After a year off, legendary head coach Pete Carroll is going to be back on NFL sidelines again in 2025, as the Las Vegas Raiders announced him as their new head coach on Friday. Carroll comes into arguably the worst scenario of any of the seven head coaching vacancies in this cycle, and Colin Cowherd believes that’s what makes him the perfect hire.
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He may be 74 by the time the 2025 season kicks off, but you would never guess it from his energy levels. Carroll not only is a genius football mind, but he is also a leader of men. He inspires, he galvanizes, he motivates, and he gets players jacked up. But he’s also as “organized” as it gets. He’s been around the game at the collegiate and pro level for over 50+ years and was able to create lasting winning cultures at USC and with the Seahawks. Cowherd points out that’s exactly what the Raiders need: a new culture.
“He’s an adult, and the organization needs one. I like the choice… I think he’s an excellent fit for the Raiders. They need stability, they need culture, and he provides that… This is laying concrete… I’ve talked to players and coaches throughout the years that know Pete: one of the most organized coaches in the league.”
.@ColinCowherd reacts to Raiders hiring Pete Carroll as head coach:
"They need stability. They need culture. He provides that." pic.twitter.com/cLStrjnc8W
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) January 24, 2025
Carroll, who signed a three-year deal with the Silver and Black, is a jovial presence around the team’s facility. Always with a smile on his face, a quip on his lips, and a fat wad of gum in his mouth, this is the kind of person the young Raiders will need. Someone with patience and positivity, but with experience and a strong knowledge of how to create winning habits.
Perhaps he did so most impressively at USC, where he was the head coach from 2001-2009. Prior to his arrival, the once proud Trojans had gone 23 years without a national title and 13 years without a double-digit win season. In 2001, when he arrived, they went 6-6. Over the next seven seasons, he won four major Bowls, two National Championships, and never finished lower than No. 4 on the AP poll.
Carroll was known as a player’s coach who was unafraid of going to see players where they lived in frisky neighborhoods that more buttoned-up coaches might avoid. He was 40 years older, but he found a way to relate to and motivate inner-city teens that he had next to nothing in common with, regularly bringing in top-ranked recruiting classes for USC.
Carroll was also one of the first coaches to join Twitter and Facebook to interact with players there as well. He knows how to communicate with and develop young players. And, perhaps most importantly, he’s especially good at developing young quarterbacks, which, as Cowherd points out, is something else the Raiders desperately need.
“Pete’s history is, he’s good with young quarterbacks. He was good with young Russell Wilson, he was good with younger Drew Bledsoe, he was tremendous with a young Mark Sanchez, or a young Carson Palmer. The Raiders are a total rebuild. They don’t have a staff, they don’t have a front office, they don’t have a quarterback, they have Maxx Crosby and a few weapons.”
The Raiders could really use a shake-up, which is what the hiring of a character like Pete Carroll usually accomplishes. Since losing in the Super Bowl in 2002, the Raiders have employed 11 coaches, with Carroll becoming the 12th. That coaching carousel has had predictable results. Since 2003, Vegas has had the 2nd-fewest wins (124) and the fewest playoff games played (2). They’re one of two teams without a playoff win in that span as well.
Meanwhile, Carroll’s Seahawks tenure from 2010-2023 was characterized by success. Across those 14 seasons, the Seahawks won the 4th-most playoff games (9), played in the 4th-most playoff games (17), and won the 3rd-most regular season games (123) behind only Tom Brady’s Patriots and Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs. He also won a Super Bowl and lost a Super Bowl in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
Pete Carroll will certainly steer this ship toward a brighter future, but he’s got his work cut out for him. The team’s roster is arguably the worst in the league, they still need to find a QB, and they only have the No. 6 overall pick, which means they can’t draft a top signal caller. However, they could make a few shrewd free-agency splashes. What they do have is over $92.5 million in cap space going into the 2025 offseason, 2nd-most in the NFL.
