Pete Carroll has made a clean break from the Seahawks, and he’s headed back to USC.
To teach.
The former Seahawks coach gave his first radio interview in “I can’t remember,” he said to KJR-FM radio Tuesday. Carroll told KJR host Dave “Softy” Mahler and guest Doug Baldwin, his former Seahawks wide receiver, that he has had no contact with Mike Macdonald as Carroll’s successor and NFL’s youngest coach at age 37 builds the team in his vision.
The 72-year-old Carroll was the Super Bowl-champion architect of the Seahawks from 2010 until franchise chair Jody Allen fired him in January.
“I really haven’t. I haven’t talked to those guys, at all,” Carroll said on KJR of Macdonald and his 21 new Seahawks assistant coaches. “I ran into Mike in the parking lot one day, and it was a great chance, just the two of us alone, to 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 just watched some of the (preseason) games a little when I see him on TV. I’m not paying that much attention to it.
“It just feels like it’s the right thing to do to let them go.”
The Seahawks announced when they fired Carroll in January, days after he finished coaching only the third non-playoff season for the team in 12 years under him, that he would remain an adviser to the team. Carroll and those around him knew better. The team presented the coaching change that way partly because it was honoring this year and what is believed to be about $15 million remaining on his Seahawks contract.
Carroll said of Macdonald, the Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator until he replaced Carroll Feb. 1, and the new coach’s staff: “I don’t really have any opinion, other than I know they’re really hard-working, and it’s a really smart group of guys, and I know that they’re in it there. They have a good group around them to build on, and I think it sounds like they’ve done some really good things.”
Carroll read defensive lineman Leonard Williams’ comments from this spring that Macdonald and the new staff had him learning six positions up and down the defensive line, from nose tackle inside to outside end.
“They could be really good up there. That’s a really good place to start. Really good place to start,” Carroll, himself a former college and NFL defensive coordinator, said of the defensive line. “Good seeing ‘Chenna (outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu) back (from season-ending pectoral surgery last October) … He’s a real important factor in that football team.
“And so, I really don’t have that much information, on purpose. With purpose, I’m staying away from it all.”
Teaching at USC
Carroll spoke by phone Tuesday to KJR from Los Angeles. He was there from 2001-09 restoring a college football dynasty leading USC’s program. Then Seahawks owner Paul Allen hired him to be Seattle’s ultimate football authority in January 2010.
“I will wind up working down at USC. I am going to wind up teaching down there,” Carroll said.
He said he will likely begin teaching in spring 2025. He left unsaid in what capacity, department or subject.
“I’m looking forward to that. It’s going be a really exciting endeavor when it’s all finalized,” he said.
“There’s is some other stuff I am advising and counseling with, some other clubs — not football, some other things — that I’m excited about.
“If people are worried about me,” Carroll said, chuckling, “I’m fine. I’m having fun. And Glena and I have been having a blast with our family and all that stuff. But there’s a lot things going on that I’m excited about.”
That includes a trip to U.S. military installations in Kuwait that Carroll just returned from last week. Carroll went with American basketball coaches as part of a tour with clinics for service members.
He coached a basketball team of Air Force personnel while there. He told his players in games there has never been a 3-point shot he’s turned down, so they should be gunnin’ from everywhere.
“A group of guys who have been taking care of troops over the years, for a number of years, they have a regular program that they have a hard-court basketball tournament for the troops,” Carroll said.
“I went over with seven other basketball coaches and myself. Tim Floyd (a former USC men’s basketball head coach when Carroll was the Trojans’ football coach 17 years ago) asked me if I would go. We just had a phenomenal time over there, coaching hoops.”
He said the service members he visited with in Kuwait swarmed him with admiration and requests for pictures and autographs.
“I feel pretty frickin’ lucky and very fortunate. You know that we had an effect, and I’m thrilled about it,” Carroll told KJR. “I can’t tell you that I don’t like it, you know. I do. And I’m pleased. But it just reminds me how much I’ve got to keep giving back and keep doing it so, so it is important stuff.”
Carroll said he’s been surprised by how many people around the Seattle area see him now and shower him with appreciation for what he did with the Seahawks and for the region in his 14 years atop the NFL franchise.
“Honestly, to tell you guys, now that I am out from the Hawks, and I’m out and around the area, the town and everywhere I’ve been going, I’ve been getting so much love from everybody,” Carroll said. “It’s been amazing. People can’t wait to come up, take a picture, autograph something, tell me about their son or their uncle who loved the way we did things there, how engaged they still are, how much they miss me. You know, all that kind of sappy stuff.
“But that’s been really meaningful. And I didn’t have any clue that we had that kind of connection on the outside. And it’s been really obvious.”
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