Pete Carroll explains the reason why he returned to coaching

The Las Vegas Raiders took a massive swing in the offseason by swapping Antonio Pierce for Pete Carroll as head coach.

Carroll brings with him decades of coaching experience, most notably winning a national championship with the USC Trojans and a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks. Despite this success, the Seahawks let him leave in 2023, and the veteran head coach spent last season away from football. Now with the Raiders, however, the same energy that made Carroll a fan favorite at previous destinations still remains.

While Carroll has explained what made him interested in resuming his coaching career with the Raiders, he took some time to open up on his reasons with two of his former players.

Carroll had one key reason to join the Raiders.

On an episode of “The Get Got Pod” with former Seahawks Marshawn Lynch and Michael Robinson, Carroll said that the influence of minority owner Tom Brady was a major reason for being swayed by the Raiders.

“There was a little bit of interest you know, college too. There was some stuff going on back and forth. And the more I got around it, the more I felt the passion growing. The way I would say it, I was in the pursuit of my passion,” Carroll said. “It has never been anything but fun. Fortunately, it worked out. You know, a couple of crazy things happened right around the end of it. But the Raiders thing when Tom [Brady] joined up, that really made a difference to me. That shifted my gears a little bit.”

When Brady joined the Raiders as a minority owner last fall, it was expected that he would gain some influence in the team’s football decisions.

So far, that has held true. Brady was integral in the Raiders landing Carroll, as well as running point for the pursuit of Ben Johnson before he chose the Chicago Bears’ head coaching position. The future Hall of Fame quarterback was also vital in helping the Raiders solve their problems under center, signing off on the Geno Smith trade in March and the selection of Cam Miller in April’s draft.

Brady’s presence in Las Vegas is certainly paying dividends with the Raiders, and bringing in Carroll was a master stroke in his first offseason.