As one of just three head coaches to win both a Super Bowl and a college football national championship, Pete Carroll knows a thing or two about success.
He also knows just how challenging it is to take over as a first-year head coach.
In his first two head coaching stops, Carroll lasted just one season with the New York Jets and three seasons with the New England Patriots before he was fired. Those two stints helped form his coaching philosophy, which he then put into action while transforming USC into a college football powerhouse and the Seahawks into a perennial NFL force.
Having experienced both sides of the coin, the 73-year-old Carroll praised Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald for what he accomplished last year as a rookie NFL head coach. Macdonald, who replaced Carroll as Seattle’s head coach in January 2024, guided the Seahawks to a 10-7 campaign in his first year at the helm.
Carroll, who’s now preparing for his first season as Las Vegas Raiders head coach, discussed what Macdonald achieved last season during a wide-ranging conversation with the Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Wednesday morning.
“It’s so challenging,” Carroll said. “Mike did a great job. It’s so hard to take over a franchise, particularly one like we had, one that had so much flavor to it and all that. And he did a great job.”
Carroll, who had a decorated 14-year run as Seattle’s head coach, spent 2024 away from coaching. But he still followed the Seahawks closely.
“I was rooting for them the whole time,” Carroll said. “I wanted to see all those guys transition and do well. … I mean, I love those guys. (It was great) to see them all get going and see ‘Big Cat’ (Leonard Williams) have such a great finish and Jaxon (Smith-Njigba) do his thing and all of it.”
Carroll also said he stayed in touch with former and then-current Seahawks during his time away from coaching – including Geno Smith, Marshawn Lynch, Russell Wilson, Doug Baldwin and Richard Sherman.
“When you do this thing with everything you have and you give every bit you have and every ounce of energy and juice and love and all that, that doesn’t go away,” Carroll said. “When you love ’em, you love ’em. And it was a really fun part of this offseason.”
