Nice guys finish first.
There were head-coaching stays for Pete Carroll with the Jets and Patriots and he wasn’t much of a winner in either stop. Sure, he went to USC and produced two national championships, which was altogether fitting, as his rah-rah methods seemed perfectly suited for the college game and too soft for the NFL.
Well, no one can say Carroll’s very different-from-the-norm coaching style can’t cut it in the big leagues. He stuck to his beliefs and assembled quite a powerhouse team in Seattle, built around a deep and dastardly defense that allowed the fewest points in the NFL in 2013. Carroll played it cool and loose in the week leading up to Super Bowl XLVIII and was rewarded Sunday night with a hot-and-heavy performance by his Seahawks in an overwhelming 43-8 wipeout of the Broncos at MetLife Stadium.
Championship coach in college and now championship coach in the NFL.
“Honestly it feels very, very much the same,’’ Carroll said afterward. “I know this is the NFL and all that because of the way the team came together, they way they performed, it very much resembled USC. I’m very thrilled by that.’’
Carroll gives off a youngish vibe, but at 62 he became the third-oldest coach to win a Super Bowl, behind only Tom Coughlin and Dick Vermeil. None of those other coaches allowed his players to shoot hoops before team meetings or to rock loud music during practices or to end sentences with words like “cool’’ and “neat.’’ Carroll also joins Barry Switzer and Jimmy Johnson as the only coaches to win a title in college and also win a Super Bowl.
On Friday, Carroll noticed Percy Harvin during practice had taken about 10 consecutive kickoff returns and so he stepped in for a play as the kickoff returner. Who else would do such a thing but Pete Carroll?
“Derrick Coleman hit me and Chris Maragos came across and ripped me in the face,’’ Carroll recounted. “What the heck am I doing returning the kickoff is the question. They weren’t supposed to hit me. I was cheap-shotted.’’
That’s Pete Carroll.
On Friday, Carroll also simulated the lengthy Super Bowl halftime right down to the minute. “We orchestrated the minutes and the breaks and it worked out, it was really cool, it worked out exactly like we had hoped,’’ Carroll said.
Not exactly. In Carroll’s simulation, he told his team the game was tied at 14-14. In reality, the Seahawks were in complete control, leading 22-0.
“He celebrates our individuality. It’s something you can’t really replicate, it’s not façade, the ‘Always Compete’ mantra is real,’’ receiver Doug Baldwin said of Carroll. “We would run through a wall for him.’’
The Seahawks sure ran through the Broncos for him.