The Seahawks and Pete Carroll, who over the course of 14 seasons became the winningest coach in franchise history, have amicably agreed that his role will evolve from head coach to an advisor with the organization, Seahawks Chair Jody Allen announced on Wednesday.
"After thoughtful meetings and careful consideration for the best interest of the franchise, we have amicably agreed with Pete Carroll that his role will evolve from Head Coach to remain with the organization as an advisor," Allen said in a statement. "Pete is the winningest coach in Seahawks history, brought the city its first Super Bowl title, and created a tremendous impact over the past 14 years on the field and in the community. His expertise in leadership and building a championship culture will continue as an integral part of our organization moving forward.
"Pete will always be a beloved member of the Seahawks family."
The move comes three days after the Seahawks finished the 2023 season with a 9-8 record, but missed the playoffs for just the fourth time in 14 seasons since Carroll and general manager John Schneider took over in 2010.
Under Carroll, the Seahawks had a winning record in 11 of 14 seasons, reached the postseason 10 times and won five NFC West titles. The 2013 team became the first in franchise history to win a Super Bowl, going 13-3 in the regular season before beating the Denver Broncos, who had the highest-scoring offense in NFL history, 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII. Carroll took the Seahawks back to the Super Bowl the following year, making Seattle one of three teams this century to appear in consecutive Super Bowls along with New England and Kansas City.
Under Carroll, the Seahawks led the NFL in scoring defense for four consecutive seasons from 2012-2015, making them the only team in the Super Bowl era to accomplish that feat. Carroll, who finishes his Seahawks coaching tenure with a 137-89-1 regular season record, was one two coaches, along with Bill Belichick, named to the NFL's 2010s All-Decade Team.
Prior to coaching the Seahawks, Carroll had a lengthy career in the NFL as an assistant, defensive coordinator, and eventually head coach of both the Jets and Patriots. He then spent nine seasons at USC, building the Trojans into one of the most successful college programs in history, winning two national championships and four Rose Bowl titles.
And Carroll accomplished all that he did with the Seahawks while staying true to the philosophies he solidified during his time at USC. Before he had coached a game for the Seahawks, Carroll said in 2010 that one of his goals was to disprove the notion that "you can't have fun coaching football at this level and still compete like crazy and win. If there's anything people don't understand, it's how you can enjoy it in the way that we do and still work really hard and be really disciplined."
There were plenty of skeptics at the time that such an approach would work for Carroll, but he spent the next decade-plus helping to build the Seahawks into one of the league's model franchises.
And as much as Carroll took pride in the on-field result, he also knew that getting the best out of his teams was about a lot more than just Xs and Os.
"We're a relationship-based organization," Carroll said last year. "It's all based on dealing with people and seeing them for who they are, trying to help them feel really comfortable in our environment. It's being conscious of really individualized evaluations and assessment, and caring—it has a tremendous amount to do with caring. We realize if we care for people and look after them, like you look after your children, then you're going to give them their best chance to be as good as they can be.
"It's based on relationships, but it's really understanding how valuable it is to truly care for people, then making the environment as good as you can for them to challenge them as much as you can, having the highest of expectations for them, and going wherever you've got to go. Because if you really love somebody, you'll do whatever it takes to protect them, that's basically where it goes."
As general manager John Schneider described it last year, "Pete's culture is not a culture of just beating people down. It's trying to instill confidence in them and build them up. When people who haven't been around Pete ask me, 'What would be your number one takeaway that you didn't know before working with him?' I would say just his ability to instill confidence in people. He just has a very positive attitude, but he can instill confidence in people in a really quick manner."
That culture Carroll helped build in Seattle helped his players thrive as both people and players, creating an environment in which players felt truly cared for rather than just being cogs in a machine.
"We talk about a lot of things that a lot of coaches probably wouldn't want to even touch," Seahawks Legend Cliff Avril said during his playing career. "A lot of coaches just want to be football coaches, 'I'm not worried about the things you have going on at home,' type people, but he's more engaged with who you are as a person, which is pretty cool. And it's genuine, so I think it helps us overall as people, and it makes us better football players. You're allowed to be yourself. Most other places, it's not like that."
Named head coach on January 11, 2010, Pete Carroll became the eighth head coach in Seahawks history after one of the most successful runs in USC history in the college ranks. Take a look at photos from throughout his time in Seattle.
Former Southern California coach Pete Carroll smiles as he is introduced as the new head coach and executive vice president of the Seattle Seahawks NFL football team during a news conference,on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010, at Seahawks headquarters in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, left of center, watches a play from the sideline during an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2010. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll walks on the sideline during the first half an NFL divisional playoff football game against the Seattle Seahawks Sunday, Jan. 16, 2011, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, center right, leads his team in cheering in a post-game huddle after they upset the New Orleans Saints in an NFL NFC wild card playoff football game, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011, in Seattle. The Seahawks won 41-36. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll talks to his team during the first half of an NFL football game against the St. Louis Rams Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, left, shakes hands with San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh before an NFL football game in San Francisco, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, left, and special teams coordinator Brian Schneider react after an officials review of a touchdown reception for them against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll watches a drill during NFL football training camp Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll signs autographs for fans before an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll answers a question during media day for the NFL Super Bowl XLVIII football game Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, center, watches his team play against the Denver Broncos during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl XLVIII football game Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. The Seahawks won 43-8. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
El entrenador de los Seahawks, Pete Carroll, sostiene el trofeo de campeón del Súper Bowl el 2 de febrero de 2014 tras vencer a los Broncos de Denver en Nueva York. Los Seahawks enfrentan a los Patriots en el Súper Bowl el 1 de febrero de 2015, en Glendale, Arizona. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, center, throws his arms around Richard Sherman (25) and Doug Baldwin before an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2014, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll greets airline employees and their families on the team's return from the Super Bowl Monday, Feb. 2, 2015, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. The Seahawks lost in the Super Bowl to the New England Patriots on Sunday. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, left, shakes hands with New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick before the NFL Super Bowl XLIX football game Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll high-fives Seahawks Jermaine Kearse (15) as Will Tukuafu (46) looks on during the first half of NFL Super Bowl XLIX football game Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, center, walks on the field as players stretch during warmups before NFL football practice Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015 in Renton, Wash. The Seahawks will face the Green Bay Packers Sunday in the NFC Championship game. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll yells on the sideline during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the St. Louis Rams Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll speaks to the media following an NFL football game, Monday, Nov. 14, 2016, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll looks at the scoreboard during the first half of an NFL wild-card football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll takes the field with his players during warmups before an NFL football preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Friday, Aug. 25, 2017, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman, right, talks with Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, left, before an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll walks on the sideline in the rain during the first half of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn, left, speaks with Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll after an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019, in Atlanta. The Seattle Seahawks won 27-20. AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll during a NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020 in Inglewood, Calif. The Rams defeated the Seahawks 23-16. (John McGillen via AP)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, second from right, watches a play along side field judge Dyrol Prioleau (109), line judge Mark Steinkerchner (84) and umpire Bryan Neale (92) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll talks to reporters after NFL football practice Wednesday, July 28, 2021, in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll reacts to fans after their win over the Houston Texans in an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)
Head coach Pete Carroll reacts as Seattle takes the lead.
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll celebrates as the sideline erupts at the final whistle of their victory over the Titans.
Quarterback Geno Smith drops back during early warmups as head coach Pete Carroll playfully "blitzes".
