Somewhat buried beneath the earth-shattering news of Nick Saban’s retirement and Bill Belichick’s exit was Pete Carroll being reassigned by the Seattle Seahawks from head coach to an advisory role.
Carroll, likely a future Hall of Fame coach, saw his 14-year tenure end last week after a second consecutive 9-8 season with the Seahawks — missing the playoffs in 2023, which seemed to set the stage for his departure.
He, as of now, maintains his position as Vice President of Football Operations, which he has also held since 2010.
At the time of his exit, Carroll had the fourth-longest tenure among NFL head coaches behind Belichick, the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin and the Ravens’ John Harbaugh.
Carroll had been hosting a weekly radio show on Seattle Sports 710 AM and said he made his case to stay as the team’s head coach but indicated that the decision was made by ownership who are “not football people.”
“And then, OK, what is the essence of the adjustments that are necessary?” Carroll said during the show, which aired Friday. “That’s where maybe we don’t see eye to eye because I see it one way, and I think I’ve got a way to fix it, and I’m not going to kind of halfway fix it — I’m trying to fix it so it’s perfect. I’ve got real precise and specific thoughts, and they may not see it that way, they may not agree with it, they may not see that that’s the right answer or that’s not the answer that makes them feel good.”
Carroll continued, seemingly referring to the Paul Allen estate trust — the Seahawks owner who purchased the team in 1997 and died in 2018 — which is now led by Jody Allen, his sister.
“The difficult part is, if you guys could know, it’s really hard because they’re not football people,” Carroll said. “They’re not coaches, and so to get to the real details of it is really difficult for other people.”
ESPN indicated that participants from the final meeting aside from Allen and Carroll are “unclear” but noted that Bert Kolde is directly under Allen as the team’s vice chair.
Both Allen and Kolde hold similar roles with the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, who just traded long-time mainstay Damian Lillard — drafted in 2012 — to embark on a full rebuild ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Carroll later doubled down on the idea that the decision was made by non-football people.
“Every year, it feels like that you’re going to be challenged by opinions that are kind of media opinions because what else do people have when you’re outside of the game? How could you know other than what you guys talk about on the radios and what the articles say and what the pundits are drawing conclusions on?” he said.
“That’s why you have to go in realizing that that’s what you’re dealing with and then try to talk through to get to the essence of stuff. That’s always going to be a challenge because when you don’t have legitimate dyed-in-the-wool football people calling the shots, then you have to try to make sense of it, just like we try to make sense of it for your audience, it’s no different.”
Carroll, 72, made it known at his farewell press conference that his departure wasn’t his decision.
In an offseason where attractive NFL jobs are on the table, Carroll’s name will undoubtedly travel through the rumor mill.
Regarding the possibility of him coaching again, Carroll insisted that, while unsure of his immediate future, it’s on the table.
“I’ve got plenty of energy for it and thought and willingness, but I can’t imagine there’s a place, the right one,” he said. “I don’t know. I’m open to everything, but I’m not holding my breath on that. There’s a lot of world out here that I’m excited about challenging and going after. So if that happens, it happens. We’ll see. I really don’t know what to tell you about that yet.”
Seahawks general manager John Schneider, who came to Seattle one week after Carroll in 2010, will also experience his first coaching change in Seattle.
Carroll led the Seahawks to a 147-98 combined regular season and playoff record in 14 seasons, including back-to-back Super Bowl appearances in 2013 and 2014 that led to one title.
With Carroll, the Seahawks also made it to the playoffs 10 times and never won fewer than seven games, having just three losing seasons across 14 years.