When Pete Carroll stepped down as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks after the 2023 season, it would have been understandable if he decided to call it a career and retire. At 72, he was the oldest coach in the NFL at that time. And yet, he couldn’t stay away from coaching, returning to lead the Las Vegas Raiders for the 2025 campaign after a year off.
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Carroll just turned 74 on Monday, and as you might have guessed, he is still the oldest coach in the NFL. He is seven years older than the next-oldest NFL head coach, Kansas City’s Andy Reid. But despite being seven years older than Reid, there’s no question which of the two is more fit.
In fact, the 74-year-old Carroll might be one of the healthiest coaches in football. Though his old rival, Jim Harbaugh, might fight him for that title.
Harbaugh, who is 12 years younger, has had a long-standing rivalry with Carroll dating back to their college coaching days in the 2000s. Richard Sherman, one of the few players to play for both, discussed that rivalry with Steelers CB Darius Slay ahead of its renewal on Monday Night Football in Week 2. Though Slay was more impressed with the shape Carroll is in right now.
“How Pete be looking, how he be running, he might be the most in-shape man I’ve ever seen in my life at that age. He might be ready to box him, too if he’s ready,” Slay said on The Richard Sherman podcast.
“Man, I’m telling you, I be seeing him do push-ups, I be seeing him running up and down the field, sprinting, throwing the ball, playing quarterback with the team. I know he be throwing ducks out there but he’s still throwing that,” he added.
Sherman chimed in, saying he believes the rivalry continues on. And he would know, having played for Harbaugh at Stanford from 2006-2010 and for Carroll with the Seahawks from 2011-2017.
Carroll-Harbaugh rivalry started because of a 2-point attempt
The rivalry itself started back in 2007, when Harbaugh was hired as the head coach at Stanford, a Pac-10 rival of Carroll’s USC Trojans. In an interview early in the offseason, Harbaugh suggested Carroll would be at USC for only one more season. Carroll did not appreciate the suggestion, rebuking Harbaugh for it publicly and remaining at SC for three more years.
Harbaugh then pulled off the greatest upset in college football history (to that point) later that season by defeating the powerhouse Trojans 24-23. USC beat the Cardinal in 2008, but the rivalry really took off to new heights during a Stanford blowout win in 2009.
While up 48-21 on Carroll’s Trojans, Harbaugh decided to go for two after the touchdown. The attempt failed, but it succeeded in ticking Carroll off. After the game, when they met at midfield, Carroll and Harbaugh exchanged words.
“Carroll: What’s your deal though, you all right?
Harbaugh: Yeah, I’m good, what’s your deal?
Carroll: Nice game.”
Funny enough, Harbaugh tried to downplay the rivalry in the aftermath of the incident. He said that he and Carroll had a good and competitive relationship. Carroll did not see it the same way, however:
“There’s not much of one. He’s doing a great job of coaching. We’re in the same conference and we run into each other every once in a while,” Carroll said.
The next year, Carroll took the head coaching job with the Seahawks. A year after that, in 2011, Harbaugh followed him to the same division, taking the San Francisco 49ers job. That year, Carroll also drafted Harbaugh’s guy, Sherman, in the fifth round.
After starting their 49ers-Seahawks series with three straight wins, Harbaugh’s 49ers would lose five of the final six matchups with Carroll’s Seahawks, including a thrilling last-second win in the 2013 NFC Championship. After Harbaugh took the Chargers job in 2024, Carroll took a page out of his rival’s book and followed him to the same division, taking over in Sin City.
Harbaugh then evened up their overall NFL series at 5-5 with his win over Carroll on Monday night in Vegas, the first between the two since 2014. They will play again in L.A. on November 30 at SoFi Stadium.
