Pete Carroll finds a new team to help rebuild with his philosophy

If 12s had two words to describe Pete Carroll during his time with the Seattle Seahawks, many fans might say, "Always compete." Carroll structured his practices and team philosophy around that mantra. The head coach loved that philosophy so much that he included it in everything from position battles to basketball games between players at the VMAC.

Carroll's mantra worked extremely well with young players. Rookies and second-year guys are mostly still trying to earn their stripes in the NFL and want to prove how great they can be. Those players fed off of Carroll's energy and in return, Carroll reacted well to their youthful exuberance. This is one reason that the coach's early teams in Seattle meshed so well; they all understood "always compete" and they bought in fully.

As Seattle stayed successful but players grew old in the mid-to-late 2010s, some players complained of a stale message from Carroll. This included Richard Sherman. But Sherman may have realized what he missed after his career was over because he would come back to Seahawks training camp and talk with Carroll and voluntarily coach his former position group.

Former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll brings his energy to the University of Washington football team

The problem by the end of Carroll's tenure was that while he still wanted to keep his teams loose but still trying to constantly compete, he seemed to lose the ability to fix the fundamental things. Linebackers who can't cover was an issue for several seasons. Carroll did not have a remedy for the problem.

Now, Pete Carroll does not have to worry about getting his players to buy in the long term. Sure, he would probably like to still be coaching, but he has not lost any of his energy and will to impart his philosophy to others and he does not need to leave Seattle to do that.

This includes the University of Washington's football team which lost its coaching staff and a lot of players after a run to the college football championship game this past season. Pete has an in on the team, too, as his son, Brennan, is the new Huskies offensive coordinator. (Oddly, former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick's son, Stephen, is the new Huskies defensive coordinator.)

Pete Carroll, of course, was a highly successful college coach at the University of Southern California in the 2000s before joining the Seahawks. Carroll knows how to speak to college athletes. When he was asked recently to address the Huskies players during practice, how could Carroll say no? (For the record, he likely couldn't because that would embarrass Brennan.)

What did Carroll have the Huskies do? Compete, of course. He has players do a best-of in a jump ball situation and then imparted this classic Pete-ness: "It's always been about competing. It doesn't matter who you are playing. The day that you play, you are the one that's competing."

It will be weird to not see Pete Carroll coaching the Seahawks from the sidelines in 2024 and beyond. Mike Macdonald should be a good replacement, however. Still, Carroll's energy will be difficult to forget.

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