The legendary football coach is starting his debut season as the Las Vegas Raiders’ head coach. Carroll was teaching Geno Smith, the team’s starting quarterback at the time, when he was last on the sidelines. The two were then both Seattle Seahawks players.
Carroll discussed his exit from the Seahawks organization and disclosed that he had the last word in how things transpired in a recent Seattle Sports interview.
Carroll stated during an appearance on Brock & Salk that “it came to me that there was a time that we probably were about to face one of the bigger changes, shifts, in the time of the program, and I had really been dedicated, as John had been dedicated to doing this thing in great fashion together, John Schneider.”
I reasoned that because we had already accomplished that, John should actually take the initiative. I had the lead vocals and everything of stuff during that period, and I sincerely hoped John would take over as the club’s general manager and handle it.
It’s a little different from how people may have thought, but John got his chance. “And if we could do that and figure out a way to get out of that, we did. Jody was great about it, and so we just kind of agreed upon it that if we could work it out, I would support the thought.”
Carroll added that he thinks a general manager and head coach need to be in sync and on the same page. He thought he had this with Raiders general manager John Spytek in Las Vegas and had it for the majority of his tenure in Seattle.
“In the NFL, the relationship between the general manager and the head coach is more important than any other factor at all,” Carroll stated.
“I hold that position in the highest regard, and I always treated John that way; John did the same with me.”
