How Raiders' HC Carroll Stayed Coaching Last Season

The Las Vegas Raiders will be led by the veteran head coach Pete Carroll this season. When the Raiders hired Carroll earlier this offseason, it caught some people around the NFL by surprise. That is because Carroll spent last season away from the National Football League.

And some even thought that Carroll would call it a career. But that was far from what Carroll was thinking. During his year away from the NFL, he was looking for a way to get back into it as a head coach.

Carroll spent last season around his family and still around the game of football. He wanted his son's coach and his grandsons to play. And that is when he still had the itch for coaching in the NFL. The coach in him wanted to do whatever it took to get back into coaching. And when the Raiders came calling, he was ready and has been grateful for the opportunity

fff — Aug 23, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Las Vegas Raiders offensive line coach Brennan Carroll against the Arizona Cardinals during a preseason NFL game at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Pete Carroll's Family

"But there were, he explained to me, on another 100-degree Vegas morning, some things he picked up along the way. He got to see his sons coaching last year—with Brennan at the University of Washington and Nate coaching for Dave Canales with the Panthers. But the most interesting stories he had, I thought, came from Carroll watching his grandson playing for the junior varsity at a high school back in the Seattle area," said Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.

"He’d already been taking notes in studying football at the higher levels, both through watching his sons’ teams and otherwise."

Las Vegas Raiders Pete Carroll | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

"One example was how he’d always valued the turnover margin—and preached the game being “all about the ball”—but saw other coaches’ detail in teaching ball security on offense, and how to go after the ball on defense, and says now, in his teachings, “there’s more substance to it.” He also spent a lot of time working on the ins and outs of the new kickoff rules in the NFL."

fff — Aug 23, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll against the Arizona Cardinals during a preseason NFL game at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

“I took a good look at what it was like to be retired, and I can do that later,” said Raiders head coach Pete Carroll. “The way I can phrase it to you, is the pursuit of passion, getting back into doing things at this level, with this kind of intensity, trying to help people do things that they’ve never done before, there's just so much there.

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