Pete Carroll On Being Reassigned To An Advisory Role: “it’s really hard because they’re not football people”

The Seattle Seahawks’ offseason officially began on Sunday, and although it is still early, it is already one of the most significant periods of transition for the team in its existence. That is, of course, related to the fact that the team announced on Wednesday that head coach Pete Carroll will not be leading the team moving forward after a 9-8 season that concluded with the team missing out on the postseason for the second time in three years.

Pete Carroll On Being Reassigned To An Advisory Role: “It’s really hard because they’re not football people”

The Seattle Seahawks have moved Pete Carroll from head coach to an adviser position.

Carroll, who is probably going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a coach, had his 14-year career come to an end last week following the Seahawks’ second straight 9-8 season. Carroll’s retirement appeared to be preordained as the team missed the playoffs in 2023.

Right present, he continues to serve in his capacity as Vice President of Football Operations, a role he has had since 2010.

After Belichick, Mike Tomlin of the Steelers, and John Harbaugh of the Ravens, Carroll had the fourth-longest tenure of any NFL head coach at the time of his departure.

The decision was met with predictable reactions: some felt it should never have been made, while others said it was done years too late, since the Seahawks haven’t won a postseason game since the conclusion of the Obama administration.

Despite consistently having winning records during the regular season and having won two straight after trading for franchise quarterback Russell Wilson, the Hawks have failed to qualify for the postseason.

Carroll, who was conducting a weekly radio program on Seattle Sports 710 AM, claimed to have persuaded ownership, who he described as “not football people,” to keep him as the team’s head coach.

“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.”

“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.”

But as many others pointed out, Carroll had the answers to the problems on the field; it was his responsibility to put them into practice, and season after season, he was unable to do so.

“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.

Though he wasn’t sure about his near future, Carroll assured that coaching again is a possibility.

“I’m willing, I’ve got plenty of energy for it, but I can’t imagine there’s a place, the right one,” he said. “I don’t know. I’m not holding my breath, but I’m open to everything. 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.”

In Toronto, Luke Willson, whose historic two-point conversion in the NFC championship game against Green Bay helped propel the Seahawks to their second Super Bowl under Carroll, was about to wrap up a hit segment for The Sports Network discussing the NFL playoffs when a producer informed him they might not be done with him just yet because they needed him to comment on some breaking news.

“I’m like, ‘What happened?’ and he says, ‘Pete Carroll was just relieved of his duties.’ And I was like, ‘What?’” said Willson, who was drafted by the Seahawks in 2013 and played 85 games in three different stints for Carroll.

When linebacker K.J. Wright first received the news, he was at his office at his Bellevue, Washington, home.

“My reaction was, I was heartbroken for him,” said Wright, a fourth-round pick in 2011 who played in Seattle through the 2020 season. “He was my coach for a decade. I know how much he puts into this game. I know how much he loves it. I know how much the city loves him. I know how much my old teammates love him and appreciate him.

Has Pete Carroll ever won a Super Bowl?

After 14 years leading the Seahawks to their first Super Bowl win, 10 postseason trips, and five NFC West crowns, coach Pete Carroll revealed on Wednesday that he would be transitioning to an advisory position.

What is Pete Carroll’s current salary?

Carroll has spent the previous thirteen years with the Seahawks, but in 2020 he inked a contract extension that would keep him sidelined until the 2025 campaign. Carroll reportedly agreed to a five-year, $75 million contract deal, increasing his yearly compensation to $15 million.

Will Pete Carroll retire?

Carroll, who is 72 years old, held the title of oldest head coach in the NFL for a while, but he has made no signs of approaching retirement. He signed a five-year agreement with the Seahawks in 2020, extending his contract through the 2025 season.

 

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