Former Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll will return to the NFL in 2025 as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, according to multiple reports Friday morning.
ESPN reported that Carroll and the Raiders have agreed to a three-year contract with a team option for a fourth year.
He will become the oldest coach in NFL history, turning 74 on Sept. 15. Romeo Crennel is the oldest coach in NFL history at 73 years and 199 days. He coached his last game with Houston as an interim coach in 2021.
The Raiders and the Seahawks do not play in 2025 but are scheduled to host the Seahawks in 2026, which will be one of the more intriguing matchups of that season. Seattle’s preseason schedule for 2025 is not set. Seattle has often played the Raiders in the preseason and it could be a natural for the teams to pair again this year. The preseason schedules are typically revealed in the spring when the entire regular-season schedule is released.
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Carroll went 137-89-1 coaching the Seahawks from 2010-23. He was fired on Jan. 11, 2024.
At that time, Carroll said he didn’t know if he would coach again noting, “I’m about as old as you can get in this business.”
He said that day that he still felt as if he could coach, and there was at least one report that he had inquired briefly about the Los Angeles Chargers opening last year after he was left go by Seattle before it went to Jim Harbaugh.
“I’m freaking jacked,” he said. “I’m fired up. I’m not tired. I’m not worn down. You guys tried your best. You didn’t wear me out. It’s the end of the season. I’m supposed to go lay on a cot somewhere. I ain’t feeling like that. What’s coming? I don’t know. I’ve got no idea.”
Carroll officially spent last season in an advisory role with the Seahawks as his contract ran through the 2024 season and he was still earning his salary, thought to have been at least $15 million.
He did not have much contact with the team and he revealed in the summer that he had accepted a job teaching a class at USC. Last week, he began teaching a class in the Marshall School of Business called “The Game is Life.” The LA Times reported that Carroll will continue co-teaching the class.
He let NFL teams know he wanted to explore opportunities to return and on Christmas Day ESPN reported that he was interested in the job with the Chicago Bears. He had an official interview with the Bears and there was a report that he had talked with the Dallas Cowboys.
Talks with the Raiders are said to have intensified in recent days when the coach thought to be the team’s top target — Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson — was hired by the Bears. The Raiders reportedly had interest in Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who was hired by the Jets.
Among those he will be working with for the Raiders is Tom Brady, who is a minority owner of the team and it’s reported he was closely involved in the search for a new coach along with majority owner Mark Davis.
Carroll will not only surpass Romeo Crennel as the oldest coach in NFL history but he will become the third coach in NFL history to be a permanent head coach for four different teams — Carroll also coached the Jets (1994) and Patriots (1997-99) along with the Seahawks, coaching at USC from 2001-09 in between NFL jobs.
The other permanent (or non-interim) coach for four different teams, according to Pro Football Talk, are Bill Parcells and Marty Schottenheimer.
One question for Carroll is how he fills out his staff. His son, Brennan, is the offensive coordinator at the University of Washington. His other son, Nate, was the pass-game coordinator for Carolina in 2024, but he reportedly won’t be returning.
A few members of the 2013 Seahawks team that won the Super Bowl are in coaching, notably linebacker K.J. Wright (defensive quality control coach with the 49ers) and DeShawn Shead (assistant defensive backs coach with the Dolphins).
New Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald kept only one member of Carroll’s staff when he took over — defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach Karl Scott. Running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu, worked under Carroll at USC from 2001-03.
The Raiders job became available when they fired Antonio Pierce following a 4-13 season in 2024. Pierce finished the 2023 season as the team’s interim coach following the firing of Josh McDaniels and went 5-4 down the stretch to earn the job for 2024.
The Raiders finished 29th in points scored as they started three different players at quarterback, including former WSU standout Gardner Minshew, who went 2-7 in nine starts. Others who got starts were Aidan O’Connell (2-5) and Desmond Ridder (0-1).
The Raiders’ uncertain QB situation could lead to speculation that Carroll might try to reunite with former Seahawks QB Russell Wilson, who is a free agent after spending the 2024 season with the Steelers. Wilson attended a party held for Carroll with many former Seahawks players, coaches and staffers following his dismissal by the Seahawks last January.
There also figures to be speculation whether Carroll and the Raiders might explore options regarding current Seahawks QB Geno Smith if talks between Smith and Seattle on a contract extension break down.
Smith has one year remaining on his current deal with Seattle that features a $44.5 million cap hit for 2025. It is expected the two sides will try to work out an extension that would bring down that cap hit and also give Smith another big immediate payday and assure his stability with the team for a few more years.
Smith confirmed last year that he approached the Seahawks in 2024 about an extension and the two sides are expected to try to work something out before the start of the new league year on March 12. But if not, Seattle will likely explore trade options and Carroll’s history with Smith and the Raiders’ needs at QB would make Las Vegas an obvious potential trade partner.
Carroll joins a loaded AFC West which features top coaches Andy Reid at Kansas City, Harbaugh with the Chargers and Sean Payton with Denver. Each has coached in at least one Super Bowl.
Harbaugh and Carroll had a memorable rivalry in the Pac-10 (Harbaugh at Stanford and Carroll USC) and in the NFC West (Harbaugh with the 49ers) culminating with the Seahawks’ win over San Francisco in the 2013 NFC Conference title game.
In Las Vegas, Carroll takes over what for years was one of the league’s most success franchises, winning three Super Bowls from 1977-84, but has fallen on hard times. The Raiders haven’t won a division title or a playoff game since 2002 and have played in just two playoff games in that span, both wild card losses.
But the Raiders also have the sixth overall pick in the 2025 draft — which means they might be able to get a quarterback of the future — and have roughly $108 million in available cap space.
The Raiders this week also hired John Spytek as their new general manager. Spytek came from Tampa Bay where he had been the assistant GM and had been on the staff during Brady’s time as the QB of the Bucs. Brady and Spytek were also teammates at Michigan.
Now, they will be joined by Carroll — whose Seahawks career will always be defined in part by the infamous goal-line interception in Super Bowl XLIX that allowed Brady and the Patriots to win another ring — in rebuilding the Raiders.