Inside The Huskies

With Pete Carroll Back in Coaching, Will His Son Join Him?

The Huskies lost Steve Belichick when his father recently was hired at North Carolina.
Dan Raley|
Brennan Carroll works from the sideline during the UW-Oregon football game.
Brennan Carroll works from the sideline during the UW-Oregon football game. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Once Bill Belichick returned to the football coaching ranks over the past month, his son Steve quickly departed the University of Washington staff for North Carolina and rejoined him. There wasn't any consideration at all for the younger Belichick staying in Seattle and creating his coaching identity on his own.

Could the same happen with the Carrolls, with son Brennan becoming a one-and-done coach for Jedd Fisch in Montlake and returning to his father's coaching side?

On Friday, Pete Carroll was hired as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, given a three-year contract after taking a year off from his profession once the Seattle Seahawks pushed him out, the latter a move similar to what happened to Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots.

Both the elder Carroll and Belichick became repeat visitors to UW football practice this past year while watching their sons Brennan and Steve serve as the Husky offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, respectively, for Jedd Fisch. Pete, in particular, would walk amongst the fans at the East practice field or sit in the Husky Stadium stands for practice or a scrimmage when he wasn't chatting up Fisch, his son or UW players while standing in the middle of the field.

Hiring second-generation members from the families of potential Hall of Fame NFL coaches was a stroke of marketing and recruiting genius by Fisch 12 months ago when he took over the UW football program and urged potential players to come "be pros."

The difference in these well-known coaching families is the Belichicks have been more tied to each other's side as coaches than the Carrolls, with Brennan spending the three previous seasons with Fisch at Arizona before landing in Montlake and seemingly bent on creating his own coaching path.

Brennan Carroll and Will Rogers share a moment at Penn State.
Brennan Carroll and Will Rogers share a moment at Penn State. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Brennan Carroll, 45, last coached with his father from 2015 to 2020 as an assistant offensive-line coach and run-game coordinator for the Seahawks before taking a coordinator job with Fisch in the college ranks. He also spent four seasons on his own coaching for the Miami Hurricanes from 2011 to 2014.

Steve Belichick, 37, coached exclusively with his father from 2012 to 2023 for the Patriots before spending this past season at the UW on his own because his father was unemployed. He left the UW immediately following the Sun Bowl to go to North Carolina and become his dad's defensive coordinator, even though the school still hasn't formally announced his hiring.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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