Pete Carroll made clear Wednesday it was not his idea to mutually part ways with the Seahawks.
“I competed pretty hard to be the coach, just so you know,” Carroll said, via video from the team.
Carroll said in his postgame news conference Sunday that he planned to continue coaching the Seahawks. He reiterated that Monday on his radio show. Two days later, after meetings with team chair Jody Allen, the Seahawks announced that he will move to a role as an advisor.
“My intention to return, . . . that was true to the bone,” Carroll said. “I want to make sure that that’s clear as things have shifted so quickly.”
Carroll would not address two questions about whether he and Allen had differences in the vision for the team.
“No. No. I can’t. I’m not going to,” Carroll said.
With Geno Smith on the first row of a packed auditorium, Carroll did not sound like a coach who was done coaching.
“I’m freaking jacked. I’m fired up. I’m not tired. I’m not worn down,” Carroll said. “It’s the end of the season; I’m supposed to go lay on a cot somewhere. I ain’t feeling like that. What’s coming? I don’t know. I’ve got no idea, and I really don’t care right now. But I’m excited about it, because there’s a lot to learn; there’s a lot to study; there’s some great discoveries that are going to come our way. As my all-time mentor Bud Grant said, not in so many words, there’s rivers to wade; there’s waves to catch; and there are mountains to hike. That’s some cool stuff that we’re going to do here.”
Carroll, 72, said he didn’t know whether he was done coaching.
The bottom line is: The team wanted to move on, and Carroll went along.
“I realize I’m about as old as you can get in this business,” Carroll said. “There’s coming a time they’ve got to make some decisions. Moving toward the future, if there’s some way that I can add something down the road, we’ll see what happens. But this is a good move for them.”