Twenty years ago, Pete Carroll put up a basketball court at the Jets’ practice facility and somehow it was a sign of weakness. He was too close to his players, too friendly and definitely too loose. He wasn’t the autocratic disciplinarian NFL coaches are supposed to be.
His hair is much grayer now, two decades after his first job as an NFL head coach, but not much else has changed about the unconventional Carroll. He’s 62 now, more like a grandfather to his players than the fun older brother he once was. But he still has a basketball court next to his practice facility. He’s still close to his players. He’s still friendly and loose.
No, that’s not the NFL films image of a head coach. He doesn’t have the focused stare of Vince Lombardi or the grim face of Bill Belichick. He doesn’t even have a Tom Coughlin-sized book of rules. He still goes at his job with an outward enthusiasm that seems more suited for college.
But his Seahawks will play in Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday night. So it turns out that even in the NFL, his approach works.
“It’s just the only way I know how to do it,” Carroll said this past week. “I understand that the guys do respond pretty favorably. They like what’s going on. We’ve created a culture that hopefully allows for guys to be at their best. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
It sounds so simple, and it’s really not any different than what he tried to do in his one year with the Jets (1994) and his three seasons with the New England Patriots (1997-99). Carroll never wanted to be Bear Bryant, in a tower above the practice field, distant from and feared by his players. He wanted to be in their huddles. He wanted to run down the sidelines with them and celebrate when they scored.
And he wanted their input. It’s not just his way or no way, according to his players. He tries to do things the way they would want them to be done.
That’s not the NFL way, which is why Carroll always seemed better suited for college. It’s also why, after his successful run at restoring USC to a national power, eyes rolled when he returned to the NFL. His first two seasons in Seattle — both 7-9 — did little to bolster his image.
But along the way his players bought in. They looked forward to getting a hug or slap on the helmet from Carroll after a big play. He lightened up practice with music by Macklemore. He energized the team with gimmicks such as “Competition Wednesdays,” which includes a short scrimmage, and “Turnover Thursdays,” with a competition based on whether the defense can force the offense to turn over the ball.
He made practice somewhat unusual. His Seahawks actually had fun.
“Carroll’s a player’s coach,” linebacker Bruce Irvin said. “You go in the team meeting room, you got basketball hoops, you got rap music playing. He’s a team player. In this society, players like people who are real with them. That’s what Pete is and that’s why I respect him and play for him so hard.”
It’s not all fun and games, of course. Carroll said he’s tightened the reins a little more than maybe he did two decades ago. He has rules, but they can still be bent on occasion. And where most other teams go the military route and try to get players to conform, Carroll embraces individuality — as the world saw this week with the chatty Richard Sherman and the mercurial Marshawn Lynch.
He believes players will be at their best if he allows them to be themselves.
“It’s a trust factor,” linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “You’ve got to earn that trust. You’ve got to build that trust. Once you build that trust and earn it, he allows you to be yourself and do certain things because he trusts you. He trusts us and we trust him.”
Maybe — just maybe — that’s what it takes to succeed in the modern NFL era. After all, even Coughlin famously loosened up (a bit) before the Giants won their two Super Bowls in a five-season span. Carroll isn’t sure his approach would be considered “modern,” though. He describes it as simply, “Whatever it takes.”
“It’s interesting to hear so many ways to explain it: laid-back, free willy, doing whatever,” Carroll said. “We run this program with extraordinary standards in how we prepare every day, with expectations that they’re going to be working their tails off every single step of every single practice.”
And they do that, he said, because they’re in an environment where “they can feel good about what they’re doing.”
“This is the culmination of years working with guys, and teams and coaches,” Carroll said. “This is the result of a journey to figure out how you can create an environment where people can find their best, stay at their best, foster their best for the people around them so that everybody can join in.”
There is no doubt Carroll is all in with his Seahawks. And it’s clear that thanks to his unusual approach, his players are all in for him.
