Was Pete Carroll just ahead of his time?

[Cris Collinsworth]

Pete Carroll took a lot of heat in New England for not being Bill Parcells. In fact, he was the complete opposite of Bill Parcells. Old school Parcells had completely turned around a bad New England franchise and took them to the Super Bowl. Pete Carroll replaced Parcells and was considered a "player's coach." Carroll was 27-21 and took the Patriots to three playoff games, winning one. Unfortunately for him, he could never overcome the unpardonable sin of not being Bill Parcells. Boston is a tough town, and they like a tough head coach. So out goes Carroll and in comes Bill Belichick. Carroll becomes a footnote with the Patriots. Since then much has changed. Despite being the fourth choice at USC, Pete Carroll eventually established himself as one of the brightest minds in college football. He mixed energy, charm, and hard work at USC to become a recruiting machine. Carroll started 2-5 and the critics were in full throat. Things changed. Carroll went 67-7 after that, winning 34 straight and two National Championships in the process. Now Carroll is back in the NFL, and he is hip again. The league has fewer and fewer Bill Parcells, and more and more "player's coaches." Recruiting is a part of NFL free agency. Players have more choices than ever. Head coaches and how they treat their players has become a major part of free agents' decisions. Pete Carroll has had success as a head coach in both the NCAA and NFL. He is widely perceived as a coach for whom players would like to play. There is a lot to like about Seattle's choice. However, we have not seen a lot of college coaches having success moving to the NFL. Steve Spurrier, Bobby Patrino, and Nick Sabin were all very hot candidates coming out of college, but none were able to match their college successes. Will Pete Carroll end the streak? It won't be easy in his first year in Seattle, but the division is not strong, and Seattle drafted extremely well. Charlie Whitehurst will push Matt Hasselbeck. Nothing would surprise me in Seattle. My biggest X factor team in the NFL this year is coached by Pete Carroll.

[PrestigeWorldwide]

"Tickle Me Pete" getting fired in New England had little to do with him not being Parcells. When he left fans hated Parcells, he ditched the team the week of the biggest game in franchise history. Boston doesn't care as long as you win. I wouldn't exactly call Terry Francona a hardass but he will be the manager in Boston for life if he wants. Carroll's three years were full of disappointment the team got worse each year. If anything you could make a case that Bobby Grier got Carroll fired because the drafts over those three years were absolutely atrocious, throw in letting a "washed up" Curtis Martin get away and Robert Edwards getting hurt and the offense was left to rely on a very inconsistent Drew Bledsoe. His three years were extremely frustrating to watch especially when you consider the Pats had gone to the Super Bowl the year before he arrived. Who knows if he had had a better GM he could've lasted a long time in New England, once he started getting talent at USC he certainly won with it.

[DannyMilk]

Yeah I think USC and the Patriots at the time were complete opposites. The Pats had a solid team, and he did ok with them, but at USC how much credit exactly does the coach deserve? I know some of it, but when you get that much talent how can you not win? (I've blocked the Weis era at ND out of my memory) I think my main thought comes to this...how will his ego recover after his first NFL loss that consists of a 37-10 score. Will he be able to recover? Will he maintain and not go over the edge? It's been a while since he's consistently lost, and I see that happening in Seattle this season. So I think it will be interesting to see how he handles it. Seattle can't offer an escalade to players who already have 3 of them......

[GoBigOrGoHome]

I could not agree more on the losing and how he handles it. More importantly, how he handles his players when they are losing.