Bobby Wagner reflects on playing for Pete Carroll on Seahawks

Jan 12, 2024, 9:32 AM

Seattle Seahawks Pete Carroll Bobby Wagner...

Bobby Wagner of the Seattle Seahawks talks with Head coach Pete Carroll on Oct. 22, 2023. (Jane Gershovich/Getty Images)

(Jane Gershovich/Getty Images)

BY BRANDON GUSTAFSON

Seattle Sports

Pete Carroll’s time as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks is over.

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The legendary coach will not be returning for a 15th season in Seattle, and the future will now look very different for the Seahawks.

All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner was the player who played the most years under Carroll with the Seahawks, and he joined Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk Friday morning to discuss his 11 years playing for Carroll.

“It was kind of like everybody’s,” Wagner said of his reaction to the announcement that Carroll will not return to the Seahawks. “A little bit of a shot because I think when you think about Seattle, you think about Pete Carroll because he’s been around for such a long time and his culture and who he is as a person. Everyone knows about him around the world. You knew at some point it would have to come to an end, but it still sends a shock when it comes to that point. ”

Wagner first met Carroll in high school when the head coach was at USC. Carroll was recruiting one of Wagner’s teammates, not his future star defender.

“I thought he was gonna recruit me, too, and he didn’t,” Wagner recalled, saying it was due to his lack of size at the time. “So I never forgot that. And then fast forward to 2012 when he picks me I think that was the first thing I said to him when we saw each other was that I’m not too small now … That was the beginning of some pretty cool.”

Wagner and quarterback Geno Smith attended Carroll’s final press conference on Wednesday. He shared why he was there for Carroll on that day.

“I mean, just somebody that gave me an opportunity. He gave me an opportunity to pursue this dream that I had to be a football player,” Wagner said. “He changed my life in so many different ways, he challenged me in so many different ways. It was kind of one of those things where you pay your respect to somebody that did so much for you.”

Wagner was also one of a few former Seahawks to attend a dinner with Carroll that night.

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“It was really cool. It was a really cool moment because you saw a lot of the guys that maybe you haven’t seen in a minute,” Wagner said.

The restaurant is co-owned by Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor, two of Wagner’s former teammates, and he said that made the night even more special.

What was also surprising was that former Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson made an appearance.

“I don’t think anybody expected to see Russ because everything was happening so quick,” Wagner said. “So even for him to be able to make that possible and us all being in the same room and have share our laughs and share the stories that we remember and all those different thing, it was a really cool moment and definitely a blessing.”