Carroll’s Move Smarter Than You Think

Pete Carroll didn’t leave because he saw an impending NCAA sanction coming down the pipe at USC. He didn’t leave because he couldn’t handle a 4-loss season and had trouble watching another PAC-10 program like Oregon rise to prominence. He didn’t leave because he ‘had nothing left to prove’ at the college level.

You always have something to prove…..to yourself. And over the next four or five years, Pete Carroll will set out to prove his NFL detractors wrong.

Deep down, maybe Carroll thinks he can bring the Seattle Seahawks to USC-level success. But maybe Pete Carroll is just like me and you. He realizes that he is in the period of his life when he is the most valuable commodity in a sport that happens to pay quite well. In other words, he wants to be paid what he is truly worth.

$7 million a season - a near 60% pay raise - seems to be the going rate for a coach that is willing leave his beachfront college job to deal with the pressures of the NFL.

Pete Carroll’s first couple jobs in the NFL weren’t as horrific as the media would lead you to believe. He never won a playoff game but he got the Patriots there twice and finished his career above .500, 33-31, in four seasons with the Pats and Jets. He wasn’t exactly coaching in areas that accept mediocrity or have patience for rebuilding either. If it wasn’t for Tom Brady, the Patriots may have been another middle of the pack franchise making the playoffs on a semi-annual basis.

In Seattle, Carroll will never be handicapped by finances - Seahawks owner Paul Allen is one of the richest men in the world - or by the ‘win now’ mentality that cripples coaches in their new cities. Seattle sports are at an all time low and the arrival of Padre Pete couldn’t have come at a better time. He will be welcomed with open arms and held onto like a puppy on Christmas morning.

Carroll will probably have the opportunity to draft the quarterback of his choice this April, if he so chooses, but is faced with the unenviable task of deciding whether to make Jimmy Clausen, Sam Bradford or Jake Locker his franchise next’s quarterback. He could also draft an anchor on the offensive line or a shutdown corner that will fill holes for the Seahawks immediately and wait for one of those QBs to fall to the second round, maybe take a shot at super accurate Colt McCoy.

Any way you slice it, the Seahawks are not a franchise paralyzed by bad signings and terrible salary cap discipline. Heck, with the uncapped season coming up Paul Allen might be rolling the dice and going for broke if he believes Matt Hasselback has one more year left in him. Seattle has drafted well over the years and is not a team that is far from returning to the top in the wide-open NFC West. For all of these reasons, Jim Mora was genuinely devastated to hear the news that he was being replaced after only one season.

Pete Carroll is a smart man. Smart enough to be content at a powerhouse university that adores him and smart enough to strike when the iron is hot. Pete Carroll just struck gold in Seattle.