1. Peter Clay Carroll was born on September 15,1951 and is an American professional football coach who is the head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League.
56 Facts About Pete Carroll
1. 2.
Pete Carroll previously served as head coach for the NCAA's USC Trojans and the NFL's New York Jets, New England Patriots, and Seattle Seahawks.
3.
Pete Carroll won a BCS national championship at the 2005 Orange Bowl, although the title was later vacated.
4.
Pete Carroll would leave the organization in 2025 to become head coach of the Raiders.
5.
Pete Carroll was born on September 15,1951, in San Francisco, California, the son of Rita and James Edward "Jim" Pete Carroll.
6.
Pete Carroll was raised in Greenbrae, California, and attended Greenbrae School.
7.
Pete Carroll was a multi-sport star in football, basketball, and baseball, earning the school's Athlete of the Year honors as a senior in 1969.
8.
Pete Carroll was inducted into the charter class of the Redwood High School Athletic Hall of Fame in April 2009.
9.
At Pacific, Pete Carroll played free safety for two years for the Tigers, earning All-Pacific Coast Athletic Association honors both years and earning his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1973.
10.
When Caddas found out Pete Carroll was interested in coaching, he offered him a job as a graduate assistant on his staff at Pacific.
11.
Pete Carroll agreed and enrolled as a graduate student, earning a secondary teaching credential and Master's degree in physical education in 1976, while serving as a graduate assistant for three years and working with the wide receivers and secondary defenders.
12.
Pete Carroll was inducted into the Pacific Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995.
13.
Pete Carroll spent the 1977 season as a graduate assistant working with the secondary under Cope.
14.
Pete Carroll left Pacific after a year and entered the NFL in 1984 as the defensive backs coach of the Buffalo Bills.
15.
In 1994, Pete Carroll was elevated to head coach of the Jets.
16.
Pete Carroll was hired for the next season by the San Francisco 49ers, where he served as defensive coordinator for the following two seasons.
17.
Pete Carroll was named the Trojans' head coach on December 15,2000, signing a five-year contract after USC had gone through a tumultuous 18-day search to replace fired coach Paul Hackett.
18.
Pete Carroll was not the Trojans' first choice, and was considered a long shot as the USC Athletic Department under Director Mike Garrett initially planned to hire a high-profile coach with recent college experience.
19.
Meanwhile, Pete Carroll, who had not coached in over a year and not coached in the college ranks since 1983, drew unfavorable comparisons to the outgoing Hackett.
20.
Pete Carroll actively pursued the position, as his daughter, Jaime, was then a player on the school's successful volleyball team.
21.
Under Garrett, USC had tried to recruit Pete Carroll to be their head coach in 1997, while he was coaching the Patriots, but Pete Carroll was unable to take the position.
22.
Pete Carroll was considered one of the most effective recruiters in college football, having brought in multiple top-ranked recruiting classes; he was known for getting commitments from nationally prominent players early in high school.
23.
Pete Carroll had consistently been on the forefront of recruiting due to his ability to connect with potential players on their level, including becoming the first college coach with a Facebook page, as well as an early adopter of Twitter.
24.
Pete Carroll's team won a then-school record 34 straight games from 2003 to 2005, a streak that started after a triple-overtime loss to California and ended with the national championship game against the Texas Longhorns in the 2006 Rose Bowl.
25.
Pete Carroll was repeatedly approached regarding vacant head coach positions in the NFL beginning in 2002.
26.
Pete Carroll hesitated to return to the NFL after his previous experiences, and said that his return would likely rest on control over personnel matters at a level unprecedented in the league.
27.
Pete Carroll had insisted over the years that he was happy at USC and that money was not an issue; he was said to enjoy the Southern California lifestyle.
28.
When originally hired, Pete Carroll signed a five-year contract worth approximately $1 million annually.
29.
Pete Carroll received a significant raise after the 2002 season and earned close to $3 million in the 2004 season, which ended with USC winning the BCS title in January 2005.
30.
Pete Carroll agreed to a contract extension in December 2005.
31.
On January 11,2010, it was reported that Pete Carroll would be leaving USC to coach the Seattle Seahawks.
32.
Pete Carroll had told his players the previous evening that he would be resigning his position with the Trojans to become the new head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.
33.
Pete Carroll was generally regarded as one of the top college football coaches in the country, and has been compared to College Football Hall of Fame coach Knute Rockne.
34.
In May 2008, Pete Carroll was named the coach who did the most to define the first 10 years of the BCS Era.
35.
In July 2014, Pete Carroll was announced as a member of the 2015 USC Athletic Hall of Fame class.
36.
On January 8,2010, it was reported that Pete Carroll was about to be hired as head coach of the Seahawks; the two parties were hammering out "minor details" in the pending contract.
37.
Pete Carroll was named executive vice president of football operations, effectively making him the Seahawks' general manager as well.
38.
The 2012 season was Pete Carroll's first winning season for the team.
39.
The number one team in the NFC, Pete Carroll matched Mike Holmgren's 2005 season of the same record, tying for the best in Seattle history.
40.
Pete Carroll joined Barry Switzer and Jimmy Johnson as the only coaches to win both an NCAA championship and a Super Bowl.
41.
At age 62, Pete Carroll was then the third-oldest coach to win a Super Bowl.
42.
However, Pete Carroll was praised by much of the national media for how he handled the adversity following the game.
43.
On July 25,2016, Pete Carroll signed a three-year contract extension with the Seahawks that would keep him in Seattle through the 2019 season.
44.
Pete Carroll notched his 100th regular-season win the following week against the Philadelphia Eagles.
45.
Pete Carroll was fined by the NFL for not properly wearing a face mask, as required for coaches during the COVID-19 pandemic, during a Week 2 game in the 2020 NFL season on September 21,2020.
46.
Pete Carroll's Seahawks rallied to finish the season by winning four of their final six games, with one loss coming by just one point.
47.
Pete Carroll later named Geno Smith the starter for the regular season opener, which would be against Wilson and the Broncos.
48.
Pete Carroll revealed that aside from a brief greeting in the parking lot, he had no contact with Macdonald, in order to let him build the team in his own vision.
49.
Macdonald was in attendance with members of the Seahawks front office, and upon learning that Pete Carroll was there as well, decided to greet his predecessor and exchange pleasantries.
50.
On January 25,2025, Pete Carroll was hired as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, departing Seattle after 15 years with the Seahawks organization.
51.
Seven of Pete Carroll's executives became general managers in the NFL:.
52.
On offense, Pete Carroll is known for using aggressive play-calling that is open to trick plays as well as "going for it" on 4th down instead of punting the ball away.
53.
At USC home games, when Carroll decided to go for it on 4th down, the USC band would start a chant of "Big Balls Pete" that carried over to the students section and the alumni.
54.
Pete Carroll decided his philosophy was best summarized as "I'm a competitor".
55.
Pete Carroll is known for his high-energy and often pleasant demeanor when coaching.
56.
Pete Carroll favorably compared college recruiting to any other competition, and enjoys the ability to recruit talent, which he was unable to do in the NFL.