For most NFL coaches, their careers are recalled in a frenzy of numbers. How many Super Bowls did they win? How many games did they lose? How many times did their teams reach the postseason? How many times did they finish a season with a winning record?
While Pete Carroll’s tenure as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks delivered plenty of receipts – his Super Bowl XLVIII win, his 10 postseason appearances, his 137-89-1 regular season record – the 72-year-old’s time there will be remembered as much for his compassionate leadership style and bubbly personality.
Last week, the Seahawks announced that Carroll will not return to the sidelines next season but will remain with the team as an advisor.
The culture that Carroll built at Seattle is his proudest achievement at the franchise, he told reporters last week, a culture he described as “trying to help people find their best, one person at a time” and creating an environment in which people would be treated as family.
He leaves the Seattle Seahawks as the winningest coach in the franchise’s history, having “brought the city its first Super Bowl title, and created a tremendous impact … on the field and in the community,” as Seahawks chair Jody Allen said in a statement.
While there, he became one of just three coaches – alongside Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer – to win both a Super Bowl and a college national championship.
His leadership approach trickled out into other sports and professions. Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has cited him as a major influence.
Meanwhile, Dr. Jannell MacAulay, a US Air Force Veteran and executive leadership consultant, partnered with him and Seahawks psychologist Dr. Michael Gervais to develop a mindset program for Air Force cadets.
And companies such as Microsoft, Starbucks and Boeing have used Compete to Create – a platform Carroll and Gervais launched to provide high performance mindset training.
Engaging with the community also formed part of Carroll’s philosophy. He established the organization Amplify Voices in 2020 to promote stories from underrepresented communities, and founded the nonprofit organizations ‘A Better LA’ and ‘A Better Seattle’ to fund community based work that aims to reduce gang violence.
This markedly different portrait of a stereotypical NFL coach is completed by videos of him running up and down the locker room, excitedly giving post-game speeches or taking his shirt off to mimic a shirtless DK Metcalf at a meeting.
“[The culture] works. It’s real,” Carroll said on Wednesday. “You can feel it. I’m really grateful for that. So we learned something here. It was a total experiment.”
