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Carroll's grilling required a spot on a more serious sports journalism channel, HBO. Andrea Kremer used that segment of Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel to confront Carroll with the truth -- that for such massive violations to happen with his best player, he either (A) knew about Bush's car and house or (B) didn't want to know. When it was over, Carroll was whining to Kremer: "It's easy for you to ask these questions in this manner right now. Matt Leinart was our best player -- he was the Heisman Trophy winner."

So was Bush. In 2005. But that's not a convenient truth for Carroll, so he avoids it. He would rather promote a book that celebrates his "proven system of success ... a coaching philosophy" that included welcoming murderous alum O.J. Simpson to practice and masterminding the Halloween prank of 2005. That was the time Carroll faked an argument with running back LenDale White, causing White to run away from practice and climb onto a nearby roof -- where he dived to his death (White actually threw a dummy wearing his No. 21 jersey off the four-story building).

That's leadership right there. "Creepy Forever."

Carroll defends everything from the team-building nature of that prank -- suicide humor kills 'em every time! -- to his lack of culpability in the Reggie Bush fiasco. When HBO's Kremer asked him if he had ever seen the car Bush received illegally as a sophomore, Carroll said he had but explained it away: "It was a Chevy," he said. True. But it was a tinted, tricked-out ride snazzy enough to be featured on the cover of a car magazine.

To Carroll, it was just a Chevy. "Rationalize Forever."