Raiders HC Pete Carroll says he didn't consider retirement during year away from NFL
With some people age really is just a number. Pete Carroll is one of those type of people. Yeah, he's 73, but not all people in their early/mid 70s are built the same.
for instance, when he left the Seahawks after the 2023 season, no one would have batted an eye if he did so with the intention of retiring. Or at very least giving it some thought.
In fact, in his year away from football, you'd have pretty much expected that he at very least considered retirement.
Not according to Carroll. He wanted to step back for a year, but always with his sights set on a return to coaching.
'I didn't retire. And I did that purposely,' Carroll said Tuesday from the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. 'I wasn't ready to stop coaching. But we had a nice agreement up there [in Seattle] as we turned this thing around and I was ready to give John Schneider a chance to do what he gets to do.
'But in my mind, I was always competing for what's coming up. Maybe the actions I took because you didn't see me very visibly, I was not making a point to do that, I really wanted to take to the opportunity of being around my family and all that, but stay with the game throughout. So, it was really not much of a shift. But I do know what retirement will be like. I do know that.'
Plenty of coaches take time away from coaching, rather than jump into another role right away. Often times that new role is a step back and if you've been a head coach for a long time in the NFL, that's just not possible.
Carroll spent 18 years as a head coach in the NFL. When he left the Seahawks after 14 years which included two trips to the Super Bowl and a Lombardi trophy, he remained a well-respected coach in this league. He can clearly still perform those duties at a high level, wants to do it, and the Raiders wanted him in the job, so here we are.
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