Harbaugh’s remarks draw Carroll’s ire

USC does not play Stanford until October, but new Cardinal Coach Jim Harbaugh has already stoked flames with Pete Carroll, albeit inadvertently.

Earlier this week, Dennis Dodd of CBS SportsLine.com quoted Harbaugh as saying Carroll would be gone after next season.

“Perhaps the reason it’s been up and down here [at Stanford] is that no one has stayed here 20 years,” Harbaugh told Dodd. “... Charlie Weis is going to do that at Notre Dame. [Jim] Tressel at Ohio State. Pete’s doing it. He’s only got one more year, though. He’ll be there one more year. That’s what I’ve heard. I heard it inside the staff.”

Reached by phone Thursday, Harbaugh said he was quoted accurately. Asked if his source was new USC receivers coach John Morton, who worked with Harbaugh at the University of San Diego, Harbaugh said no.

“I’ve heard it from multiple people secondhand, from people that have talked to people on the SC staff,” Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh added that he was “simply stating what I heard from a lot of other people,” and also said, “I don’t claim to be the definitive source on what Pete Carroll is going to do.”

Carroll, who interviewed with the Miami Dolphins in January but has said he would remain at USC, was miffed by Harbaugh’s comments.

“If he’s going to make statements like that, he ought to get his information right,” Carroll said. “And if he has any questions about it he should call me.”

gary.klein@latimes.com