Filed under: USC Football, Pac 10, NCAA FB Coaching, Stanford Football

Jim Harbaugh’s first order of business as Stanford head coach was to piss off the king of college football’s ass-kickingest program, Pete Carroll, first asserting that this would be Carroll’s last season as USC head coach, then refusing to retract that, then sarcastically proclaiming USC the best team of all time. (Perhaps the best evidence for Harbaugh’s assertion that Michgian hands kids meaningless degrees is the one that says “Jim Harbaugh” on it.)

So it should be no surprise that Carroll’s not a fan:

Asked Tuesday to assess the job Jim Harbaugh is doing as Stanford’s first-year coach, Carroll praised the former NFL quarterback’s competitive attitude and said, among other things, “Jimmy never did make himself into a statesman. . . . He’s not real politically correct all the time, and I don’t think he cares.”

After Carroll completed a lengthy answer, he paused five seconds for dramatic effect, then added, “He has not checked in with me about any of my career moves. I expect a call late in the week.”

USC plays Stanford this weekend, which should be pure bloodsport. Carroll’s unlikely to actually put up a humiliating 70 or whatever — you can only be so pissed off when you’re Pete Carroll — but the postgame handshake should be interesting.

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