Now that the deed is finally done, and Pete Carroll is officially the head coach of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, the former Southern Cal head coach has taken to the social media platform he has fully and wholly embraced to send out some heartfelt thoughts regarding his departure.
As heartfelt as 140 spaces or less can get, of course.
On his Twitter account, Carroll expressed his thanks to those who have supported him over the years.
“thanks to everyone for your love and support over the years... its been a blast... appreciate everything,” Carroll tweeted. And, with that, Carroll has exited, tweet left.
Now that it’s officially official, please allow me a sentence or two to address Pete Carroll. I know that a lot of you out there feel that I’ve “hated” on Carroll over the last couple of days, and maybe there’s a grain of truth in that.
But, allow me to say this: it’s is a sad day for college football. A very sad day, actually. The larger-than-life figures -- especially the ones that stomp and stroll the sidelines -- are a part of the fabric of this game that makes it the greatest sport in the world. And, there’s no doubt that Carroll was larger than life, even in this day and age of 60-60-24-7-365 news that seems to prop up anyone and everyone, whether they deserved it or not.
And Carroll, most certainly, deserved all of the propping, most of the adulation, and some of the hero worship.
Pete Carroll was not without his faults -- far from it, as we all are -- but he was very good for college football. This game needs characters like Carroll, and he will be missed.
And nobody can question that. Well, some people can, and will.
But I won’t.
