Emotional Pete Carroll passes off Seahawks reins after 14 years as head coach
RENTON, Wash. - Even on the day he exited as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks after 14 seasons at the helm, Pete Carroll was still unquestionably authentic to himself.
With music from "The O'Jay's" pumped through the auditorium speakers as a precursor and a standing room only crowd filled with team employees, coaches and players alike, Carroll gracefully accepted a path forward for the franchise that didn't involve continuing as its head coach.
"Following our season-ending meetings with ownership, in the planning sessions, it's clear that – for a variety of reasons – we have mutually agreed to set a new course, and for the club to take on new leadership. That's just a decision that's been made, and there's a lot that went into that, a lot that went behind that," Carroll said in an emotional press conference.
Carroll had clearly stated his intention to continue as the team's head coach following Sunday's win over the Arizona Cardinals, and again on his radio show on Seattle Sports 710 AM on Monday morning. By Wednesday, that plan had changed and Carroll's wildly successful tenure as head coach came to an end.
"I'm thrilled that we've had this run. I really am," Carroll said. "The level of consistency that we've demonstrated is such to make you proud. It's hard to do what we've done. It's hard to be as good as we have."
Carroll is currently tied for 15h all-time for wins in the NFL with 170 overall over three head coaching stints with the Seahawks, New England Patriots and New York Jets. His tenure in Seattle resulted in a 137-69-1 record in his time with the Seahawks. He led Seattle to five NFC West titles and 10 playoff victories. Only once in his 14 years leading the Seahawks did the team lose 10 games in a single season (2021).
The 72-year-old coach will remain with the organization and move into an advisory role with the team moving forward, but even Carroll said he didn't know what that would look like. He won't be involved with the process of selecting his successor. That job will fall to general manager John Schneider, who, for the first time in 14 years working alongside Carroll with the Seahawks, will truly have the final say over the roster.
"It's why this happened," Carroll said. "You want to know, because I want him to have this chance. It's been 14 years, he's been waiting for his opportunity and he deserves it. And he's great at what he does. … He deserves this moment, and I was cheerleading for him. If there's nothing else that was part of this factor, that was the biggest factor. It was to help make sure that he could have this opportunity and he's going to go for it and I would do whatever I could to help him be successful still."
Even if there were some legitimate reasons for the Seahawks to consider making a head coaching change, the news of Carroll being out as the team's coach on Wednesday was still stunning. Carroll's comments on Monday clearly indicated he wanted to keep coaching the team next year and Carroll said Wednesday he still fought to continue at the helm before reaching the decision to step aside.
"I competed pretty hard to be the coach, just so you know," Carroll said. "I just wanted to make sure I stood up for all of our coaches and the players and the things that we had accomplished. Not just so we could be the coach still, but so we could continue to have a chance to be successful and keep the organization going. That’s what I was fighting for."
Carroll no longer being the head coach could very well mean that the assistant coaches on his staff will also need to seek new jobs. Whichever head coach that is hired to replace Carroll will likely bring their own people with them and Carroll tried to advocate for them as well. But while Carroll still clearly feels capable and energized enough to continue doing the job, he knows that with his age, the franchise was going to need to have a plan beyond his tenure eventually.
"This isn't about me being the head coach. It's about this organization being successful and being on course for the long haul of it as well. I realize that," Carroll said. "I'm about as old as you can get in this business. There's coming a time they've got to make some decisions. So moving towards the future. If there's some way that I can add something to them down the road, we'll see what happens. But this is a good move for them, and Johnny's going to take this thing, take the bull by the horns and roll. I'm so thankful that I get to see him take that next step and watch what he does with it. He's going to kick butt."
Carroll has always been a coach that has stressed the importance of running the football well and playing great defense. Both of those areas of the team struggled immensely this season. The Seahawks ranked in the bottom five of the league in both rushing offense (28th) and total defense (30th). The rushing defense was also awful for a second straight year, finishing 31st out of 32 teams after being 30th a season ago.
The Seahawks have not had a defense that ranked in the top 20 in the league in total defense since 2018, with the 2023 season being the worst of the Carroll era in Seattle.
If you were looking for performance-based reasons for a coaching change, it would be rooted in statistics such as that. And Carroll laments not being able to get those areas fixed.
"We lost our edge, really, the edge to be great, which was really how we ran the football and how we played defense. It wasn't as good as it needed to be," Carroll said.
But while some production problems continued to exist, Carroll's presence and culture continued to shine through. Two days after players cleaned out their lockers at season's end, several players were back in the building for Carroll's exit. Quarterback Geno Smith and linebacker Bobby Wagner were seated in the first few rows of the auditorium with wide receiver Tyler Lockett, tight end Noah Fant, safety Quandre Diggs, and punter Michael Dickson among others in the room.
That aspect of Carroll's departure will be the most difficult to replicate for the next head coach that takes over.
"What I am most proud of is that we took a culture that we developed there in those college days (at USC) and came here to see (that) if you cared for people deeply and you loved them for who they were and tried to find the extraordinary uniqueness that made them them and celebrate that, and not try to make them something that they're not, and not to try to expect them to be something other than that, but try to see if we can capture that extraordinary uniqueness that they had and celebrate that with them -- let's see what happens," Carroll said. "Well, at USC, we killed it. And we came up here, and overall we've been successful for a long time. I didn't think any way this would happen like this. I didn't have that vision. But I'm grateful for it because what we have here is we have an extraordinary culture. I'm really proud of that."
Carroll had fought to hold his emotions back at times throughout the press conference, but it poured out when mentioning his wife, Glena, and sons Brennan and Nate, both of whom have been a part of the team's coaching staff.
"I've been blessed with the rarest of best friends and mentor, loving partner, the angel in my life. This is worth crying for," Carroll said. "Glena, nobody would ever understand how significant (she is), she's been through all the stuff we've been through, and how important she is. She's just been the angel in my life, and I owe you everything.
"My boys, Brennan and Nate, you guys have no idea how valuable (you’ve) been to me because they're the ones that would give me all the crap about what I was doing wrong or what I was screwing up. They were harsh and their critiques were rash. And the whole thing was perfect because I needed that loyalty. And they were the epitome of it for me. And so forever grateful."
Carroll's role with the Seahawks will no longer be on the sidelines, but his vigor remains. Pete is still Pete, even if his head coaching tenure in Seattle is over.
"So that's it for now. And I'm freaking jacked. I'm fired up. I'm not tired. I'm not worn down. You guys tried your best. You didn't wear me out," Carroll said. "It's the end of the season. I'm supposed to go lay on a cot somewhere. I ain't feeling like that. What's coming? I don't know. I've got no idea. And I really don't care right now. But I'm excited about it because there's a lot to learn. There's a lot to study. There's some great discoveries that are going to come our way."