Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll 'Disappointed' in College Conference Realignment
Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll made quite a name for himself in college football before he became a Super Bowl-winning NFL head coach. Back in the early 2000s he had a pretty dominant run at USC, where he won two national championships along with four Rose Bowls.
Carroll also won seven Pac-12 titles and knows a little something about how the league operates and its relationship with other conferences across the country. In the recent light of conference expansion, and teams bolting from the Pac-12 for "better" conferences out east, Carroll has something to say.
"I don't have enough information to comment clearly," Carroll told reporters on Sunday, via ProFootballTalk. "But I'm really disappointed. I would think that there's a lot of people, a lot of fans that are disappointed, too. I know that it's a financial turn that they do and they've got to make their decisions and all, but there's something about the tradition of it that gets lost and I don't know where they recapture that, I don't know how they recapture the traditions that have been there so long.
Out of all the conference expansion and retraction, the Pac-12 is the one that's losing the most, losing Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
"It's not just our conference out here, it's around the country too," Carroll said. 'I really don't understand. I'm pretty disappointed in college football right now. Just in general. Just disappointed it's gone the way it's gone. With all of the stuff that is happening, I hope they can get it right. And it comes out way better than maybe I can imagine it in my limited capacity here. I just kind of like the tradition of it, that I feel like we are missing. I don't know how you recapture that."
The only teams remaining in the Pac-12 are Oregon State, Stanford and Washington State. Rivalries like "The Civil War" between Oregon and Oregon State and the Apple Cup between Washington and Washington State seem to be disappearing for the time being.
Follow Timm’IndyCarTim’ Hamm on Twitter and Instagram
Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Seahawks? Click Here to subscribe to AllSeahawks.com's Newsletter.
Follow All Seahawks.com on Twitter and Facebook
Make sure to subscribe to our daily podcast @lockedonseahawks today! Click here To Listen.
Want even more Seattle Seahawks news? Check out the SI.com team page here.
