After falling just short of a playoff berth despite handling business in Week 18, Pete Carroll is looking to continue his run in Seattle.
On Monday, the Seahawks head coach affirmed his desire to return in 2024 for what would be his 15th season at the helm.
"I plan to be coaching this team," Carroll said on Seattle Sports radio. "I told you I love these guys. That's what I would like to be doing and see how far we can go."
NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported Sunday that the Seahawks are always evaluating and updating a contingency plan in the event Carroll, 72, decides to walk away. Carroll is under contract through 2024, with an option for 2025 that can be exercised in the offseason, per Rapoport and Pelissero.
“I’m not worn out. I’m not tired. I’m not any of that stuff,” Carroll said Monday. “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. There’s a lot of area for improvement.”
Generating back-to-back 9-8 seasons, the Seahawks couldn't quite replicate the success that led to a wild-card berth in 2022.
Geno Smith's second season as the starter saw down numbers (20 touchdowns, 92.1 passer rating in 2023; 30 TDs, 100.9 rating in 2022), but the Seahawks quarterback was forced to miss Weeks 14-15 due to injury. His absence came at the tail end of a brutal four-game losing streak which put Seattle on the outside looking in ahead of the home stretch.
A subpar outing from Smith against a reeling Steelers team resulted in a brutal home defeat that had Seattle's playoff hopes dependent on other teams forging their path to the postseason. Green Bay ended that ambition on Sunday with a victory while Pittsburgh clinched a berth by winning its final three games.
The Seahawks have now missed the playoffs in two of the past three seasons, a feat that had been unprecedented during Carroll's first 11 seasons at the helm in which Seattle only missed out on the postseason in 2011 and 2017.
“There’s always changes,” Carroll said of the 2024 offseason. “The roster changes, all kinds of things change. That’s just getting better and trying to groove it so you can get as good as you can possibly get. That’s what those meetings are all about.”
Carroll, who led Seattle to a Super Bowl win in the 2013 season, has been able to maintain a competitive team throughout his tenure, generating a 137-89-1 regular-season record while curating 10 postseason appearances (10-9 record in the playoffs).
Following a 2021 season that saw his first losing record in nearly a decade, Carroll guided the Seahawks into a successful transition out of the Russell Wilson era and seemingly injected life into Seattle going into 2023. That momentum came to a halt on Sunday, but Seattle's all-time winningest coach is gearing up for another campaign.