For Pete's sake: Carroll out as Seahawks' head coach

Pete is gone, and there will again be sleepless nights in Seattle.

As reported by Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times, Pete Carroll, who led Seattle to the franchise's only Super Bowl win in its 48-year history, is out as the Seahawks’ head coach. 

Two questions now remain: Who will replace him as Seattle’s head man? How will Wrigley’s offset plummeting gum sales in the Seattle area?

In the two years since the departure of quarterback Russell Wilson was to tank the Seahawks’ fortunes, Carroll led his team to a playoff appearance in 2022 and to the cusp of the playoffs this year. After a 6-3 start, however, the Seahawks finished the season 3-5, including a Week 17 home loss to the Steelers that severely damaged their postseason chances.

Carroll had intimated on multiple occasions in recent weeks his desire to return as head coach. But, according to Condotta’s reporting, the front office and coach “have amicably agreed” to Carroll stepping down, with the team announcing that Carroll’s role with the organization will “evolve” into that of an advisor. 

Carroll took over as head coach of Seattle in 2010, improbably winning the NFC West in his first year with a 7-9 record, then, thanks to a fabled Marshawn Lynch run, shocking defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans in the wild-card round of that year’s playoffs. Within three seasons, he won a Super Bowl (crushing Peyton Manning and Denver), made a second appearance the year after, and in the interim helped establish football’s most heated rivalry with the NFC West’s other powerhouses, Jim Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers.

Over the last decade, since the Super Bowl XLIX loss to New England, the Seahawks made the playoffs six times, but never advanced beyond the Divisional round. Seattle finished 7-9 in 2020, their first sub-.500 record in 10 years, which precipitated the trade of the veteran Wilson to Denver. Many observers predicted the loss of Wilson — possibly a future Hall of Famer, certainly the franchise's most accomplished-ever QB — would drop the Seahawks to the bottom of the NFC West.

With veteran journeyman quarterback Geno Smith finding a new lease on life, Seattle stayed near the top of the division for the past two seasons. However, missing the playoffs two of the last three years, with the NFL’s oldest head coach and a young roster, likely compelled Seahawks' ownership to seek a new direction.

Carroll’s energy and boundless enthusiasm long belied his age (now 72). His Seattle teams often reflected the college-cheerleader spirit he brought with him from USC, where he returned the Trojans to college football dominance in the 2000s, winning a national title in 2005. It was in the late 2000s that Carroll first brushed up against "What's your deal?" Harbaugh who was turning lowly Stanford into a Pac-12 power. In the wake of recruiting violations that resulted in USC’s two-year ban on bowl games and forfeiture of past wins, Carroll took the open head coaching position in Seattle following the 2009 college season.

The Seahawks’ job was Carroll’s third go-around as an NFL coach. After three seasons as the Jets’ defensive coordinator, the team elevated him to head coach in 1994. Carroll led the Jets to an 8-8 record in his lone season before being fired by impatient ownership. For three seasons, he head-coached the New England Patriots (1997–99), before being fired and replaced by some guy named Belichick. For the two years in between the Jets and Patriots head positions, he was the defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers.

Now the two primary components of Seattle’s glory days have been, for all intents and purposes, cast to the side. Maybe there is a path for Carroll and Russell Wilson to reunite in Washington — D.C. rather than the state — where Carroll can more directly lobby against gum-control legislation.