Apr 25, 2025; Henderson, NV, USA; Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll at a news conference introducing Ashton Jeanty as the first round draft pick in the 2025 NFL Draft at Intermountain Health Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-Imagn Images Candice Ward-Imagn Images

Raiders' Genius Hire of Pete Carroll Highlighted

Originally posted on Las Vegas Raiders on SI
By Brock Vierra | Last updated May 4, 2025 12:00 PM ET

It's not normal to be a head coach in the NFL. It's not normal to be a head coach in the NFL at the age of 73. It is perhaps unprecedented for a franchise to hire a head coach who will turn 74 during the season, after said coach took one year off from coaching.

But that's the beauty of it. Pete Carroll isn't normal. In fact, everything about him that makes him not normal, that makes him unique, it's the exact thing the Raiders have been missing since the early 2000s and that's why he's not the right man, Carroll is the only man for the job.

Carroll has been teaching at USC, the school he won National Championships with and Rich Eisen got a chance to sit in on one of Carroll's final lectures.

Eisen said Carroll's classroom brought him to tears.

"I have never witnessed in two hours what I witnessed in Pete Carroll's class, The Game is Life." Said Eisen.

Eisen stated that Carroll's class was about teaching "being true to one's self, learning who you are as a person, being empathetic and sympathetic, and being open and sharing with others about your world, your mindset, and your abilities to connect with yourself and show emotion, be emotional, and being comfortable with knowing who you are. And if that is who you are as a person, it can be a powerful way to connect with other people and create a team environment."

Eisen went on to say that students spoke about their experiences in this class. One student stated that he was the victim of a car accident that likely should have taken his life. Feeling lost, that student stated the class changed his life as he was struggling with reconnecting with the world.

Another student stated the class helped him find his love for music again as he had lost it while being a musical major on the verge of graduation.

That is who is running the Raiders. Carroll is a teacher, a mentor, a friend. He's intelligent, empathetic, understanding, but disciplined.

All those lessons Carrol taught, those are the one's he's teaching the Raiders right now.

Congratulations Raider nation, you have found your head coach. The Raiders got a good one in Carroll.

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This article first appeared on Las Vegas Raiders on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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