Pete Carroll still likes Robert Kraft

Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has nothing against former employer and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

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Before the Hooded One coached the Patriots, there was another, way back in 1997, and that was Pete Carroll. Hired on February 3 to replace outgoing Bill Parcells, Carroll was the opposite of his predecessor. He coached three season with the Patriots, going 10-6, 9-7 and finally 8-8. That ended his second head coaching foray into the NFL and he headed to USC to coach the Trojans.

Now coach of the defending champion Seahawks, who are on the hunt for another ring, Carroll was fired by Patriots owner Robert Kraft after that 8-8 1999 season. That doesn’t mean Carroll’s looking for revenge, though.

No, in fact, he says he still has good feelings towards Kraft and even called him after his team and Kraft’s team won their respective championship games.

“I think we’ve remained in a good relationship and it’s been very consistent,” Carroll said. “Whenever we bump into each other, whenever there is a time for us to cross paths, we always check in and that’s just been the way that it has been.” (via Pro Football Talk)

Of course a big part of the Patriots/Seahawks story line is that the Seahawks are the first team since the 2003 and 2004 Patriots to make it back to the Super Bowl after winning it the previous year. Carroll believes he’s a much better coach now than when he was with the Patriots.

“I’ve been through so many experiences since then, so many challenges and it’s really just about evolving as a coach and as a man,” Carroll said. “But, you know, there were a lot of days back in those years when, man, I was just winging it and trying to do the best I could in figuring it out.”

Seahawks fans remembering when Carroll took over in Seattle, might recall some of that “winging it”. Plays that worked better in college, dubious quarterback hirings like Charlie Whitehurst and various other things that led to two 7-9 years in a row and probably more than a little discontent in some circles.

However, Carroll figured it out by 2012, probably not coincidentally the year Russell Wilson was drafted, and his team is now in the Super Bowl for the second time in the five years he’s coached them. Consecutive titles would only add to the legacy he’s built in Seattle.

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