A younger, untested NFL head coach would discover it fairly daunting to affix a division that features Andy Reid, Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh.
That’s the form of problem that appeals to Pete Carroll.
It’s one in all a number of causes the Las Vegas Raiders have been sensible to decide on him as their subsequent head coach. That’s a corporation looking for an identification and unmoored from its previous. The membership was related a era in the past.
The Raiders haven’t gained a postseason recreation for the reason that AFC championship in opposition to Tennessee in early 2003, again when Carroll was first righting the ship at USC. The Raiders have returned to the playoffs twice since dropping that Tremendous Bowl to Tampa Bay, with one-and-done appearances in 2016 and 2021.
What Carroll will do for that group is simply what he did at USC and with the Seattle Seahawks. He’ll reshape the tradition, filter the deadwood and refine the concentrate on competitors.
“Pete is exactly what the Raiders needed at this moment,” mentioned Scott Fitterer, who was Carroll’s vp of soccer operations with the Seahawks. “He’s the guy who’s going to get this right.”
By taking a three-year cope with the choice for a fourth, he’s betting on himself. That’s an unusually brief settlement and a sign he’s wagering he can whip this U-turn rapidly even with out a solution at quarterback. The shorter deal is also engaging to a promising assistant coach or coordinator who aspires to be a head coach. It’s clear that Carroll isn’t planning to be there without end.
At 73, Carroll would be the oldest head coach in league historical past however age doesn’t actually apply to this man, not within the conventional sense. He’s obtained the power of a child.
In 2012, early in his profession with the Seahawks, Carroll opened the doorways to spend every week with the staff in the course of the season. I used to be given an workplace subsequent to his and free reign to affix any assembly and hang around starting when he obtained to the ability earlier than daybreak till he left lengthy after darkish.
There was an endearing exuberance to him, not solely in his enthusiasm and the way in which he linked with gamers, but in addition in the way in which he ran the constructing. He had basketball hoops all over the place, together with Nerf hoops within the doorways. He left the music on in his workplace — Macklemore was massive on the time — and soup bowls would stack up on his desk.
When Carroll would go away his workplace for a gathering, his govt assistant, Daybreak Beres, would flip down the music, flip off the TV and collect his dishes.
“Sometimes,” she instructed me on the time, “I feel like I’m living next to my teenage son.”
In brief, Carroll goes to attach together with his gamers and he’ll in all probability have his sons working with him. The Carolina Panthers simply parted methods together with his son, Nathan, who had been their passing-game coordinator. Brennan is the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach on the College of Washington. He simply might wind up working for his father.
In any case, Steve Belichick, who was defensive coordinator for the Huskies, simply joined his dad Invoice’s employees at North Carolina. It needed to attraction to Carroll, the notion of probably working together with his sons.
Presumably, Tom Brady performed a big function in hiring Carroll. They have been on reverse sides within the Tremendous Bowl and never lengthy from now will likely be teammates in Canton. They share a powerful mutual respect.
The late Al Davis was a trendsetter, and that was usually on show with the top coaches he employed, whether or not that was Tom Flores or Artwork Shell, or the surprisingly younger John Madden and Jon Gruden. So it’s attention-grabbing that the Raiders would go to the other finish of the spectrum and rent a coach within the deep twilight of his profession.
USC coach Pete Carroll holds up the Nationwide Championship Trophy after beating Oklahoma 55-19 in 2005.
(Al Messerschmidt / WireImage)
Carroll joins Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer as the one coaches to win each a school soccer nationwide championship and a Tremendous Bowl. Harbaugh has come shut, profitable a nationwide title with Michigan and falling simply brief in a Tremendous Bowl to his older brother, John, coach of the Baltimore Ravens.
There have been three guidelines that Carroll demanded his Seattle gamers stay by:
1. Defend the staff. That meant the staff got here first. So be aware of your teammates on and off the sector. Should you see them on the verge of constructing a mistake, or doing one thing that’s going to get them in hassle, the onus is on you to step in and proper the state of affairs. At follow, you’re not attempting to ship these crushing hits. The staff must be on the forefront.
2. No whining, no complaining, no excuses. If it’s raining, Carroll doesn’t need to hear your gripes. Hey, it’s an excellent alternative to follow wet-ball drills. Search for the silver lining in each state of affairs.
3. Be early. That sounds easy, however it’s an indication of respect. Should you’re stumbling into a gathering late, you’re placing your time above the staff’s time. Have respect for the better good.
Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was 35 when Carroll arrived on the Seahawks, and it might rub him the unsuitable method when individuals would counsel the coach was going to “change the culture” of the franchise.
This was a staff that reached the Tremendous Bowl with Mike Holmgren as coach, and Hasselbeck didn’t really feel the tradition was in want of fixing.
“It didn’t sit right with me,” Hasselbeck mentioned. “It felt like we were winning our division every year. … But Pete really did a great job of instilling his culture in that building right away. Even though I believed in the culture that we had, his culture was different and it took us somewhere else as a team. He had a plan.”
If something, the Raiders are a staff in want of a plan. Carroll gives that.
