On Monday, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said he planned to stay in that role for a 15th season rather than retire. On Wednesday, though, the Seahawks announced that they and Carroll had “amicably agreed” that he would transition to an advisory role.
That came soon after ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that Carroll was out as head coach, in a move that surprised many. Here are the initial reports:
A shocker in Seattle: Pete Carroll is expected to be out as the Seahawks head coach, per sources. He still could remain in the organization, but not as the head coach. pic.twitter.com/fh4Jo8oMlk
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 10, 2024
Bombshell: Pete Carroll is out as #Seahawks coach, per sources. pic.twitter.com/TVQLf2mCMZ
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 10, 2024
Shortly after the initial reports, though, NFLN’s Ian Rapoport tweeted “Don’t be surprised if he lands upstairs in Seattle.” And the Seahawks’ statement followed soon afterwards, with the details on Carroll moving to an advisory role:
Statement from Jody Allen – Chair, Seattle Seahawks pic.twitter.com/RNUZvF6Vgp
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) January 10, 2024
While there was some talk of Carroll being on a bit of a hot seat after the Seahawks missed the playoffs, that wasn’t as intense as it was with other teams that have made coaching moves. And Seattle did go 9-8 this season, the same record as in their previous season. However, the 2022 season came with a playoff appearance.
Despite that, the larger focus of discussion was on if the 72-year-old Carroll (who was on a contract running through the 2025 season) would retire. But he made it quite clear both in postgame comments Sunday and on his radio show Monday he didn’t intend to do that. ESPN’s Brady Henderson wrote up his comments then, which included even discussion of plans for change:
“I plan to be coaching this team,” Carroll said on his Seattle Sports 710 AM radio show a day after the Seahawks’ season ended with a win over the Arizona Cardinals, but no playoff berth. “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. I’m 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.”
…Asked postgame if this season makes him want to return in 2024, Carroll said, “Yeah … of course I’d love to do that.”
Asked if he expects to be back, Carroll said, “I do. I do. At this point, I do, yeah.”
…”This time of year comes around and this is the time when the real focused planning begins,” he said. “There’s planning that’s been going on. There’s discussions and conversations that go on about how you’re going to go on, how the future is going to be and what’s coming. [General manager John Schneider] and I are always talking about that stuff forever. But this is when the real business starts to take place, and there’s things that have to be done and decisions have to be made, choices and all kinds of stuff. That’s what this time of the year is, and we’ll see how we go.”
Update: And in later comments, Carroll made it clear he wasn’t looking to leave the HC role:
Pete Carroll says he "competed pretty hard" to be the coach. So while he said this is an amicable decision, he clearly still wanted to be coaching.
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) January 10, 2024
With his QB Geno Smith 1st row of a packed main auditorium at a press conf, Carroll made it clear this exit as #Seahawks coach was not his decision.
“I competed hard to be the coach, just so you know,” Carroll said of mtgs w/Jody Allen https://t.co/clTIUjeWQe @thenewstribune
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) January 10, 2024
So, while the team may have “amicably agreed” with Carroll in the end, it certainly doesn’t sound like this was his plan. He leaves with quite a run as head coach, though, going 137-89-1 in 14 years with the Seahawks, winning Super Bowl XLVIII after the 2013 season, and making it to Super Bowl XLIX after the 2014 season as well. (His overall NFL record as head coach is 170-120-1, also including a 6-10 year with the New York Jets in 1994 and a 27-21 run with the New England Patriots from 1997-1999.) And we’ll now see where the Seahawks go after him.
[Adam Schefter on Twitter]
