Carson Palmer Dropped a Bombshell About USC’s Coaching Search Without Realizing It
He probably wasn’t supposed to say that
The college football and NFL coaching carousels got a lot more interesting on Monday when Carson Palmer threw an unexpected name into the USC search.
Palmer was a guest on the Dan Patrick Show and was asked if he has been consulted at all in his alma mater’s search for a new football coach.
“I’ve been talking to a bunch of folks and giving input here and there,” Palmer said. “I’ve been as involved as they’ll let me be.”
So Palmer has a pretty good idea of who the Trojans are looking to hire. Pressed by Patrick to name some names, he carefully referred to James Franklin, Matt Campbell and Luke Fickell, without actually saying their names.
“You’ve got Penn State, you’ve got Iowa State, you’ve got Cincinnati,” Palmer said. “You’ve got a wild card like a Mike Tomlin, if Mike Tomlin wants out.”
Wait, what?
It’s no secret that USC is interested in those three college coaches but Tomlin’s name hadn’t come up in connection with the job before. Patrick realized he might have gotten a pretty big scoop.
“That’s pretty spicy with Tomlin, there,” Patrick said. “I like it.”
“Is that the first you’ve heard of that?” Palmer replied, realizing he might have said something he shouldn’t have. “Uh oh.”
The NFL’s third longest-tenured head coach leaving for a college job is the spiciest possible rumor. There’s nothing to indicate that Tomlin, who hasn’t coached in college since he was in charge of defensive backs at Cincinnati in 2000, wants to go to USC, or even that the school has approached him to gauge his interest. But it sure is a fascinating possibility.
It’s a farfetched possibility but it makes just enough sense to get people’s attention. Ben Roethlisberger is probably done after this year, which means Tomlin will be faced with the task of starting over next season with a new quarterback. The Steelers have Mason Rudolph, Dwayne Haskins and Joshua Dobbs on the roster—none of whom look like franchise QBs—and there isn’t a standout quarterback in the upcoming draft class.
Whoever consulted Palmer about Tomlin’s potential candidacy surely isn’t thrilled to have word leak out, but sports commentators will be thankful to have been gifted something juicy to talk about.
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