Raiders hire Pete Carroll as next head coach: Sources

Las Vegas Raiders hired Pete Carroll as the team’s next head coach for a three-year contract, the league sources confirmed on Friday. He replaces Antonio Pierce, who held only one full season at the helm before being dismissed on January 7.

Carroll, 73, is expected to come back to the NFL’s sidelines for the first time since the end of the regular 2023 season and brings 18 experiences as a head coach of the League. When he will train his first game in September, he will be the oldest head coach in NFL history.

Raiders have entered this offseason with great uncertainty. The rumor had been running for a long time that they were going to fire Pierce, but several victories at the end of the season first made the owner Mark Davis think. After speaking with the minority owner Tom Brady and others, Davis finally decided to let Pierce go.

Even if it was expected, it was a surprise when Davis also dismissed the director general Tom Telesco two days later. The main reason was to allow the raiders to start from scratch after three consecutive losing seasons. The man on which they committed to leading them as a coach was Ben Johnson, but he accepted the post of the Bears of Chicago on Monday.

At that time, the Raiders turned their attention to the hiring of the managing director John Spytek on Wednesday. Spytek helped build winning super bowl teams with Denver Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers – with Brady – and also played with Brady in Michigan in 1999.

From there, the raiders turned to Carroll, a coach opposite to Johnson. Even if his experience and his long curriculum vitae played a role in the equation, the raiders were seduced by the capacity of leadership he showed in 14 seasons with the Seahawks, according to sources in the league. This does not bother them that Carroll is older and is not a game player. The leaders of the raiders wanted a culture builder capable of regulating the franchise after years of malfunction.

With Carroll joining AFC West, Jim Harbaugh of Los Angeles loaders becomes the only head coach of the Super Bowl without ring. Andy Reid of Kansas City Chiefs has three and Sean Payton of the Broncos de Denver has one. Like Harbaugh, Carroll won a National University Championship.

In three previous roles as a chief coach with the New York (1994) jets, the Patriots of New England (1997-99) and the Seattle Seahawks (2010-23), Carroll has established a record 170-120-1 in the regular season and 11-11. record in the playoffs. He led his teams to appearances in playoffs during 12 of the 18 seasons, in particular by leading the Seahawks to consecutive appearances at the Super Bowl in the 2013 and 2014 seasons and the first victory of the franchise at the Super Bowl in 2013. The 170 Victories of Carroll as a coach in the NFL are equally for 17th of all time (with Payton and two others).

Carroll won most of his career victories in the NFL during his 14 seasons at the head of the Seahawks and is the most winning head coach in the history of the Seattle franchise with a sheet of 137-89 -1 in the regular season and a 10-9 file in the playoffs. The Seahawks displayed victories records during 11 of the 14 Carroll seasons, including eight seasons with at least 10 victories. Seattle also made 10 playoffs in the playoffs with Carroll and won five NFC West titles, two NFC championship games and the Super Bowl XLVIII.

Seattle finished with a 7-9 file in the first season of Carroll, but won the NFC West and won a victory by Wild Card. The Seahawks missed the playoffs the following season after another score of 7-9, but returned the following year, starting a sequence of nine consecutive winning seasons from 2012 to 2020 and appearances in the playoffs during eight of eight these nine years.

Carroll led Seattle to two-digit victories in 2012 and added another Wild-Card victory during the first of five consecutive seasons with a trip to the playoff series and at least a victory in the playoffs.

Then, in 2013, the Seahawks equaled their franchise record with 13 regular seasonal victories, added a second division title with Carroll and won victories against the Saints of New Orleans during the division round and the 49ers from San Francisco in the NFC championship match to reach the Super Bowl for the second time in the history of the franchise. The Seahawks won a decisive 43-8 victory against Denver’s broncos to win the first title of the Franchise Super Bowl.

Carroll led the Seahawks to another NFC West title and a victory in the NFC championship match in the 2014 season before Seattle lost against the New England Patriots 28-24 in a second consecutive appearance at the Super Bowl.

The Seahawks were again qualified for the playoffs in 2015 and 2016 and won the NFC West again in 2016, but lost the division of the playoffs for two years. Seattle has made four other appearances in the playoffs in the last seven seasons of Carroll, including another NFC West title in 2020, but only won one victory in the playoffs during this sequence.

In the last season of Carroll with the team in 2023, the Seahawks displayed a 9-8 file, finished third in the division and missed the playoffs. Three days after the end of the regular season, the Seahawks announced in a press release from the President of the Seahawks, Jody Allen, that the franchise had “agreed amicable” with Carroll that his role “would evolve as a head coach to stay With the organization as an advisor ”, thus ending Carroll’s mandate. 14 seasons as a Seattle chief coach. Carroll later said at a press conference: “I competed hard enough to be a coach, just so that you know.”

Carroll joined the Seahawks in 2010 after nine seasons of coach at the USC, where he won two national championships.

He was a coach for the first time at the NFL level in 1984, spending a season as a defensive rear coach of the Buffalo Bills, and trained the defensive rear of the Minnesota Vikings during the following five seasons. He joined the jets in 1990 and was a defensive coordinator for four seasons before being hired as a head coach from New York before the 1994 season. The jets had a 6-10 file in the Carroll season alone team head.

Carroll returned to the role of defensive coordinator the following two seasons with the 49ers before becoming head coach of New England in 1997. Carroll spent three seasons there, leading the patriots to the playoffs during his first two years with The team, including a victory by Wild-Card. . New England has not recorded a losing season with Carroll-The Patriots had a 27-21 file in the regular season and 1-2 in the playoffs during the three years of Carroll at the head of the team- But finished 8-8 its last season in 1999, missing the playoffs. .

Carroll also interviewed the Bears of Chicago earlier this month.

Who could complement Carroll staff?

Building a solid team of assistant coaches is an important task for any head coach, but it is particularly critical this time given the age of Carroll and the fact that he does not call for games.

At the post of offensive coordinator, there are some options with which Carroll has worked in the past. Miami dolphins’ quarter-back coach and passenger game coordinator Darrell Bevell was the CO of Seahawks from 2011 to 2017, which included their victory at the Super Bowl XLVIII.

Shane Waldron, who is currently unemployed, was CO during the last years of Carroll with the Seahawks from 2021 to 23. The Dallas Cowboys OC, Brian Schottenheimer, is currently in the running for the job of vacant trainer . If he does not understand, however, he could perhaps find Carroll, with whom he worked as Seahawks OC from 2018 to 2020.

On the defensive side of the ball, Carroll is known for having implemented a system based on Cover 3 which aims to limit the explosive passes down of the field. Gus Bradley, currently unemployed, could agree. Bradley was the defensive coordinator of the Seahawks under Carroll from 2010 to 2012 and was also the DC of Raiders the last time they participated in the eliminatory series in 2021.

Another option could be the rear defensive coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Kris Richard, who was the Seahawks DC from 2015 to 2017. Another judicious name is that of the defensive rear coach and coordinator of the passing game of the Seahawks, Karl Scott, who has been with the Seahawks since 2022. – Tashan Reed, the raiders beat the writer

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(Photo: Joe Camporeale / USA today)