Time May Be Running Out For ND To Beat Pete Carroll

Tim Floyd is now the former head coach of the Southern Cal Men’s Basketball.

Embroiled in controversy, Southern California coach Tim Floyd resigned on Tuesday.

The Clarion Ledger of Jackson, Miss., first reported the resignation. The newspaper obtained the letter that the coach submitted to USC athletic director Mike Garrett. It read:

“As of 1 p.m. today, I am resigning as head basketball coach at the University of Southern California. I deeply appreciate the opportunity afforded me by the university, as well as the chance to know and work with some of the finest young men in college athletics. Unfortunately, I no longer feel I can offer the level of enthusiasm to my duties that is deserved by the university, my coaching staff, my players, their families, and the supporters of Southern Cal. I always promised my self and my family that if I ever felt I could no longer give my full enthusiasm to a job, that I should leave it to others who could. I intend to contact my coaching staff and my players in coming days and weeks to tell them how much each of them means to me. I wish the best to USC and to my successor.”

And while we’re using our Jump To Conclusions Mat here, we seem to be unable to land on any spot other than, “He’s resigning because he’s being sacrificed to the NCAA gods in hopes of a reprieve over the investigation into a possible lack of ‘institutional control’ at Southern Cal.” Granted, with that long a description, that conclusion takes up a lot of real estate on the mat, but there it is. And the notion of a “lack of institutional control” is a very serious one when it comes to the NCAA. It’s the same term that was used by the NCAA when SMU was given the death penalty in the ’80s, not that we think the NCAA would ever hit a football program with that penalty in this day and age.

And that’s what leads us to our next bit of complete speculation: Pete Carroll may jump ship in the next year as well. Yes, it would depend on at least several ‘ifs.’ For example, Carroll may well stick around if the NCAA decides only to levy penalties against the SoCal basketball team. He may stick around if any penalties doled out in his direction amount to a slap on the wrist. And he may stick around if he doesn’t have better options for his career. But we can’t help but wonder (and worry) if ND faces the possibility of only beating Carroll once during his tenure at Southern Cal.