Pete Carroll is coming home to USC.
Though, this time the legendary Trojans football coach will be back in a much different capacity.
As Professor Pete.
Fourteen years after he left USC to coach in the NFL, Carroll is returning to teach during the university’s spring semester, a school spokesperson confirmed to The Times. The university didn’t offer any further details and did not specify Carroll’s role on campus.
“We are excited to welcome Pete Carroll home to USC in a new capacity in which he can, as a legendary coach and leader, share his knowledge and experience with our students,” the school said in a statement.
Carroll first shared his plans to teach at USC in an interview with Seattle radio station 93 KJR-FM, though he also didn’t share details about what he’d be teaching in his return.
“I’m looking forward to that,” Carroll said. “It’s going to be a really exciting endeavor when it’s finalized and all that.”
Carroll initially left the school in January 2010, months before the NCAA slapped USC with significant sanctions stemming from an investigation into the Reggie Bush extra-benefits case. In a news conference following his departure, Carroll said he thought he’d be at USC “forever,” but the opportunity to coach in the NFL — with total control — was one he couldn’t pass up.
It wasn’t long before Carroll reached the NFL’s pinnacle, vindicating his departure with a Super Bowl win in 2014 behind the Seattle Seahawks’ “Legion of Boom” defense. But as he rose to the top of the NFL, USC football slid into a dark era defined by turmoil and scandal.
Carroll, 72, still was in Seattle until last January, when the Seahawks chose to part ways with the accomplished coach. He hadn’t spoken with the media until this week.
In that radio interview, Carroll was asked if he had any desire to return to coaching.
“I could coach tomorrow,” Carroll said. “I’m physically in the best shape I’ve been in in a long time. I’m ready to do all the activities that I’m doing and feeling really good about it. I could, but I don’t really — I’m not desiring it at this point. This isn’t the coaching season. We’ll see what happens. I’m not waiting on it at all. I’m going ahead. I’ve got other things that I want to do that I’m excited about, and I’m going to see how all that goes. I’m not thinking that I’m holding my breath and that kind of thing. If it’s been 40-something years, 48 years or whatever coaching, and that’s it, I’ll feel OK about that.”