Pete Carroll on Mark Sanchez Leaving USC: I Was Testing His Resolve

On Jan. 15, USC quarterback Mark Sanchez announced that he would forgo his senior season to enter the NFL draft. This news made head coach Pete Carroll very unhappy. In fact, during the press conference announcing Sanchez's decision, Carroll was clear:

"We don't see this decision the same. ... Mark is going against the grain on this decision. He knows that. He knows that coming out early is a tremendous challenge for a quarterback. And the statistics don't back up that it's easy to be successful the way he's going about it. We know that, he knows that. ... I don't agree with the assessment of the decision."

That prompted Michael Wilbon to suggest Sanchez's old man should've punched Carroll in the pie hole. (Slight exaggeration: the actual quote was "If I was Mark Sanchez's father I would have taken a swing at Pete Carroll," but as long as you're going to whale on somebody, might as well get your money's worth.)

Now, more than two months later, it looks like Sanchez is destined for the first round. And Carroll, despite initial concerns, had only good things to say about his former quarterback to the NFL personnel types gathered at USC's Pro Day:

"He made a point to really go to bat for Sanchez," a scout said. "You could tell he meant it."

Carroll told the group that his public frosting of Sanchez -- including the comment the player made a "bad choice" -- was meant to test his resolve, to see if he truly had his heart set on turning pro right away or if he would waffle. Sanchez didn't waver.

"He told us, 'I challenged him. I wanted him to make the right decision,' " the scout said. "He said, 'I love the kid. I support him. I think he'll make a good pro.' "

Hmm. "Test his resolve" sounds a bit hokey, almost like Carroll put no thought into an answer he'd surely be asked a thousand times in the weeks leading up to the draft. But the scouts came away impressed, and that's the most important thing.

Interestingly, as Elie Seckbach discovered a day after Sanchez originally announced his intentions to leave school, Carroll made no mention of "resolve" as it related to his quarterback.

"I'm over it now, we worked through all of this. We had a long process to get to the resolution of it, and Mark was very much excited and in favor of going for it," Carroll said. "Now that he has all the information I feel okay about it. That was my job, to make sure he knew what he was getting into... We're going to support him and help him in every way that we can."

Which certainly sounds more reasonable than the resolve-testing excuse he gave on Wednesday. Ultimately, though, none of this matters. Sanchez will become a millionaire on April 25, and Carroll will continue to coach one of the best college programs in the country. It'll just be a weird footnote in NFL history.

Well, unless Sanchez turns out to be Ryan Leaf. And then Carroll can remind us all how smart he is.

via CFT