Carroll Set to Bolt USC for Seattle Seahawks

Pete Carroll, who turned the University of Southern California’s foundering football program into a perennial national contender, is ready to bolt for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. Carroll, 58, coached the New York Jets and New England Patriots in the 1990s, and had said he’d only consider the NFL again if he was given top-down control over personnel he didn’t have at those stops—and, ESPN reports, Seattle looks ready to give it to him.

Carroll compiled a 34-34 NFL mark but is 97-19 in nine seasons at USC, with two national championships. This year’s team stumbled to an 8-4 mark and, the Los Angeles Times notes, the program is under investigation by the NCAA over various alleged improprieties. Seattle fired coach Jim Mora today after one season, in which the team went 5-11.
(More USC Trojans stories.)