What They Said: Seattle Sports’ voices on Pete Carroll news

Pete Carroll is no longer head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, as the team announced in a statement Wednesday by chair Jody Allen that his role will “evolve” to one as an advisor with the team.

Seattle Seahawks remove Pete Carroll as coach, name him advisor

The voices of Seattle Sports took to the airwaves immediately after the news broke during Wednesday’s edition of Bump and Stacy, including a visit from former Seahawks quarterback Brock Huard, who is now a FOX football analyst in addition to co-host of Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. We’ll also hear from Carroll at 9:30 a.m. Thursday when he joins Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk for one last Pete Carroll Show.

Here are the on-air reactions from Huard, fellow former Seahawks player Michael Bumpus and Seahawks insider Stacy Rost, as well as a video reaction from after Carroll’s press conference by Huard’s co-host, Mike Salk.

• Brock Huard – Brock and Salk (6-10 a.m.)

“I gotta say, I wasn’t shocked. It wasn’t one of those Russell Wilson moments two years ago where I was walking around and kind of the same thing – phone just starts blowing up. Like, ‘What in the world is going on? Oh my goodness.’ It was kind of shocking that they actually pulled that trigger and you make that move of that kind of substance with a franchise quarterback, versus the NFL that already has turned over six jobs and now number seven (this season). This is the volatility of this league. This is what happens, even to the Bill Belichicks and the Pete Carrolls and to the most esteemed (coaches) who’ve done it in the past. But maybe the belief that it’s not gonna get fixed moving forward, and ultimately Jody makes a pretty tough decision. But I can’t say that I was nearly as surprised or shocked as I was couple years ago in March with that Russell Wilson news.

“… The negatives, I just immediately (think) – it’s not necessarily Pete, it’s coaches on staff that you know so well. It’s people in the building you know so well. It’s all the turmoil and just their lives, and I know they sign up for it. That’s the business. It is a hard business, and to have – for some of them – stability for 14 years is unheard of in the NFL. The negative immediately is the human interest, just the human element.”

• Michael Bumpus – Bump and Stacy (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.)

“(My reaction is) shock initially, of course. You listen to Pete talk, and it sounded like he wanted to be here next year. It sounded like he was excited. … Nothing that happened this season or after the season in this short amount of time led me to believe that Pete Carroll would not be the head coach for the Seattle Seahawks. Now, I looked at the coordinators and said there could be a change there. Maybe with the assistants, obviously with personnel, you know that’s gonna go down. I’m shocked but I’m not surprised at the same time because my man is 72 years old, he’s been here 14 years, he’s accomplished everything a head coach can accomplish at one spot. This is wild, man. I wasn’t ready for this.”

• Stacy Rost – Bump and Stacy

“This is the biggest news I can remember. This is bigger than the trade of Russell Wilson because we knew there was some weird animosity there, some tension with that marriage between quarterback and team. This was someone who I actually thought was safe this year. I thought that Pete Carroll was untouchable for this year, and I am genuinely shocked by this news, though I had also been hearing… that there’s growing tension and there’s frustration and there may be some change, (which) is why we thought that they would be moving on from (offensive coordinator) Shane Waldron.”

• Mike Salk – Brock and Salk

Seattle Sports host @TheMikeSalk reacts to the @PeteCarroll press conference as he talked about stepping away from his role as #Seahawks head coach and into his new role as an advisor. What was Salk’s biggest takeaway? Watch his reaction here & tune in to @SeattleSports for more pic.twitter.com/k4T34zp6aZ

— Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) January 10, 2024

More on Pete Carroll out as Seahawks coach

• Seattle Seahawks Candidates: Who could succeed Carroll as coach
• Who will be the next Seahawks coach? Huard, Bumpus weigh in
• Former Seahawks, others in sports world react to Pete Carroll news
• Pete Carroll explains why he’s no longer Seahawks coach, what’s next
• Watch Bump and Stacy’s live reaction to the news
• What Pete Carroll said after being removed as Seattle Seahawks coach