RENTON — Pete Carroll may be the oldest head coach in the NFL. However, he doesn’t anticipate his time on the sidelines ending anytime soon.
The Seattle Seahawks coach pledged his future to the organization when he signed a three-year contract extension prior to the start of training camp, and as far as he’s concerned, he has no coaching shelf life.
“I don’t even want to think about that,” Carroll responded when asked about how long he intends to coach.
“There are no last stops, you just keep going. I know you guys are wondering if this is what 65 gets you (Carroll turns 65 in September).
“I’m jacked up, I’m ready to go. Any other thought about that, if you guys are worried about being 65, well OK, look at me, it isn’t that bad.”
Carroll, at 64, inherited the title as the league’s oldest coach when Tom Coughlin parted ways with the New York Giants during the offseason.
But Carroll projects an energy and an enthusiasm that belies his age.
“Obviously, to have coach Carroll back is exciting to see,” quarterback Russell Wilson said.
“He’s arguably the best coach in the National Football League. He brings so much energy to the game. We love playing for him, we love playing for each other.
“He shares the same vision as all of us and we follow him in that sense. He’s got the right guys in the locker room in terms of players.
“We’ve got so many great leaders and we feed off of each other. From the coaching staff to the players to the fans, we’re all connected, so that’s a great thing.”
Carroll is a big part of why the Seahawks have become one of the best franchises in the NFL.
Since he arrived in 2010, Seattle has gone 60-36 and reached two Super Bowls, including prevailing over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII.
His .625 winning percentage is the best of any coach in Seahawks franchise history.
Following last season, Carroll had just a year remaining on his contract, and he spent the offseason deflecting all the questions about the status of his contract.
When asked Saturday about signing his extension, Carroll initially gave a brief response that echoed his offseason answers to contract questions: “Everything is good.”
However, after a brief pause, this time Carroll chose to expand upon his thoughts.
“That is just the next stop along the way,” he said. “I know you guys keep wondering, ‘How long is he going to coach?’ I’ve got no end to this, I don’t see it. I will go as long as it’s good and we’re winning games and all that. I don’t feel any different than I’ve felt before, in fact, I feel better, I’m under my playing weight, I’m in great shape, I am ready to go.”
Carroll’s extension, which was announced last Tuesday, came two days after the team announced general manager John Schneider signed a contract extension. Schneider, who like Carroll has been with the organization since 2010, also was entering the final season of his deal.
Carroll and Schneider have built a working relationship that’s unusual in the NFL, with the pair working closely together on personnel matters, and Carroll emphasized how important it was to keep the pairing together.
“It was hugely important that we (signed Schneider to an extension) first,” Carroll said. “I don’t want to do this without John. I wanted to make sure there were no issues with that, so we saw that through first and it took a while to get that done. It is extremely important. He is a tremendous partner, he is a great GM, and he’s doing nothing but great stuff, that is all he’s done. We need to do this together. I knew I wasn’t going anywhere, I wanted to make sure we could get him in there and get this going.”
Schneider’s extension was for five years, which runs through the 2021 season. Carroll’s extension lasts through 2019. That led some to ponder why the two signed extensions of different lengths.
“He’s a younger man, I guess,” Carroll said about the 45-year-old Schneider. “He wants more security, I guess. I didn’t care about that, it didn’t matter to me.”
But what matters most to Seattle is that both Carroll and Schneider are locked up, meaning the braintrust that’s brought so much success to the Seahawks will be sticking around a while.
