Upon his exit as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll said he “competed pretty hard to” stay put.
Does that mean he’s got more seasons on an NFL sideline in front of him?
The 72-years-young Carroll, ready with a training camp trope to boot, could hit the coaching ranks again right now, he believes, but it’s not something he’s looking to do at the moment.
“Well, you know, I get asked a lot, so I'm pretty familiar with answering that I could coach tomorrow,” Carroll said Tuesday on 93.3 KJR. “I’m physically in the best shape I've been in a long time. I'm ready to be ready to do all the activities that I'm doing and feeling really good about it. I could, but I'm not desiring it at this point.”
Despite being in the best shape of his life -- as is the case with so many during training camp season -- Carroll’s decided not to return to the gridiron, but he is going back to USC, where he won a pair of national championships.
Carroll said he will be taking on a teaching role, though he didn’t offer details.
“It’s going to be a really exciting endeavor when it all is finalized,” he said.
While Carroll isn’t yearning for a coaching return now, he didn’t necessarily close the door, either.
“We'll see what happens,” he said. “I'm not really uh, I'm not waiting on it at all. I'm going ahead and I got other things that I want to do that I'm excited about, and I'm going to see how all that goes. I'm not thinking that it's uh, that I’m holding my breath and that kind of thing. So, if it's been 40-something years, 48 years or whatever coaching and that's it, I feel OK about that.”
Carroll’s first foray into the NFL was as a defensive backs coach with the Buffalo Bills in 1984. He became the head coach of the New York Jets in 1994, but lasted just one season. His time as the New England Patriots head coach was a bit longer, but not by much, with his tenure running from 1997-1999. Then he took over USC, turning around the once-conquering program and making it a power once again. In 2010, Carroll became the head coach of the Seahawks. It was a run that lasted 14 seasons, with 10 playoff berths, two conference championships and the franchise’s only Super Bowl victory.
When the announcement was made on Jan. 10 that the Seahawks were moving on from Carroll, it was also announced that Carroll would remain with the organization in an advisory role. Clearly, that has not happened. Carroll said he hasn’t been in touch with new head coach Mike Macdonald but once and feels it’s best for him to stay away so the franchise can move on.
"I haven't talked to those guys at all,” he said. “I ran into Mike in the parking lot one day and it was a great chance to just give us alone to meet, say hey, and kind of get greeted and on we go. I have not had much to do with them in any way. And really, I'm just watching the games a little bit when I see ‘em on TV, I'm not paying that much attention to it. It just feels like it's the right thing.
“With purpose, I'm staying away from it. Yeah, and I'm not visiting with them at all.”
That doesn’t mean he won’t be watching and following the team, though.
“I can’t not watch,” Carroll said.
He’s built great relationships with his players through the years and he’s hoping for nothing but the best for them.
“There are a lot of guys I love on that football team that I know and care about, you know, I want to see how they do. They're successful and all that, and hopefully they'll make it through it, do some great things.”