LenDale White Continues To Talk About Pete Carroll

About a week ago, LenDale White had a few things to say about Pete Carroll in an interview with Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean. “Pete Carroll? The same Pete Carroll who ran out on ‘SC?” White said, obviously upset with his former head coach. “I have no comment on Pete. I better wait ’til I’m on a team one day before I say anything.”

Unfortunately, LenDale, the damage was already done. You can’t make a statement about someone, retract the statement and refrain from further comment, and then expect the newspapers and blogs not to pick up on it.

And breaking another pledge, LenDale White has commented on Pete Carroll again. Even though he is not on a team, he continues to say things about Seattle’s newest head coach. This time, White opened up during a radio interview with 104.5 The Zone in Nashville, Tennessee.

Again, White prefaced his comments with, “I don’t wanna badmouth nobody, but …”

White started by commenting on the trust he had with Pete Carroll. “I don’t know about trust. I don’t know really about trust now,” he said, cutting the radio host’s question short. “I played for him.”

“There were guys there that I trusted like Todd McNair, Lane Kiffin, even Steve Sarkisian,” White continued, apparently not badmouthing anyone. “Some of those other guys, sometimes they’re just a face to an organization. When you got one hundred kids with the University of Southern California, his life is bigger than that.”

By other guys, it is quite obvious LenDale White was referring to Pete Carroll.

And White, obviously upset about the sanctions placed on his alma mater, didn’t refrain from blaming Pete Carroll.

“I don’t know. Maybe the boosters were paying him as well. Maybe they told him to keep it quiet, you never know,” White said of Carroll’s supposed unawareness at Southern Cal. “It’s hard for me to say. If someone has a brand new home, or supposedly got some brand new cars or something, that you wouldn’t know … To me, that’s bologna.”

“If I knew something like that was gonna happen, I would definitely jump out,” White said, referring to the sanctions influencing Carroll’s decision to coach the Seahawks. “I would too, especially if I was getting paid eight million dollars per year to go up there. I would too.”

Maybe LenDale White is bitter about the Seattle Seahawks releasing him. Maybe he is frustrated that most of Carroll’s attention at USC was given to Reggie Bush instead of him. For whatever reason, White has almost made a habit of badmouthing Carroll following his release.

“I was shocked. I’m still shocked,” White said of his release. “I would figure if there was a problem or anything needed to be said or done, if it was my old coach, he could grab me to the side and whisper something in my ear and tell me to step it up or do something different. I would figure that, but it was something else. So obviously, you know, it wasn’t trust. It was just, whatever.”

LenDale White continued to berate Pete Carroll, and even compared his knowledge in Seattle to his awareness in Los Angeles at Southern California.

“I called Pete,” White told his interviewers, describing what happened when he found out about his release. “I asked Pete what was going on. Pete was just Pete. Pete never knows anything, right?”

Quite the low blow, if you ask me. Maybe I’m reading too much in between the lines, but White seems bitter. He seems frustrated and angry.

Near the end of the interview, I think he reveals why he has such a problem with Pete Carroll: “Going back to college, me and Pete were just me and Pete. He wasn’t hugging me after I scored  touchdowns or after I broke the SC touchdown record. I was a player, he was the coach. That’s how we kept it. I didn’t get a phone call from Pete ever, and that’s how it was.”

Oh, now I understand. LenDale White is jealous, angry, and envious of the players who received extracurricular attention from Carroll. White feels a sense of entitlement for his past contributions and accomplishments.

Maybe White needs to look in the mirror. Past accomplishments won’t earn you a roster spot in the National Football League (in most cases). An average running back like White needs to work hard and make the most of any given opportunities.

White won’t admit it, but he feels a sense of entitlement. And that is one of the reasons why he is no longer with the Seattle Seahawks.

The entire interview with LenDale White can be heard here.

Shaun Dolence: dolencesm@gmail.com
Follow 12th Man Rising