BUMP AND STACY

With Pete Carroll back, so is his bitter rivalry with Jim Harbaugh

Jan 24, 2025, 10:59 PM | Updated: Jan 25, 2025, 3:09 pm

Former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll is reportedly returning to the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders, and it comes with no shortage of intrigue.

Especially when you consider another legendary coach who returned to the NFL last year with a team that shares a division with the Raiders.

Pete Carroll returns to NFL as Las Vegas Raiders coach, per report

Last winter, it was Jim Harbaugh who left Michigan shortly after a win over the UW Huskies for the national championship to become Los Angeles Chargers head coach. Now joining him in the AFC West is Carroll, and that’s all kinds of interesting because of their storied, bitter rivalry.

Seattle Sports’ Michael Bumpus was asked Friday morning what he’s most excited to see now that Carroll’s back in the NFL, and he pointed directly at that rivalry. Bumpus, a former NFL wide receiver who is now an analyst for the Seahawks Radio Network and college football games on The CW, then detailed some of the highlights of Carroll’s rivalry with Harbaugh as laid out in a social media post he was sent.

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A very brief refresher on the Carroll and Harbaugh rivalry:

• In 2009 while Carroll was coaching USC and Harbaugh was at Pac-10 rival Stanford, the Cardinal attempted a two-point conversation late in a 55-21 upset win over the Trojans. After the game, Carroll and Harbaugh were captured having an awkward verbal exchange at the 50-yard line, with Harbaugh saying “What’s your deal?”

• A few years later, Carroll was coach of the Seahawks while Harbaugh was leading the 49ers, and the two teams battled tooth and nail for NFC West supremacy. There was clearly no love lost between the two, and Carroll eventually got the last laugh as the Seahawks beat the Niners in a memorable NFC Championship game in early 2014 on their way to a Super Bowl victory. Though Harbaugh had taken San Francisco to the Super Bowl the year before, he would part ways with the franchise in 2015 after four seasons (and no championships), while Carroll lasted with Seattle from 2010-23.

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The relationship between Carroll and Harbaugh has been so contentious, it’s even been the subject of an episode of the popular “Beef History” series on SB Nation’s YouTube channel (which is now known as Secret Base).

Around the same time that Harbaugh signed up with the Chargers last January, Carroll was removed from the Seahawks’ head coaching role after Seattle missed the playoffs for the second time in three seasons. Now following a year away from coaching, Carroll is back in the NFL with a team that will play Harbaugh’s Chargers twice per season.

Bump on the Pete Carroll/Jim Harbaugh beef

Bumpus shared why he can’t wait to see Carroll and Harbaugh renew their rivalry.

“They have been going at it for like 20 years. This is a rivalry that I am going to enjoy,” Bumpus said. “It’s going to be fun to see them meet at the 50-yard line, what they’re going to say in the press because they both are subliminal type of guys. They’ll hit you with some low key stuff and you gotta go back – it’s like when you see hear a bar from Lil Wayne mixtapes back in the day, you have to go back and listen to it again like, ‘What did he say? Alright, now I get it.’ That’s what I expect out of Jim and Pete, so it should be fun.”

Catch Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. live on Seattle Sports, including the Four-Down Territory segment where Michael Bumpus answers four football questions at 11:15 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. during each edition.

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With Pete Carroll back, so is his bitter rivalry with Jim Harbaugh