SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

Pete Carroll: Seahawks owner Paul Allen was ‘bigger than life’

Oct 16, 2018, 11:20 AM | Updated: 11:48 am

Seattle Seahawks, Paul Allen, Seahawks, Pete Carroll...

Seahawks owner Paul Allen died Monday due to complications from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. (AP)

(AP)

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll reflected on the life of late Seahawks owner Paul Allen Tuesday morning, calling the Microsoft co-founder “a competitor who wanted to do great things.”

“He was bigger than life,” Carroll told Brock Huard and Mike Salk during his interview with 710 ESPN Seattle. “There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do.”

The sports world pays tribute to Paul Allen

Allen died Monday at the age of 65 due to complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers owner, who had previously battled non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2009, announced on Oct. 1 that the disease had returned.

“It’s a shock of enormous proportion,” Carroll said. “We knew that Paul was sick, but he has always battled and been so gritty about getting back. His attitude when I last talked to him was, you know, ‘Here we go, we’re gonna go after it again…’ and just the same spirit he always had about moving forward.”

Though Carroll’s weekly interviews with Huard and Salk are typically a time to recap a Seahawks game, Seattle’s head coach spent the bulk of the morning remembering Allen.

“We had a really good relationship,” Carroll said of Allen, whose decision to purchase the Seahawks in 1996 kept the team from being relocated to Anaheim.

Allen was relatively hands-off as an owner, which Carroll said he appreciated, though he didn’t hesitate to challenge Seattle’s front office when it came to growth and improvement.

“He was a hands-off guy in a sense, in the classic way you would (compare) to owners who are involved. But he was tuned in and he loved to know what was going on. He loved the information. He was a problem solver. He said it one time to John (Schneider), ‘I’m a solutions guy, I need problems to solve.’ So he would look for ways, he would look to try to find the things that maybe he hadn’t seen yet, and so he would challenge us with it. But he was always supportive… He was not here in the building, he was very shy and wasn’t really comfortable being around the team so much. He just liked to win. He wanted to win and win big, and if you weren’t, well how could you get there? He was a  wonderful owner to work with because of how he allowed us to do our job. That’s why I came here, and he never backed off that. He never ever influenced another thought other than he was in full support of what we were doing.”

Carroll’s tenure in Seattle has featured a number of outspoken and distinct players like Marshawn Lynch and Richard Sherman – and Carroll said that open-minded culture started at the top.

“He had a sense for openness and a liberal way of looking at things that supported where I was trying to go,” Carroll said of Allen.

“It made it so fun to be able to create a mentality that was connected to him. And we were connected. He never had any trouble with the flare-ups or the issues and all. I don’t know that he chuckled about it, but he knew that there was space in the world for people to be unique and different.”

What Paul Allen meant to the Seahawks franchise

Brock and Salk podcast

Seattle Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks Tremayne Anchrum Jr....

Brent Stecker

Seahawks add Tremayne Anchrum Jr to O-line in free agency

The Seattle Seahawks have made guard Tremayne Anchrum Jr. their third signing to the offensive line in free agency.

7 hours ago

Seattle Seahawks Jerome Baker LB linebacker...

Brent Stecker

Huard: What Seahawks’ new LBs do better than Wagner, Brooks

The Seattle Seahawks have replaced Jordyn Brooks and Bobby Wagner with Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker. Brock Huard compares the two different duos.

11 hours ago

Seattle Seahawks Pharaoh Brown...

Brent Stecker

GM Schneider believes Seahawks have ‘great fit’ in new TE combo

Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider explains why he likes returning tight end Noah Fant and new signing Pharaoh Brown together.

23 hours ago

Seattle Seahawks George Fant...

Brent Stecker

What GM Schneider says plan is for Seahawks’ returning OL Fant

George Fant returns to the the Seattle Seahawks after four years as a starter for two other teams. So what's in store for him in 2024?

1 day ago

Seattle Seahawks NFL Draft brock Bowers...

Brandon Gustafson

Analyst says Georgia TE Bowers ‘makes perfect sense’ for Seahawks

NFL Network's Bucky Brooks shares why he likes the idea of the Seattle Seahawks taking Georgia tight end Brock Bowers in the NFL Draft.

2 days ago

Seattle Seahawks Jerome Backer free agency...

Brandon Gustafson

Seahawks sign linebacker Jerome Baker to 1-year deal

The Seattle Seahawks have another new linebacker joining the mix in Jerome Baker, who spent the last six years with the Dolphins.

2 days ago

Pete Carroll: Seahawks owner Paul Allen was ‘bigger than life’