Pete Carroll to return to USC, maintains distance from Seattle Seahawks

In one of his first public appearances since his time piloting the Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll announced he is returning to USC as an instructor, according to an interview with Sports Radio 93.3 KJR-FM.

“We are excited to welcome Pete Carroll home to USC in a new capacity in which he can, as a legendary coach and leader, share his knowledge and experience with our students,” USC wrote in a statement obtained by The LA Times.

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“I’m excited about it because there’s more stuff to teach,” Carroll told KJR. “There’s more stuff to share. Everybody wants to know what I’m doing and all that. Am I coaching? Or, what am I doing? I’m working with some really fun people and some exciting opportunities to do some really cool stuff and putting things together.”

In the interview with KJR Tuesday, Carroll made it clear he has kept his distance from the franchise, despite earlier reports that claimed he received an advisory role with the organization.

“Pete talked to Doug Baldwin on KJR and told him that he has no real contact with the new coach and only met Mike Macdonald in a parking lot in passing, saying, ‘I’m purposefully staying away from it, and I’m not visiting with them at all,'” The Gee and Ursula Show producer Andrew Lanier said on KIRO Newsradio.

Carroll coached USC from 2001 to 2009 before joining the Seattle Seahawks for the next 14 years, crescendoing with a Super Bowl title in 2013. Carroll is just one of only three coaches to win both a Super Bowl and a college national championship.

“Pete Carroll deserved one more year,” KIRO host Gee Scott said. “What’s upsetting to me, when I listen to some of these sports radio folks, its OK to like the new coach in Mike Macdonald. As a matter of fact, I like the new coach in Mike Macdonald. Good dude. I like what he’s going to be doing, but you don’t have to bad mouth the last coach that was here. Make no mistake about it, real quick, full stop, if you were to talk about your greatest most memorable Seahawks memory, you all know it’s most likely going to be something that happened within the Pete Carroll era.”

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There are no other specifics about Carroll’s current post with USC yet, but he starts the 2025 spring semester. Carroll also mentioned he will be doing some advising for certain non-football clubs as well.

“I don’t want to say they did him dirty, but I guess I would have wished that the ending was better,” KIRO host Ursula Reutin added. “It just feels like there should have been a better way to end the Pete Carroll era and then move on to this next era. I’m sad about that actually.”

Listen to Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin weekday mornings from 9 a.m.- noon on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.