What To Expect When Expecting Pete Carroll

A lot of people out there are questioning the Seahawks decision to hire former USC football coach, Pete Carroll, based on his track record as an NFL head coach. But that was 10 years ago – and this guy deserves a clean slate and new chance out here in Seattle.

Either way you feel about this move though, love it or hate it, I think we’d all agree that nine wins over the past two years – four of those over the Rams – strongly merits, from top to bottom, a reappraisal of the talent that is on this team and the plan going forward for this football team.

Dave Wyman, our resident Seahawk Insider, joined me in studio today, and agreed to that point, but would like a more clear-cut answer as to who has control. “I think it’ll be interesting to see how the whole flow chart plays out. Who’s going to be the guy who has the final say on money, who’s going to be the guy who has the final say on talent? Who’s drafting? It’ll be interesting to see.”

As he does every Monday, John Clayton joined me in the 4 o’clock hour to give his thoughts on why the Seahawks went with Pete Carroll, especially after Tony Dungy turned down the President’s job.

“I think that Pete was in the thought process from the very beginning. There was no worry as far as money, and I think there was a complexity of all those things they were willing to do to try and make this thing right. I think all along, when they were composing the list, you can see there were a lot of different options…but in the end, the big fish they got was Pete Carroll.”

Tod Leiweke, Seahawks CEO, spoke with the media today and explains why he was all for jumping on the Pete Carroll bandwagon. “He was interesting to us because he was in the NFL. It’s clear to me that this man has a chip on his shoulder to prove that he can also win at the NFL level.”

So what about the GM search? John Clayton gave us the latest. “Omar Khan from the Pittsburgh Steelers is on flight right now coming in – he’s going to interview officially tomorrow. Then John Schneider of the Green Bay Packers will come in on Tuesday for a Wednesday interview – I think Floyd Reese gets the Thursday slot.” John mentions a few more possibilities as well – click above to listen.

To dig a little deeper into the kind of coach Pete Carroll will be, I talked to a few players who had the opportunity to play for him – on at the college level and the other in the NFL.

Lawrence Jackson, Seahawks DE and former USC Trojan, joined Dave Wyman and me to talk about Carroll as a coach and a man.

“He’s an exciting guy, he’s motivational, he’s very good at his people skills, he knows how to manage players, their personalities – he knows how to get the most out of people without stepping on them and catering to each individual as he sees fit; but still having great control over the team as the head coach.”

To hear all of Lawrence Jackson’s interview today, click here.

That sends us over to Pete Carroll in the professional ranks, where we turned to Scott Zolak, former Patriots QB, to give us some insight. He explained to us that Pete Carroll is certainly not your typical NFL Coach, and there’s a lot we’ll learn when he gets here.

“The biggest thing is he’s a player’s coach. Pete was everybody’s buddy and sometimes that hurt him and I think a lot of guys took advantage of him at the beginning. I think that’s what he learned from. Pete has a great way of doing the small things to take your mind off the game.”

So how did ‘everybody’s buddy’ discipline the team? Scott says one time, “We thought we had the worst practice, he’s like ‘That’s it! Get outta here – get off the field!’ We get off the field and there’s five buses lined up with three cases of beer on it and we’re going bowling – it was the greatest thing ever.”

While acknowledging he’s not the typical coach, he spoke cautiously to Seattle about Carroll’s methods. “Guys are going to buy into it or guys are going to hate it. It’s going to to be split down the middle. I think he’s a hell of a coach and he’s got a great football mind – I just hope the people of Seattle are patient, because you don’t catch lightning in a bottle.”

Not your average NFL head coach. Another thing not so average about him? “His favorite song is ‘Barbie Girl'”, Zolak tells us. Wow. Not so average indeed.

We’ll find out more tomorrow of course – tune in to 710, we’ll be carrying Carroll’s introductory press conference live at 10am – leave your thoughts below!