucrative deal to coach the Seahawks.

"If you know anything about me, you know I can't pass up this challenge," Carroll said.

Southern Cal quarterback Matt Barkley said quarterbacks coach Jeremy Bates is leaving with Carroll after just one season, presumably to become the Seahawks' offensive coordinator.

Carroll won 97 games, seven Pac-10 titles and two national championships at Southern Cal, but the school is under a cloud of NCAA investigation and other scandals.

The 58-year-old Carroll spoke glowingly of his successful years in Los Angeles.

"I do not expect to ever be able to top what we just did," he said. "I think it's just been a beautiful time together. It hurts to separate right now ... but it can't keep on going, because I can't pass up this opportunity."

Carroll's departure ends one of the most successful runs in college football history -- perhaps right when it was about to become much less fun, considering the just-completed 9-4 season, Southern Cal's worst since his first year at the school.

Carroll insisted his decision had nothing to do with the NCAA's lengthy look into his program, denouncing rumors of a rift between him and athletic director Mike Garrett. Carroll said he thought he would be at Southern Cal "forever."

Carroll is taking along Bates, who replaced Steve Sarkisian last year. Sarkisian recruited Barkley before jumping ship to the University of Washington last year.

"It's kind of disappointing to see them leave," Barkley said. "More than anything, it's a challenge to get better and just reach another level. I came to this school because I wanted to be a Trojan, and nothing about coaches leaving would change that for me."

Garrett brushed past dozens of reporters after Carroll's news conference, maintaining his largely silent public stance about his troubled department, which sanctioned its own men's basketball program recently in an attempt to assuage the NCAA.

As for the NCAA investigation into allegations that former Southern Cal tailback Reggie Bush and his family received improper benefits from a marketing agent, Yahoo! Sports reported Monday -- citing unidentified sources -- that the NCAA has concluded its inquiry and that a committee will meet from Feb. 19-21 to address what investigators uncovered.