Pete Carroll out as Seattle Seahawks coach after 14 seasons

The Seattle Seahawks have removed Pete Carroll from the role of head coach, the team announced Wednesday.

The Seahawks released a statement from chair Jody Allen announcing the move, thanking Carroll for his 14 years in the role. In the statement, Allen said Carroll will “remain with the organization as an advisor.”

The Seahawks and Carroll will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Seattle closed the regular season with a 21-20 win at Arizona on Sunday. The Seahawks entered the final two weeks of the regular season with the chance at reaching the playoffs for the 11th time with Carroll in charge, but a Week 17 loss to Pittsburgh left Seattle in need of help it didn’t get to close out the season.

Carroll is the most successful coach in Seahawks history, owning a 137-89-1 record for a .606 winning percentage over 14 seasons. He led Seattle to its only Super Bowl championship at the end of the 2013 season, where the Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos 43-8.

But Carroll’s team never fully recovered from what happened in the Super Bowl a year later with Russell Wilson’s goal line interception in the final seconds, and Seattle never experienced another title that could wash away the memories of what happened in Super Bowl 49.

Under Carroll, the Seahawks made the playoffs 10 times and won five NFC West titles, but they seemed to plateau toward the end of Carroll’s time. Seattle finished with a losing record in 2021, made the playoffs at 9-8 in 2022 and was unable to make the leap that it was expected to being more of a contender in the NFC West this season.

Despite the lackluster final chapter, Carroll’s tenure in Seattle will be viewed as the most successful run since the franchise arrived in 1976. He ushered in a player-friendly environment built around allowing personalities to show within the defined structure of his system. Carroll preached competition but made it fun along the way.

The Seahawks brought Carroll to town in 2009 after he enjoyed a successful nine-year tenure in the college ranks at USC, where he won seven straight Pac-10 championships, as well as two straight national titles in 2003 and 2004.

The pairing of Carroll as coach and Wilson as quarterback led the Seahawks to their highest heights in franchise history, but the team parted ways with Wilson after the 2021 season in a trade with the Denver Broncos. That led most to believe Seattle would take a step back from playoff contention, but they made a surprising run to the postseason with Geno Smith at QB in 2022.

That led to hopes that 2023 would make for another step forward, but the Hawks fell short of that goal as defensive issues continued to plague the squad.

This story was originally published on Seattle Sports. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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