Will Pete Carroll win with Seahawks?
Pete Carroll is headed to the Seattle Seahawks, where his payroll, talent and competition level will be about the same as he leaves behind at Southern Cal. The Trojans have their Washington State, the Seahawks have their St. Louis Rams.
The NFC West sits there for the taking, just as Mike Holmgren took it from 2004-07, with four straight division titles. The Rams stink. The 49ers on a perpetual mediocre treadmill. The Cardinals’ Kurt Warner can’t play forever, though a 51-45 overtime victory over Green Bay suggested otherwise Sunday.
Seattle is a place where the right coach can win big, so the question becomes, is Carroll the right coach? These college-to-NFL jumps don’t always work out. Nick Saban was a restless soul with the Miami Dolphins. Steve Spurrier was a bust with the Redskins. Butch Davis did OK with the Browns. Mike Riley bombed with the Chargers. Steve Mariucci, who spent only one year as Cal’s head coach, was very good with the 49ers. Dennis Erickson was so-so with the Seahawks. Rich Brooks was mediocre with the Rams. Tom Coughlin was very good with Jacksonville. So was Bobby Ross with the Chargers and Dennis Green with the Vikings. Dick McPherson was awful with New England. Jack Pardee did well with the Houston Oilers. Jimmy Johnson soared with the Cowboys. Ray Perkins did nothing with the Buccaneers. Darryl Rogers stunk at Detroit. Sam Wyche actually wasn’t bad in Cincinnati.
So that goes back a quarter century. Lots of misses. Few hits. Can Carroll be one of the few? Well, unlike most of the coaches previously mentioned, we have some NFL data with which to judge Carroll. He’s spent four years as head coach in the NFL, before restoring the luster to USC.
Carroll was 6-10 with the 1994 Jets, then went 27-21 with the Patriots from 1997-99. That’s a record of 33-31, plus two playoff appearances, in which he was 1-2. Carroll was fired from both places.
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