HBO Profiles USC

On HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, USC took the spotlight as they re-ran a piece with the sports marketer  who provided Reggie Bush with extra benefits, Lloyd Lake, and then ran an interview with Pete Carroll.

-In the Lloyd Lake piece, he detailed the large amounts of benefits he provided to Bush and his family under the table. While it is unquestionable that Bush received improper benefits that violated NCAA rules, the question remains as to the extent of knowledge USC should have had in the Bush case. Of note, Lake admitted that when he went to give Bush money, Bush went out of his way to be secretive and make sure no one knew.

-One day after appearing on ESPN’s College Football Live, Pete Carroll’s interview with Andrew Cramer ran next. Carroll provided insight into the USC program during the Reggie Bush era and offered more reaction to the NCAA’s ruling.

“Oh I was shocked, my heart just hit the floor,” he began. “We didn’t have the awareness to know.”

Cramer then asked Carroll how he felt about his time at USC. “I really think that was the time of my life in coaching.” Later on, the coach showed some remorse with regards to the current state of the program. “I was responsible being in charge of the program. I feel it deeply.”

At one point, Cramer found it hard to believe when Carroll asserted that  Bush didn’t know about his parents house that had been provided for them. Carroll countered, “Of course not. Growing up Andrea, did you know about your parents’ mortgage situation?”

As he has over the past month, Carroll went on to bash the NCAA.”With the facts that they hold, I would be ashamed for the NCAA.”

Q: Do you think the committee had an agenda?

“Without question. They didn’t care about what the facts were that were out there. There wasn’t hard facts that said there was any connection with us knowing about what was going on. There was nothing. No court of law, no process would have looked at the facts and said this all ties together. It would have been thrown out in a heartbeat.”

Q: Do you think [Reggie Bush] took money?

“I don’t know. Something happened.There’s too much stuff. There’s a house and a lot of things going on. I do know a lot of it happened away from him and he didn’t know what was going on for obvious reasons.

Q: What role did USC play in [your decision to go to Seattle], the uncertainty of what would happen with USC and the sanctions?

“That wasn’t even a factor. It was never even an issue. It didn’t don on me. I didn’t think it would happen like this. I never even dreamed this could happen.”

At the end, Carroll left these words for the school he took to seven straight BCS appearances, “I apologize for not knowing it was going to be this bad.”