Pete Carroll Is Out As Head Coach Of The Seattle Seahawks After 14 Seasons

RENTON, Washington – Pete Carroll is leaving the Seattle Seahawks after 14 seasons as head coach, during which he led the team to two NFC championships and the franchise’s only Super Bowl title.

According to a statement released by owner Jody Allen on Wednesday, the 72-year-old coach will take on an advising position with the business.

Seattle finished the regular season with a 21-20 victory over Arizona on Sunday. The Seahawks began the last two weeks of the regular season with a chance to make the playoffs for the 11th time under Carroll’s leadership, but a Week 17 loss to Pittsburgh left Seattle in need of assistance in closing out the season.

Carroll will leave as the most successful coach in team history but with an unhappy conclusion following several seasons of average outcomes. He’ll always be remembered as the first coach to carry the Lombardi Trophy to Seattle with the Super Bowl 48 victory over Denver.

But Carroll never truly recovered from what happened in the Super Bowl a year later, with Russell Wilson’s goal-line interception in the last seconds, and Seattle never won another championship that could wipe away the scars of Super Bowl 49.

Carroll left the Seahawks with a regular-season record of 137-69-1. He guided Seattle to five NFC West championships and ten playoff wins.

Pete Carroll Is Out As Head Coach Of The Seattle Seahawks After 14 Seasons

However, the Seahawks plateaued near the end of Carroll’s tenure. Seattle finished with a losing record in 2021, advanced to the playoffs with a 9-8 record in 2022, then failed to make the predicted leap to become a contender in the NFC West this season.

Carroll sounded dissatisfied with how the season progressed heading into Week 18.

“We have a lot of work to do, but the outlook for the future is very positive, because of the makeup of the guys, the way they want to work, the way they go about it,” said Carroll. “They simply need to be trained, and it needs to come back another year where you can see all of those guys who make the transition from year one to year two, and year two to year three. There will be a tremendous positive movement for our club.”

However, a different coach will be in charge of Seattle’s future.

Despite the underwhelming last chapter, Carroll’s career in Seattle will be remembered as the most successful since the franchise’s inception in 1976. He created a player-friendly atmosphere by allowing personalities to emerge inside the prescribed structure of his system. Carroll preached competition but made it enjoyable along the way.

Carroll led the Seahawks to success, thanks to the personalities of Marshawn Lynch, Doug Baldwin, and Richard Sherman. They drafted Russell Wilson in the third round and watched him lead the team to a Super Bowl victory in his second season. Carroll, known for his defensive acumen, built a defence that was the finest of its period for several seasons and was the foundation for back-to-back NFC championship teams.

Pete Carroll Is Out As Head Coach Of The Seattle Seahawks After 14 Seasons

However, Super Bowl 49 proved to be a tipping point from which the Seahawks never fully recovered. Wilson’s pass, which Malcolm Butler intercepted and which gave New England a 28-24 victory, eventually caused the core that had carried Seattle to three championship games to fall apart. Despite Carroll’s repeated reboots, the Seahawks never regained the talent and chemistry required to become a team juggernaut.

Seattle has stayed within the divisional round of the playoffs since its previous Super Bowl appearance, and it has been eliminated in the wild-card round in three of its last four postseasons.

The focus will instantly shift to Carroll’s replacement and if Seattle prefers to stay within the Seahawks family tree or bring in a new voice to collaborate with general manager John Schneider. Schneider will have complete control over personnel for the first time since he arrived alongside Carroll.

Seattle is the seventh NFL team seeking a new coach, following Tennessee, Atlanta, and Washington, which all fired coaches after the regular season ended. The Raiders, Chargers, and Panthers did not wait until the season ended to fire coaches.

Pete Carroll Is Out As Head Coach Of The Seattle Seahawks After 14 Seasons

NFL teams cannot begin in-person interviews until after the divisional round after owners opted to postpone them by a week in October to slow down the recruiting process and improve diversity. They can only interview head coaching candidates employed by other NFL clubs on Tuesday or Wednesday for any coach whose team has been eliminated or has a postseason bye. Teams can conduct virtual interviews.

In-person interviews are available to all internal candidates and those the NFL does not currently employ.

Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who served in the same job for the Seahawks during their two NFC title seasons, will immediately be the focus of speculation. In his five-plus seasons as Atlanta Falcons head coach, Quinn went 43-42 with two playoff appearances and one historic Super Bowl disaster.

SOURCE – (AP)