Seahawks Surprisingly Part Ways With Pete Carroll As Coach, Which Even He Didn't Plan
The Seattle Seahawks and Pete Carroll have mutually agreed to part ways, although the 72-year-old coach is not necessarily leaving the organization.
As surprises go, this is akin to Trump and Obama agreeing on stuff.
It was certainly a surprise to Carroll at some point because this is not what even he expected.
"I plan to be coaching this team," Carroll said on his Seattle Sports 710 AM radio show a day after the Seahawks' season ended. "I told you that I love these guys and that's what I would like to be doing and see how far I can go.
"I'm not worn out. Not tired. I'm not any of that stuff. I need to do a better job and I need to help my coaches more and we need to do a better job of coaching, and there's a lot of area for improvement."
Carroll said at his farewell press conference, "I competed pretty hard to still be the coach," meaning he didn't want to give up his job.
But, um, Seahawks owner Jody Allen had a different idea:
Seahawks Ask Carroll What Have You Done Lately
Carroll also said his role with the club going forward is undefined.
"I don't know what that's going to be be," he said.
And this is where the NFL's culture for respecting not just good results but mostly good recent results apparently cost Carroll.
He has led the Seahawks to two Super Bowls, winning one in the 2014 season, and is the team's winningest coach with a .586 winning percentage.
Carroll's teams have had winning season in 11 of the past 12 years.
"It's hard to do what we've done," Carroll said.
But winning seasons do not translate to making the playoffs. The Seahawks were 9-8 this season but are not in the postseason. Winning seasons don't deliver divisional titles. And they certainly don't always lead to Super Bowls.
So the Seahawks are going in another direction.
Pete Carroll looks on prior to the NFC Wild Card playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers in January 2023. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Pete Carroll Divisional Foes Took A Toll
It should be noted that one factor that worked against Carroll is he's in a division with multiple offensive gurus that seem to be running systems for which the Seahawks have no equal or answer.
The San Francisco 49ers run an offense under head coach Kyle Shanahan that has become something of a aspirational system for teams to emulate.
That system, born out of Mike Shanahan's west coast system of the early 1990s and early 2000s, is also being utilized by Sean McVay in Los Angeles.
Both the Rams and the 49ers have recently dominated the NFC West that Carroll's Seahawks play in. The Rams have been in multiple Super Bowls in recent years and the 49ers were in the Super Bowl in 2020.
Pete Carroll shakes hands with head coach Sean McVay. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Seahawks Will Look To Dan Quinn And Others
The Seahawks have been 9-9 in NFC West play since 2021.
So, yes, the Seahawks winning pales by comparison.
How does Seattle fix that?
The organization can go one of two ways: Bring in a defensive genius to counter the 49ers and Rams. Or bring in an offensive guru to try and outscore the other two.
The Seahawks are expected to show interest in Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn almost immediately. Quinn worked under Carroll as his defensive coordinator in 2013 and 2014, the Super Bowl winning season.
There is a likelihood the Seahawks will cast a net that includes members of Shanahan coaching tree that can run that kind of offense. Perhaps Bobby Slowik or Miami's Frank Smith. Slowik is 36 years old, half Carroll's age,
Carroll's offense was mostly predicated on running the football and using play-action.
That could be changing for the Seahawks.