6 questions from Pete Carroll's final presser as Seahawks head coach
Who is in charge, what role will Pete have, and what does it mean for Geno Smith? 1/10/2024
The Seattle Seahawks relieved Pete Carroll of his head coaching duties on Wednesday, which did not come as a relief to Pete based on his final press conference with the team…in that role. Carroll expressed a desire to continue to be the head coach and that he pitched Jody Allen and management on keeping him in that role, but the Seahawks have decided to go in a different direction.
How different? That remains unclear. There are many questions left based on Wednesday’s events. These are 6 takeaways/questions that I had from watching Pete Carroll’s last press conference as the Seahawks head coach.
What role will Pete Carroll have now?
He said he doesn’t know. It seems to me that this is all so new to Pete that he may have just asked if he could somehow be a part of the team as they see what happens with all of the players that Pete and John picked for the roster in the last two years. Guys like Devon Witherspoon, Ken Walker, Boye Mafe, Charles Cross, Abe Lucas…Seattle has turned over the roster with draft picks and it could be troubling to Pete that in his mind the Seahawks are already on a championship path but this move means he won’t be around when they hoist the Lombardi because of these decisions.
Pete mentioned that his favorite moment, obviously, was winning the Super Bowl and being on the stage for the ceremony, looking into the crowd to find his wife. He’s been chasing that feeling for the last 10 years and not come close since the you-know-what play.
Have you ever been broken up with and begged for a second chance, then you didn’t get it so you asked to be friends? That seems like the role that Pete Carroll might have right now.
How does this impact John Schneider?
Based on Pete’s comments, John Schneider will have more power with the Seahawks than he’s ever had before. He mentioned Schneider “waiting 14 years for this opportunity” so the role that Carroll had in helping Seattle pick players for the roster would seem to be transferring entirely over to John Schneider.
This could mean a monumental shift in how the Seahawks go about adding players this offseason. I have assumed that Pete is more conservative in his approach than going for a big splash—Seattle has traded for big name vets, but hesitates when it comes to trading up in the draft or drafting a quarterback—and this will certainly be how many perceive the change in direction for organizational personnel decisions.
Will the Seahawks be aggressive in their pursuit of a franchise quarterback in this offseason because of this move? Was this move made because Pete is so hesitant to draft a quarterback or replace Geno Smith?
Who will be the next head coach?
That’s up to John and Jody Allen and the people she chooses to advise the Seahawks in their search. Pete noted he has nothing to do with that decision, nor should he.
Something that’s been a throughline in the history of the Seahawks hiring head coaches is that they have a championship resume: Tom Flores (2x Super Bowl), Dennis Erickson (National Championship), Mike Holmgren (Super Bowl), Pete Carroll (National Championship).
Chuck Knox never made it to a Super Bowl but was a three-time Coach of the Year who had won a lot of games. Only Jack Patera and Jim Mora don’t fit the mold. (Patera coincidentally had a longtime connection to Vikings head coach Bud Grant, Pete’s mentor.)
(As I write this, Nick Saban has announced his retirement…)
The connection to Dan Quinn feels so easy, same as the assumption that Mike Vrabel’s just going into walk right into Gillette Stadium and take Bill Belichick’s job in New England. Do the Patriots and Seahawks want to have new identities or do they just want lesser-accomplished versions of the coaches they’re parting ways with?
Maybe that’s what the Seahawks sort of want, a version of Pete Carroll who isn’t Pete Carroll, someone who can keep things mostly the same but give a fresh perspective to the players who have tuned Pete out recently.
But there are a lot of intriguing names on the market, which may have been a catalyst towards Seattle making the decision now and not hesitating when the market could be worse off in 2025.
What will happen to Shane Waldron and Clint Hurtt?
They’ve been told that exploring other opportunities with other teams is perfectly okay. For what it’s worth this is not standard. Already today, the Raiders blocked a team from interviewing DC Patrick Graham and the Panthers blocked teams from interviewing DC Ejiro Evero, even though both of those organizations fired the head coach. If Graham or Evero get head coaching interviews, that’s different, but they aren’t currently being allowed to explore parrallel moves.
The Seahawks are okay with either Waldron or Hurtt leaving and that tells me that Waldron and Hurtt are leaving.
What does this mean for Geno Smith?
Pete was Geno’s biggest fan and I have to assume that this news is not good for Geno Smith.
Remember, there were not teams clamoring for Geno as a backup when he initially signed with the Seahawks. Geno was a free agent for a month with no bites prior to signing a one-year deal with Seattle in 2022. And after making the Pro Bowl and the playoffs, Geno Smith signed the worst contract of any QB in his same vicinity (Jimmy Garoppolo, Derek Carr), implying that his agent Chafie Fields was not expecting a competitive market…or he’s just not a good agent.
Pete is Geno’s biggest fan and even Pete would say that.
With more power going to John Schneider—who comes from a place we might as well call “Quarterback Quountry” after learning the ropes of Ted Thompson in Green Bay, the team that drafts the most QBs—the odds of the Seahawks drafting a quarterback in the first round this year have gone up considerably.
Whoever the next head coach is, he’s not going to be Pete Carroll. He’s going to be somebody who ends up falling in love with Geno, as Pete did, but this opens the possibility that it will be a coach who won’t. Or who wants to bring in his own guy and doesn’t want to hitch his wagon to a quarterback he didn’t select. OR it could be a coach, like Ben Johnson, who has done wonders for Jared Goff on the Lions, who will elevate Geno in a way that the last coaching staff could not.
How does this impact a team sale?
ProFootballTalk has speculated that the team is less likely to be sold (which could happen as soon as this May, but a sale is not necessary in the near future) now that they will be bringing on a new head coach. Would a coach want to take the job if he knew that there could be a new owner in six months? New ownership has fired coaches in Carolina, Denver, and Washington based on the three most recent sales.
But this is only speculative.
So in summary:
Good news: John Schneider, head coach candidates, Jody Allen keeping the team for now
Bad news: Pete Carroll, Shane Waldron, Clint Hurtt, Geno Smith (depending on who the next coach is)
When Paul Allen hired John Schneider, John was a first time general manager, who had been climbing the corporate ladder under the best in the business in Green Bay. John moved to Seattle to take the promotion to GM - a job that he might have had to wait decades for in Green Bay.
By contrast, Pete came to Seattle with 15 years’ head coaching experience in college and the NFL, multiple championships and a brilliant resume. Pete fell naturally into the senior role, but was wise enough to frame the relationship as a partnership.
Jody/the Trustees aren’t football people. They’re business people. John is both a business person and a football person. Pete is a football person. John is the natural bridge.
It would be typical and prudent corporate governance for Jody/the Trustees to engage in succession planning for all three key employees (President Chuck Arnold, VP/GM John Schneider, VP/HC Pete Carroll). They must have seen Pete Carroll’s retirement on their sooner-rather-than-later horizon some time.
I think the decision to let John hire Pete’s successor was probably made a while back, as was the decision to expand John’s GM portfolio to include oversight of coaching when Pete retired. If you think about it, you can see that the organization has been increasing John’s public profile in preparation for this bigger role.
So, why make a move now?
I don’t think it’s because vocal fans have been calling for Pete’s replacement or because the team didn’t make the playoffs or even because the defense was embarrassingly bad.
I think it’s possible there’s a successor available to hire now that represents a special opportunity for the Seahawks, and they didn’t want to miss out on their next franchise leader for timing reasons.
And I think it’s possible that those closest to Pete realized he was never going to leave the game voluntarily - and it was time for those closest to him to blow the whistle and congratulate him on his incomparable HOF career.
As for Pete’s as yet undefined advisory role, it signifies that the Hawks will be paying him the balance of his existing contract. They have him on retainer, essentially. But more than that, Pete’s persona is woven into the Seahawk brand, and I don’t think Jody/John/the Trust want to diminish that in any way. Maybe Pete will become a Trustee - although I am not convinced he’d enjoy it
What I do think he’d like - love really - is to work on his idea of supporting retired NFL players. He talked about it during the press conference. He’s pitched it to the NFL, but got stonewalled. He’s absolutely right about the unexplored potential for good his idea has - and he’s right about the long term obligations the NFL has to its players. I hope the Hawks will partner with Pete to get this idea off the ground.
As I mentioned on the other article, I think ownership wanted changes, maybe at QB, OC, or DC, or multiple, and Pete didn't want to make those changes (they have families, etc) so they decided to move on.
Pete is an incredible person, no doubt about it. The way he views coaching and personal relationships is unique and simply wonderful. IMHO that didn't jive with the results, changes were in order but Pete wasn't willing to make those changes.