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The following article was
written by Jim Trotter at The MMQB. It was posted right after Pete
Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks beat the San Francisco 49ers enroute to their
Super Bowl win over the Baltimore Ravens.
The article talks a lot about
Pete Carroll's philosophy and how he runs his program. Here are some
notes from the article. You can read it in it's entirety here.
Doing Things The Best/Only Way You Know How:
“Pete told me once, ‘They
already killed me once—they got me in New York and they got me in Boston—so I’m
going to be me. They can’t hurt me now.’ For Pete that was a very humble way of
saying, ‘I’ve been through a lot, and if I go to Seattle I’m going to do it the
way that I’ve laid it out, exactly to my personality and to my philosophical
approach.”
Affirming His Coaching Tenets:
For Carroll, Sunday wasn’t about proving anyone wrong. It was
about proving himself right. It was about affirming that his coaching
tenets—the relentless competitiveness, the constant quest to identify and
maximize the uniqueness of every player and coach, the commitment to a
nurturing environment that allows people to be themselves while still being
accountable to the team—could work on any level, including the NFL.
“It’s something I came in hoping we could really demonstrate,
because I really do believe this is a different way of dealing with people,”
Carroll says. “It’s a way that you can help people find heights that they might
not have found otherwise. There’s a lot that goes into that statement, but I
believe it because I’ve watched it, I’ve seen it.
Soul-Searching:
During his year out of football the following year, Carroll did
some serious self-scouting. He asked himself what he could do better, and he
reflected on the words of his mother, who often told him to treat each day as
if something positive were about to happen. That mentality is contrary to the
ways of the NFL, where people tend to focus on things that could go wrong.
Carroll would no longer allow himself to be one of those individuals.
Impact
of Coach Wooden and Others:
He also read Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and
Reflections On and Off the Court, the powerful memoir by the former UCLA
basketball coach John Wooden. It resonated with Carroll not only because Wooden
needed 17 years before winning his first national championship, but also because
he believed in being positive and nurturing. Carroll also pulled nuggets from
successful coaches whom he had worked under, like Bill Walsh, Bud Grant and
George Seifert.
His Own Blueprint - Take Advantage of the Uniqueness of Each
Individual:
Ultimately he formulated a blueprint that was heavy on fun and
competition and taking advantage of the uniqueness of each individual. He would
have themes for each day of the week—Tell the Truth Monday, Competition
Wednesday, Turnover Thursday. He would have the first-string offense and
defense face off in brief unscripted scrimmages so they would be ready for
things they hadn’t prepared for. He would blare music throughout practice to
raise the energy level and force his players to focus and refocus amid distractions.
It
basically comes down to taking care of the people in your program and making
them the best they can be—not giving up on them and never failing to be there
for them. They don’t even totally know that’s how we are with them, because we
do it so completely.”
Thoughts From His Players
“This lets the rest of the
National Football League and the rest of the coaching world know that his
philosophy works,” says fullback Michael Robinson. “You can love a guy up and
[still] create an environment that’s conducive to winning. He’s the first coach
to do it that way, to have a college-type atmosphere in the pros.”
“I don’t think anybody thought
his system could work,” says All-Pro corner back Richard Sherman. “It shows you
can win with positivity, with having a great mindset. They say you have to be a
hard coach to win in this league, but that’s not who he is. We love it.”
Its About Everybody
Growing/Including Other Coaches:
For instance, one of his first
questions for potential hires is: Can you explain your coaching philosophy in
25 words or less? He spends a week every off-season on staff development and
requires each person to make the case for why he should climb the next rung on
the coaching ladder.
“He works through those details
with them, and it really comes from a good-hearted place,” Roth says. “He wants
to get the best out of them because then there’s a sense of ownership.”
Knowing Who You Are And Getting
the Most Out Of Others:
“This means everything to him,”
he said. “He’s a man who really knows who he is. He understands how to let
people be themselves, and he understands how to bring staffs together. You see
the way he built this team in four years—fantastic leader, great mentor. To see
him work day after day, his exuberance, his excitement, his energy, he never
has a bad day. I think he really learned from his previous stops.”
Always Compete:
Which begs the question, could
he have accepted not having a third shot at the NFL?
“No, not at all,” Norton says.
“He always wanted to get back. Competition for him is not a word, it’s a way of
life. He just lives it, breathes it, every day. I don’t know if he ever said,
‘This is my chance to show people,’ but he showed it. It was his actions. He
knew what he wanted to do. He knew exactly if he ever had the opportunity to do
it again that he was going to do it his way—and he has.”
SEATTLE — An hour after his Seahawks defeated the 49ers to earn
a spot in Super Bowl XLVIII, Pete Carroll emerged from his office at
CenturyLink Field with general manager John Schneider by his side. The two
smiled and laughed as they walked slowly down a long hallway, stopping at times
to pose for pictures with players, equipment staff and the George Halas Trophy,
which is presented to the NFC champion.
Carroll had swapped his game attire for jeans, a button-down
shirt and a heavy pullover. He was comfortable, content and surprisingly calm
for someone who had taken a team that had just five wins the year before he
arrived to the second Super Bowl appearance in the franchise’s 38-year history.
He also was resigned to the likelihood that few people would accept that he
felt neither redemption nor payback from the 23-17 victory.
Carroll was considered a failure in his previous two NFL stops.
The Jets fired him after one season (1994) and the Patriots pink-slipped him
after three (1997-99). He was a nice guy with a reputation for being too
enthusiastic, too friendly, too positive. He was viewed as someone better
suited for the rah-rah world of college, where from 2001 to ’09 he turned USC
into a national power, claiming 97 victories, seven straight Pac-10 titles and
two national championships in nine seasons. His approach was occasionally
unconventional, which is why many people expected him to fail a third time when
he said he would use the exact same philosophies with the Seahawks as he did
with the Trojans.
“I can remember being with him the day he was deciding to take
the job to go to Seattle,” says Yogi Roth, a Pac-12 Network analyst who was a
USC assistant under Carroll. “He had a really clear vision of how he wanted to
do things and relentlessly competed to hang on to it. He refused to budge. When
you’ve let go of elements of the past that are hard to deal with, and when you
know yourself as well as he did at that time …”
Roth paused before continuing: “Pete told me once, ‘They already
killed me once—they got me in New York and they got me in Boston—so I’m going
to be me. They can’t hurt me now.’ For Pete that was a very humble way of
saying, ‘I’ve been through a lot, and if I go to Seattle I’m going to do it the
way that I’ve laid it out, exactly to my personality and to my philosophical
approach.”
For Carroll, Sunday wasn’t about proving anyone wrong. It was
about proving himself right. It was about affirming that his coaching
tenets—the relentless competitiveness, the constant quest to identify and
maximize the uniqueness of every player and coach, the commitment to a nurturing
environment that allows people to be themselves while still being accountable
to the team—could work on any level, including the NFL.
“It’s something I came in hoping we could really demonstrate,
because I really do believe this is a different way of dealing with people,”
Carroll says. “It’s a way that you can help people find heights that they might
not have found otherwise. There’s a lot that goes into that statement, but I
believe it because I’ve watched it, I’ve seen it. I was just hoping that if the
opportunity came along we’d get a chance to show it because I respect the NFL
so much. It’s the hardest, most difficult, most competitive challenge to excel
at. It’s special—special—to see the things we believe in working.”
During his year out of football the following year, Carroll did
some serious self-scouting. He asked himself what he could do better, and he
reflected on the words of his mother, who often told him to treat each day as
if something positive were about to happen. That mentality is contrary to the
ways of the NFL, where people tend to focus on things that could go wrong.
Carroll would no longer allow himself to be one of those individuals.
He also read Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and
Reflections On and Off the Court, the powerful memoir by the former UCLA
basketball coach John Wooden. It resonated with Carroll not only because Wooden
needed 17 years before winning his first national championship, but also
because he believed in being positive and nurturing. Carroll also pulled
nuggets from successful coaches whom he had worked under, like Bill Walsh, Bud
Grant and George Seifert.
Ultimately he formulated a blueprint that was heavy on fun and
competition and taking advantage of the uniqueness of each individual. He would
have themes for each day of the week—Tell the Truth Monday, Competition
Wednesday, Turnover Thursday. He would have the first-string offense and
defense face off in brief unscripted scrimmages so they would be ready for
things they hadn’t prepared for. He would blare music throughout practice to
raise the energy level and force his players to focus and refocus amid
distractions.
“I didn’t know I’d get another chance in the NFL—I didn’t think
that—so that’s why I went the college route, to try to see what would happen if
we applied these philosophies,” Carroll says. “Fortunately, going into SC, I
was so ready to go in there. I had had a big change in my thinking and had
adjusted things, so that was like the proving ground, and it worked out great.
We’ve come here to Seattle and we haven’t done one thing different. It
basically comes down to taking care of the people in your program and making
them the best they can be—not giving up on them and never failing to be there
for them. They don’t even totally know that’s how we are with them, because we
do it so completely.”
In the process he has forced critics who said his way was too
collegiate and corny for the NFL to rethink that.
“This lets the rest of the National Football League and the rest
of the coaching world know that his philosophy works,” says fullback Michael
Robinson. “You can love a guy up and [still] create an environment that’s
conducive to winning. He’s the first coach to do it that way, to have a
college-type atmosphere in the pros.”
“I don’t think anybody thought his system could work,” says
All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman. “It shows you can win with positivity, with
having a great mindset. They say you have to be a hard coach to win in this
league, but that’s not who he is. We love it.”
What’s not to love? In his four years, with the aid of astute
personnel moves by Schneider, Carroll has taken the Seahawks from 5-11 the year
before he arrived to 7-9, 7-9, 11-5 and 13-3. He has qualified for the playoffs
three times and won at least one game in each appearance. He has tried to
better not only himself, but those around him.
For instance, one of his first questions for potential hires is:
Can you explain your coaching philosophy in 25 words or less? He spends a week
every offseason on staff development and requires each person to make the case
for why he should climb the next rung on the coaching ladder.
“He works through those details with them, and it really comes
from a good-hearted place,” Roth says. “He wants to get the best out of them
because then there’s a sense of ownership.”
Linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. played with the 49ers when
Carroll was the defensive coordinator there in 1995 and ’96. Norton was later
was an assistant on Carroll’s staff at USC and followed him to Seattle when
Carroll joined the Seahawks. Late Sunday night, after the win over the 49ers
complete, he stood in the locker room in a suit and tie with a NFC Champion cap
on his head. He thought about the journey that Carroll has experienced, sighed
and smiled.
“This means everything to him,” he said. “He’s a man who really
knows who he is. He understands how to let people be themselves, and he
understands how to bring staffs together. You see the way he built this team in
four years—fantastic leader, great mentor. To see him work day after day, his
exuberance, his excitement, his energy, he never has a bad day. I think he
really learned from his previous stops.”
Which begs the question, could he have accepted not having a
third shot at the NFL?
“No, not at all,” Norton says. “He always wanted to get back.
Competition for him is not a word, it’s a way of life. He just lives it,
breathes it, every day. I don’t know if he ever said, ‘This is my chance to
show people,’ but he showed it. It was his actions. He knew what he wanted to
do. He knew exactly if he ever had the opportunity to do it again that he was
going to do it his way—and he has.”
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