PETE CARROLL: Appreciate everybody showing up. Since our last game, I had a couple of chances to talk. And first I shared my feelings about our team and about the organization and representing the 12s and my intentions of staying with the Hawks. That was true to the bone.
I want to make sure that's clear, as things have shifted so quickly in most people's perspective. It's been an honor and a thrill to be part of this program, and I've loved every minute of it.
You've watched me love it, in particular. And it's exciting that there's such a future here. And you can see it, and we know it's happening. It's bright and the club's got great places to go and there's great chances. It won't happen automatically. There's a lot of work to be done and all of that. But the future is bright.
Following our season-ending meetings with ownership, in the planning sessions, it's clear that -- for a variety of reasons -- we have mutually agreed to set a new course, and for the club to take on new leadership.
That's just a decision that's been made, and there's a lot that went into that, a lot that went behind that. For all my guys, I think you know how much I probably competed for our perspective and our standpoint and all of that. I frickin didn't back off for an instant.
What's going to happen now is the process will start to get new leadership here, and that will be on Johnny's docket. He's going to get after that and make that happen with the help of ownership and all that. And we'll be supporting them as much as possibly can happen so that they can to a great job with it.
I'm so grateful to the coaches that have been with us for so many years. Also, all of the coaches that have been here for the years before that put up with my stuff and found a way to bring it to life daily. I have great gratitude for that.
And I go to -- it's not just the dedication and loyalty, it's the frickin juice. It's bringing it. I asked a lot of them and they were good at it, and I appreciate that a lot.
I'm so sorry. I'm so heartfully sorry for the families. You all don't realize how deep this runs. It's just next coach, next staff, what's going to happen, what's the future and all that. There's people in this thing. And it breaks my heart that so many people get shocked and adjusted and surprised and all of that.
And the children, we have so many kids in this organization that we love so much and we celebrate whenever we get a chance. It breaks my heart that we're dealing with that.
But that is what happens and that's part of this business, and part of a lot of businesses. It's not unique just to us.
To the players that have been part of this thing, you don't probably know this, how deeply I feel about -- the NFL, it's about the players. We've not recognized that to my satisfaction. I brought it up in league meetings a few years ago and probably surprised some people about it, but this league is about the players.
Without those guys doing what they do, there's nothing. It's not about the ownership. It's not about if coaching. It's not about the color of the uniforms or going to the stadiums. It's about those guys doing what they do and putting their body on the line so regularly, and it's not just a statement. It's real.
And we should always, in my opinion, understand that we should celebrate those guys because they are the NFL. They are this game that we love and the game we get to coach. Who would I be coaching?
And I have a lot of thoughts about that. But I really do appreciate. To see some of our guys here today, it means the world. It means the world.
I want to remind us, I guess, one time about the work, yeah, tons of work. Dedication, all that hard stuff that we do with coaches and players to get to where we can get to. But it's really always been the fun.
And Wags, you've always been the guy that reminds us, if you're not doing it right, you're not having any fun at all. And I appreciate you keeping me connected to that. It's pretty inherent to me, too. We're birds of a feather in that regard.
But I also, Bobby, I appreciate you and T-Lock and Geno that have kept me connected to our former players. That's a really important part of this relationship of being a coach, particularly in this program where we've been there for so long and so many souls have come through.
Having you guys with me all the way through this time and I always feel like I'm a little bit connected to those guys. And I don't want to ever lose that connection because I'm so indebted to the time we spent and all the things we did.
I'm so proud of really seeing the young men grow up and take off in their lives and doing their things and owning businesses and families and kids and the whole thing. It's a great choice for a coach. But I appreciate you keeping me connected to that.
Really I've got to thank Jody and unfortunately Paul not -- but the family, it was really classy at all times. They supported what we were doing. I felt the support faithfully throughout. And grateful for that.
It's a nice relationship here with the ownership, and it's as good as it can get from my perspective. Maybe harder on personnel guys sometimes, but always so good.
To Johnny Schneider, way back in the day, when I first got the job here, they wanted to know if I wanted to be the general manager. I said, no, but I'd like to hire him. And Paul said okay. And we got John on board.
And from the first moment that we really, okay, now we're going to do this, we stepped off to the side, and I gave John a big hug and said, we're getting married, dude. And I'm going to help you be the greatest general manager in the history of the league, if I could.
And you took 14 years to get to it, and I'm so proud. I'm so excited for you to have this opportunity. It's going to be cool. And it's always been a great marriage. And it's just unforgettable. I'm so grateful for that. And going forward, I'll be your biggest fan now, dude. I'll be there, right there for you.
I've been blessed with like the rarest of best friends and mentor, loving partner, the angel in my life. This is worth crying for.
Glenda, nobody would ever understand how significant -- she's been through all the stuff we've been through. And how important she is -- she's just been the angel in my life, and I owe you everything.
My boys, Brennan and Nate, you guys have no idea how valuable they've been to me because they're the ones that would give me all the crap about what I was doing wrong or what I was screwing up. They were harsh and their critiques were rash. And the whole thing was perfect because I needed that loyalty. And they were the epitome of it for me.
And so forever grateful. They know. I don't mind saying it to you, because it's hard to be that deeply loyal. It's hard to tell people what they don't want to hear and what they need to hear. And it's rare to have people around you that are willing to do that, particularly when you get this kind of position. And it's so necessary to do well and do right. Fellows, I loved the hell out of that.
Jaime and crew, my daughter and all our husbands and wives and our seven-plus kids -- we have one on the way in April, making us the proudest grandma and grandpa you could be -- grateful to those kids that put up with grandpa's crazy stuff. You can imagine I'm a pretty whacked out grandpa. (Laughter).
And I just want to say this: One of the things I'm most proud of in getting here is way back in the day when I called Tater, and said we gotta chance to go to Seattle. How about we take a shot and get up there. In maybe two or three years, they'll give us a chance and then they'll kick us out of here and we'll see what happens. But I'd like to take the culture we had at SC and see what happens.
He said -- of course, Tater is always on board -- heck, yeah, let's go. 14 years later we're both still shocked by that. But we're grateful for it as well.
But what I am most proud of is that we took a culture that we developed there in those college days and came here to see if you cared for people deeply and you loved them for who they were and tried to find the extraordinary uniqueness that made them them and celebrate that, and not try to make them something that they're not, and not to try to expect them to be something other than that, but try to see if we can capture that extraordinary uniqueness that they had and celebrate that with them -- let's see what happens.
Well, at SC, we killed it. And we came up here, and overall we've been successful for a long time. I didn't think any way this would happen like this. I didn't have that vision. But I'm grateful for it because what we have here is we have an extraordinary culture. I'm really proud of that.
The guys that are here know. The guys that come here and leave know. The guys that haven't been here before and show up here, they're shocked. And really, that happens because you guys continue to celebrate it and keep it going. And I'm able to keep calling on you guys to illustrate what it's all about.
This is a very special place because of all of that. And I'm grateful for that.
So the one last part of that that I wanted to say is what always been behind the culture is trying to help people find their best one person at a time. It works. It's real. You can feel it. I'm really grateful for that. So we learned something here. It was a total experiment.
Tater, we had no idea. But you guys are examples of how that worked out. So I love you and appreciate that.
So that's it for now. And I'm frickin jacked. I'm fired up. I'm not tired. I'm not worn down. You guys tried your best. You didn't wear me out. It's the end of the season. I'm supposed to go lay on a cot somewhere. I ain't feeling like that.
What's coming? I don't know. I've got no idea. And I really don't care right now. But I'm excited about it because there's a lot to learn. There's a lot to study. There's some great discoveries that are going to come our way.
And as my all-time mentor, Bud Grant said, not in so many words -- there's rivers to wade, there's waves to catch and there's mountains to hike. And it wasn't exactly how Bud said it, but I get it. And that's some cool stuff that we're going to do here, and I look forward to all that.
Q. The statement indicated that you're still going to be around the organization. You've still got some work to do here. What does that entail?
PETE CARROLL: We're going to figure that out. We don't really know right now. But I'm grateful for the intention that the organization has to try to find something that makes sense. So we'll see. I don't know.
Q. What went into the decision to step back, or I guess agree to step back and not coach anymore? Why did you agree to that?
PETE CARROLL: I competed pretty hard to be the coach, just so you know. I wanted to make sure I stood up for all of our coaches and the players and the things we had accomplished -- not so that we could be the coach still but so that we could continue to have a chance to be successful and keep the organization going. That's what I was fighting for.
So in that regard, that's what I was representing in our discussions. And we got to a good part, good, clean spot where it made sense, and I went along with their intentions.
Q. Do you feel like the team could take the next step forward and continue --
PETE CARROLL: There's no doubt. There's no doubt in my mind. And they, we all know that.
Q. You sounded pretty confident Sunday and Monday that you would continue in your coaching role. Would you walk through us what the last couple of days have been like?
PETE CARROLL: Just that we had our year-ending meetings with ownership and planning sessions, with Johnny, just talking through stuff, getting ready. It takes us to the point where you get to what's next.
And this isn't about me being the head coach. It's about this organization being successful and being on course for the long haul of it as well. I realize that. I'm about as old as you can get in this business. There's coming a time they've got to make some decisions.
So moving towards the future. If there's some way that I can add something to them down the road, we'll see what happens. But this is a good move for them, and Johnny's going to take this thing, take the bull by the horns and roll.
I'm so thankful that I get to see him take that next step and watch what he does with it. He's going to kick butt.
Q. Could you be more specific about that decision? Was there a disagreement?
PETE CARROLL: No, I can't. I'm not going to.
Q. What are you going to miss most about coaching?
PETE CARROLL: The chance of being in one of those parades. The thrill of a lifetime was being in that parade for our fans and people and all that.
Who's to say? I don't know what's going to happen next. I'm not sure yet. But that pursuit to the greatness of the moment that you celebrate with everybody, nothing like it. It's worth fighting for.
Q. If the right opportunity to become a head coach --
PETE CARROLL: I have to wait and see. Today is about today. I don't know that.
Q. What's different between your vision and theirs?
PETE CARROLL: That's what I'm not sharing. It wasn't because -- it wasn't special to you, no.
Q. Back in 2010, before you --
PETE CARROLL: 2010, okay.
Q. You said you wanted to disprove the idea that you can't have fun coaching football (indiscernible) competing like crazy and winning. How much pride do you take that you were able to do it the way you want?
PETE CARROLL: It wasn't very hard. It wasn't very hard for us. That's just been the way we've always done it. But it's been mistaken and misunderstood, I think, a lot, like, we missed the point; we don't realize the sincerity of it.
That's not what's happening around here. That's not how we do it. There's plenty of room to have the fun if you have an eye for it and if you appreciate it.
That's why Bobby is so important as one of the players that always reminds us -- if you're not having fun you're missing it. I've said it. If we're not having fun I'm totally screwing up. That's what I've always felt.
It's a constant. It's part of it. It's part of making the environment that you work in alive and sometimes uncertain. You don't know what to expect from what's going to happen next.
It's like going -- okay, keep going -- it's like going into your high school class maybe it was a history class you had a teacher that was really unique, the music was playing or there was something going on, you could hear as you were walking down the hall and you couldn't wait to see what was going on that day.
That's what this learning environment was supposed to be like, that every day you came in you didn't know what was going to happen. Because I needed to keep you at the very peak of your awareness and focus and all that. That was just part of it.
Q. Was there a game or player that you knew that approach had taken hold and you knew it was working?
PETE CARROLL: That's a good question. I don't know that. I don't know that there's a moment. There was times back in the day -- I realized back at SC that we had something special because we were continuing -- we won so much they ruined me for life.
It's hard to imagine when you can win three straight years, every game, keep coming back, summertime, offseason all that stuff. And it wrecks you. I didn't want to say this, but there's never enough wins. There's just never enough.
You win 15, you want 16. You win 16, you want 17. You want them all. It's a curse but it's also a blessing because it drives you in such a manner.
Q. Was there something in the NFL when you got to this team where you knew your approach had taken hold like that?
PETE CARROLL: Let's give this the moment. There's a moment, it was when we had the opportunity to play New Orleans. We're 7-9 and everybody's dogging us and all that about, you don't deserve to be there. And they're the world champions.
And we beat them right here. We beat them in fashion, in style. I think that was -- because we were talking like we were going to win that game, and no one else thought we could win that game.
And we went out there and put together an effort that separated us, I think, and we were never the same from that point forward. Thanks for reminding me about that.
Q. How were you able to keep the culture evolving through all the years after you established --
PETE CARROLL: You better ask these guys. It's constant, it's a constant competition for me. And it's like everything else is. And so you compete on a regular, everyday basis. Brian asked trying to figure out what's next for the guys and how can we keep them going, whether it was contest or shoot-offs or safe places, or whatever it took to just find ways to make it interesting and keep them guessing.
Teaching environment. It's teaching. We're trying to keep the students alive and thriving in the moments. It's a huge endeavor.
Q. Can you explain why it was so difficult over the last two or three years to stay so consistent, two steps forward, maybe one step back --
PETE CARROLL: We lost our edge, really, the edge to be great, which was really how we ran the football and how we played defense. It wasn't as good as it needed to be.
You all get tired of me thinking I'm three yards and a cloud of dust. You guys don't get it. I'm sorry about that. But it's part of the whole cycle of what you do when you put a football team together. We weren't as clear in the last couple of years.
It was just three years ago or four years ago, four, three years ago we were first in the league in rushing defense and fifth or sixth in rushing defense. We had back-to-back years there, which is one of the elements you need. You need some special qualities about your team that separates you and makes you an individual.
And we kind of got in the mix too much. We weren't high profiled enough in the crucial areas we needed to be. So it was just always a pursuit. Always chasing it and trying to get there.
Q. When you go back and look at why you didn't have the advantage didn't get over the hump in those areas is there something you think you could have done?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, I'm not going to share that with you.
Q. Did you talk to the team, certain players?
PETE CARROLL: These guys. We talk Monday. I said a lot of things Monday that I needed to say. But I'm looking forward to seeing them as we go forward.
Q. When you addressed them Monday, did you know this was coming?
PETE CARROLL: No.
Q. What advice would you give having been in this very unique position for the last 14 years, what would be your advice for anybody who comes in and sits --
PETE CARROLL: You want me to tell the next guy how to win? (Laughter.)
It wouldn't matter whether it's football or whatever. To me, the essence of being as good as you can be is you have to figure out who you are, and you have to figure out that and relentless effort to try and get clear about what's important to you, what uncompromising principles do you stand by, what makes you who you are, so that if you don't go through that process, you don't do that self-discovery, you don't have an opportunity to be your best because you don't know who you are yet.
It's really hard for our young guys because they're just figuring it out. But as they come through our time there, by the time they get 25, 26, we see the development.
But for anybody, you have to understand what kind of player you are, you have to understand what kind of coach you are, what kind of person you are, what kind of dad you are, all the way down the line, to maximize your authenticity to be connected to the true essence of who you are.
That's what's crucial. Without that you'll be sometimes and you're going to be sometimes. That's why it's hard to be consistently successful, because people don't even know how they got there a lot of times. It just happens along the way. Circumstances come together. That's to me the essence of it. That's how I understand it.
Q. Why did you say a couple times that you thought maybe only three or four years when you got here? If then when you got the job, if you could have looked at it what you ended up doing, 14 years and a Super Bowl, how would you have thought --
PETE CARROLL: Really, I'm thrilled that we've had this run. I really am. The level of consistency that we've demonstrated is such to make you proud.
It's hard to do what we've done. It's hard to be as good as we have. It's hard to be considered a threat as we have throughout the years we've been here, no matter if we go on the road. All those special qualities about our teams and how we play on the road, how we play on Monday nights, all that stuff.
How Geno showed, again, the great finishing ability this team has and the mentality that it takes to do that. Drew did it as well. All those special qualities are what makes it up.
Q. Do you have a favorite moment over your time here?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, my favorite moment was standing on the stage in New York and finding Glenda out in the crowd. That was it, by far.
Q. I know I asked you last week, I'm wondering if you could elaborate on the yin and yang, as you called it, in the last year of coaching, rookie Pro Bowler and obviously one of the best players of all time (indiscernible) in the same year?
PETE CARROLL: Is that a dichotomy, I don't know what that is. Tell me what that is.
Q. Yin and yang?
PETE CARROLL: You said Yin and Yang and I didn't know what that meant either. Just to see both ends of the spectrum obviously so illustrated. But also to see Julian in between. And Julian's response, he's just totally devastated because he knew what happened.
Like, Spoon didn't know. He didn't realize. To him, it was just like this is awesome.
But for a guy to realize he'd been around for three or four years and then to be recognized as a Pro Bowler -- and then for Bobby to kind of absorb that thought, again, I'm still on top of this thing for the moment.
I know he's not that egotistical about it, but he did recognize, I'm sure again, with great pride. It's what makes him who he is. It makes him a ridiculous performer and all that.
But that was really exciting to see that and it was just so obvious. And I was in Mo Kelly's office and we sat there. I'm watching these guys respond. I'm sitting on the couch there, and just watching them as they're realizing each other and themselves and what this means. It was really, really special.
Q. Why do you think you and John were able to make the arrangement work so well for so long?
PETE CARROLL: Because it was the most important thing in the whole program. It's the relationship between the head coach and the general manager that have to make -- this is my opinion -- that have to make these decisions and have to put in motion the approach and philosophy and how it's going to succeed and how to correct and get back -- course correct and all the things you have to do.
That relationship has to be, in my opinion -- and I'd seen it so many times in so many other situations I'd been in -- there was just two guys. They go get a hot shot from here and hot shot from here, and they expect them to go together.
Which, they might make it. And without the appreciation of what that relationship is, you miss it. And you falter in the course of the exchanges that you have and the decisions that you make because what's most important that we're together.
It wasn't the actual decision is that we could find common ground and then move together and then go make it work as best we could. And it didn't always work. But we understood how we got there. We appreciated one another's input on the deal.
I had the say-so, but Johnny made millions of decisions here because he was great at making those decisions. So, in my opinion, we just had to figure it out, and I had to lean for him and he had to lean for me. And we were willing to put ourselves, the individuals, behind what the marriage was all about.
I don't mean to be teaching other franchises how to do it, but that's what I think is the key, whether you're in basketball or wherever you are, in baseball. It's those relationships.
That's just so that you can maximize what each guy has. I'm trying to help him be great. He's trying to help me be great. And nothing else was important. That was it.
So as screwy as we got -- and we have a saying, gotta give a brother some slack, because we screwed up, we made mistakes a lot and we had to cover for each other and all that. But we did. And I know we're both really proud of that.
Q. You mentioned (indiscernible) room for him now. How excited are you to see just what John does with this team?
PETE CARROLL: It's why this happened. You want to know, because I want him to have this chance. It's been 14 years, he's been waiting for his opportunity and he deserves it. And he's great at what he does. And now he's going to find out, find out, big fella. (Laughter).
But he deserves this moment, and I was cheerleading for him. If there's nothing else that was part of this factor, that was the biggest factor, (indiscernible). Somebody asked that question, and I gave you the answer.
It was to help make sure that he could have this opportunity and he's going to go for it and I would do whatever I could to help him be successful still.
Q. How do you want to be remembered for as the Seahawks coach? What do you hope?
PETE CARROLL: Roy Hobbs. What I'd like to be remembered, as Roy Hobbs. There goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was, I wish it could be like that. Nobody has a clue what that relates to. (Laughter).
Q. You had a couple of years left on the contract. Was it your intention to coach out through...
PETE CARROLL: Yeah -- no, let me clarify. It wasn't my intention, that's kind of what's happened. But I also thought we would maximize, we would always go to the next. David Butch taught me a long time ago about five-year plan. Keep looking ahead five years. Each year, you go five, instead of looking at what am I going to do at the end of this year? That there's always five years out there. It gave me a perspective a while back in time that helped me to understand how to keep projecting and not be so short-term dependent and judgmental.
Q. You mentioned that the guys, the veteran guys connecting you in the past. What does it mean to you that over the years K.J. came around, Cliff, Sherm?
PETE CARROLL: Marshawn. Cliff. Mike B. Big Red, all those guys. Real dude. Banger. So many guys, Mikey Morgan. Part of where we were. We weren't something then we made something special.
The run that we had, the five, six-year run around here playing defense around here, it was historic. It was because of the players, the scheme and the coaches fit together. We had to fit together almost perfectly to maximize all of it because we weren't very complicated. We did stuff really, really well. And that's the essence of football.
But we had a run of it that just made us kind of just bond in a way that these guys know, it will never go away. It's just something they'll live with, which is a very special part of the game that sometimes happens.
Q. What can the NFL do better to celebrate players and value the relationship that you make?
PETE CARROLL: Appreciate you asking that question. I brought this up years ago to the league and right to the top of the league that -- what the heck, Dave, I can do this? What else are we going to do?
I felt that the league could use direction to celebrate a new focus that they were missing out on because we were into TVs and games and playoffs and all that kind of stuff, and free agency and contracts, all the things that happen, drafts, all that stuff. It's part of the league.
But the real part of the league that could give us focus and direction is celebrating the players that make this game happen and realize and come to the understanding that you have no game without these guys. You have no level of this game without these guys and they deserve to be seen for that.
What does that mean? Well, you're going to look after them. You're going to take care of them. You're going to see them through their careers the best way you can, make the decisions that always support their health, welfare, well-being, all that, that's part of it. But then as they come out of their careers, what are we doing for them?
Do we let them go, now they're on their own? Or do we celebrate them from now? Was it not worth a lifetime of support for those guys and whatever that means? And there's so many ways to do that. Dave Baker, the Hall of Fame, I talked to Dave about this: Why could we not find ways to utilize our former players in ways all over the country and let them be ambassadors for the league and for sports and for achievement and for manhood and all the education and all the wonderful things that they could stand for?
Just stay with them forever because they played the game. We've got enough money, I think. There's enough money to do that and figure it out.
But what we would create, why wouldn't we be creating superheroes for our young kids? I think it would. Something happens around the country, bam, here comes the NFL and they show up on site and they're like a swat team of support, love, understanding, all that.
I thought there was so much to that and it would change the perception of the league from outside/in that we understood what it's like to care, and I think the message of sending that and what that would mean, not just to the young guys and the guys going through their years, but everybody that watches it. Everybody's watching the NFL, so why not do that?
I presented it, didn't go anywhere. It was a cool thought. Whatever. It just went chhhoo.
Q. Do you plan on having any input to who your successor is?
PETE CARROLL: No. I have support to John. I'm supporting John.
Q. What role will you have in choosing the next coach? Any input?
PETE CARROLL: He just asked that. No, that's not my deal. That's their deal.
Q. What advice do you have -- you talked about the perfect marriage -- what advice would you give to a coach entering your role working with John?
PETE CARROLL: Oh, geez. He's in trouble. (Chuckles). He has no idea what he's getting into. Advice would just be to just understand the value of the relationship and how crucial it is because you are the team, you are all these decisions and you impact so much from the salary cap and all the transfers of players and all.
If you remember, what we did is we were going to compete at everything we did, every single opportunity, no matter where it was. That was right, the heart line of the philosophy and always compete.
So John, at every single turn -- John, remember when we went after Marshawn and how long it took us to get Marshawn. Took us weeks and weeks to keep calling, keep going, keep pestering him about it, get the heck out of here, leave me alone. Somewhere, all of a sudden, a conversation opened up and we had a chance.
We knew something special was there. But had we just done the normal course of business, we would have turned away and never stayed with it. But we kept battling.
It's competing to stay to help each other be great at what you're doing. That's nothing new. That just happens to be my relationship with John. But it's my relationship with Geno too. It's my relationship with Bobby, too. That's the way I see the world, we're trying to help each other be as good as we can possibly be, whatever that takes, relentlessly. So that's what I would tell him to do.
Q. Maybe this isn't fair to ask --
PETE CARROLL: It probably is.
Q. -- do you have any regrets about anything?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, yeah. Oh, man, there's so many games. There's so many games. It's the games. You know? Look at this season. We screwed it up and made Jason have to kick a 55-yard frickin field goal to beat the Rams, in the wind -- in an indoor stadium that was windy somehow or whatever it was. How hard can you make it?
Not winning the frickin Dallas game. Think of all the games we won in the exact same scenario. I think it's third and two at about the 35 something like that. We don't make that one. We don't make the fourth, too. We let them off. We had them in our minds. And it just got away. Yeah, I regret that.
But there's millions of games. That's what I'm saying, there ain't enough wins. As a coach there's not enough wins. We know right now there's not enough wins this season. And it's a big challenge about doing this work.
Q. If the Bears had won, you would have got in again, do you think you would still be in this position not making --
PETE CARROLL: Not today. (Laughter).
(Applause)
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