Breaking up is hard to do for Pete Carroll

With tears in his eyes, a USC student announced that after attending classes for four years and receiving his bachelor's degree, he was leaving campus to pursue his life's work.

At which point, his beloved professor publicly scorned him for it.

What's wrong with this picture?

Nothing, apparently, if you are Pete Carroll.

Everything, perhaps, if you are Mark Sanchez.

The gap between college football and college education was never more sadly pronounced than Thursday, when a future graduate happily sent out early commencement announcements, only to see a professed educator shred them in disappointment.

Sanchez, the Trojans' starting quarterback who will finish his classwork in May with one year of remaining football eligibility, formally declared that he was leaving school to join the NFL.

Carroll, his coach, publicly treated him like a traitor.

Said Sanchez: "It is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to this university."

Said Carroll: "We didn't see this decision the same."

Sanchez carefully and emotionally thanked everyone from Carroll to the guy who washed his jock.

Yet Carroll was so visibly frustrated, he wouldn't even sit next to Sanchez during the Heritage Hall news conference, then later refused to sit while answering questions.

Said Sanchez: "I will always fight on."

Said Carroll: "Mark is going against the grain in this decision, we know that, he knows that."

Granted, it was a questionable call. Sanchez has started for only one full year, only 16 college games, and he showed consistent NFL skills only in his final game, a 413-yard, five-touchdown Rose Bowl show against Penn State.

Sanchez is currently ranked as the 10th best player in the draft, and there is legitimate debate over whether his decision cost him a Heisman Trophy and a shot at being the No. 1 overall pick.

But there is no debate that Carroll handled it with all the decorum of a jilted lover.

And there can be no argument that, as one who spent four years fulfilling the requirements of a student-athlete, Sanchez deserved better.

"It has been my dream since I was a youngster . . . to play in the NFL" Sanchez said. "Thanks to this great academic institution and football program, I have the opportunity to realize that dream."

Academic institution. Football program. On this day, in this place, the two entities might as well have been Venus and Mars.