Seahawks’ Pete Carroll clarifies comments about Darrell Bevell and BYU
Dec 11, 2015, 3:59 PM | Updated: 4:05 pm
(AP)
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll clarified his comments about offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and the head-coaching vacancy at Brigham Young University, saying Friday that Bevell was free to pursue the job if he had been interested.
Bevell was first linked to BYU earlier this week. Carroll said Wednesday that he had spoken with athletic director Tom Holmoe about the matter and also said that Bevell was not available for the job. Carroll’s comments confirmed that Bevell was of interest to BYU. They also left the impression that Carroll might have stopped it from going any further.
He felt a need to clarify that during his weekly appearance on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM.
“Let’s get the record straight on this: Darrell is absolutely available for that opportunity in my book,” Carroll said. “I’ve not done anything to restrict him in that regard at all and I never would – I don’t do that with our guys. I want our guys to have whatever they want and I’ll support them and do everything I can to help them and go where they want to go.
“Darrell doesn’t find himself available because he wants to stick out the season, he wants to see how far we can take it and he’s not ready to pull away from this and leave it to go take another job.”
Carroll and Holmoe are friends from their time together on the 49ers’ coaching staff in the mid-90s. He reiterated Friday that their conversation was about the timing not working out with Bevell not wanting to leave while Seattle is making another playoff run and the school needing to get its new coach in place as soon as possible.
And Carroll made it clear that it was Bevell’s decision. He noted that the restrictions on when coaches can take other jobs only applies with NFL openings.
“But when you go to college there’s no jurisdiction there, so a guy could walk out of here today if he wants to and go to a college job and there’s nothing we could do about it,” Carroll said. “So understanding that, that’s up to the individual how interested he is in that opportunity and all.
“Bev worked through it and thought about it and made a decision. He wants to work here and finish our season and all that, which kind of just makes him not available for the job in that regard because they need to get moving and get their recruiting going and all that kind of stuff. So you’ve got the record straight on that. I would never restrict him on something like that.”