Pete Carroll shades Seahawks: Wasn’t ‘football people’ who decided on exit

This week has been quite chaotic in terms of coaching in the NFL. There were some shocking news, like the Tennessee Titans firing Mike Vrabel. But when it comes to the one piece of coaching news that caught plenty of people in the NFL world by surprise, it's the Seattle Seahawks moving on from head coach Pete Carroll. Now, Carroll will serve as an advisor for the team, while the team looks for a new sideline boss.

Carroll being ousted as head coach was surprising, considering the days after the season he expressed his desire to continue. So, what went behind the move?

During an appearance on Seattle Sports 710-AM, Carroll detailed how he fought to keep his job in year-end meetngs. However, Carroll said of the people making the decision, "they're not football people."

Pete Carroll throws shade at Seahawks for exit

"And then, OK, what is the essence of the adjustments that are necessary?" Carroll said, h/t ESPN. "That's where maybe we don't see eye to eye on, because I see it one way and I think I've got a way to fix it and I'm not going to kind of halfway fix it; I'm trying to fix it so it's perfect. I've got real precise and specific thoughts and they may not see if that way, they may not agree with it, they may not see that that's the right answer or that's not the answer that makes them feel good. The difficult part is, if you guys could know, it's really hard because they're not football people. They're not coaches, and so to get to the real details of it is really difficult for other people."

Carroll tried his hardest to convince the Seahawks to move forward with him as head coach, but they obviously had other ideas, as he mentions in the quote above.

In recent years, the Seahawks were expected to be one of the worst teams in football. That was the consensus last year when they traded away Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos. Instead, the Broncos were horrendous, while the Seahawks shocked the world by clinching a Wild Card berth after an unbelievable season from quarterback Geno Smith.

As for this season, the Seahawks narrowly missed out on the postseason, due in part to the Green Bay Packers beating the Chicago Bears in Week 18. But with a 9-8 record and plenty of young talent on the team, the future was bright for the Seahawks. Now, with Carroll out, members of the coaching staff are free to find jobs elsewhere.

Carroll meanwhile, is entertaining the idea of coaching again, but is unsure if that would happen this year.

"I don't know that," said Carroll, h/t ESPN. "I've got plenty of energy for it and thought and willingness, but I can't imagine there's a place, the right one. I don't know. I'm open to everything, but I'm not holding my breath on that. There's a lot of world out here that I'm excited about challenging and going after. So if that happens, it happens. We'll see. I really don't know what to tell you about that yet."

As for where the Seahawks could pivot to, the one name that has been heavily linked to is Dan Quinn, the current defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys, who served in the same role from 2013 and 2014 when the team had the Legion of Boom.

There will be a new era of Seahawks football in 2024. Carroll tried his hardest to keep his job, but he insists that those without football knowledge in the organization were the ones behind the decision.