As the Cowboys inch closer to a full week of having a head coaching vacancy, they’ve already begun to hold several interviews. One name that has been mentioned a couple of times, but who has yet to be scheduled for an interview, is Pete Carroll.

The soon-to-be 74-year old coach led the Seahawks for 14 seasons, going to the Super Bowl in consecutive seasons and winning once, before stepping down after the 2023 season. Carroll has interviewed for the Bears and Raiders jobs already, is said to be desperate to get back into coaching, and has a certain distinction that is sure to appeal to Jerry Jones:

But what would a Carroll-led Cowboys team actually look like? To get a better idea, I spoke with two of the foremost Seahawks experts (and fans) in Ben Baldwin of The Athletic and Matty Brown of Seahawks on Tape. Let’s break down the prospect of Carroll becoming the Cowboys coach.

Coaching philosophy

“Leader of men” and “culture builder” are coaching terms that get thrown around a lot, but they apply directly to Carroll. Brown describes Carroll as a psychologist who also coaches football. In fact, Carroll’s work with University of Pennsylvania psychology professor Angela Duckworth has helped to define his coaching philosophy, on which Carroll wrote a book titled “Always Compete.”

The two main tenets of Carroll’s philosophy are competition and grit, things he was able to clearly define during his time in Seattle. Carroll even devised an in-depth competitiveness scale that was plastered on the walls of the Seahawks facility to explain to players what he was looking for.

Baldwin also notes that Carroll is known for sayings and catchphrases that quickly sum up what he’s looking for, a technique that Dan Quinn has used as well. One such phrase is “Positive attracts positive,” which makes up one of Carroll’s three rules:

The list of Head Coaches with a National Championship and Super Bowl:

🏆 Jimmy Johnson
🏆 Barry Switzer
🏆 Pete Carroll pic.twitter.com/MS1nuciBsD

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) January 10, 2024

The simplest way to summarize Carroll’s overarching philosophy is that it’s one based on competition, grit, and accountability. At their peak, the Seahawks were emblematic of all three points, and many feel that’s needed in Dallas right now.

Offensive mindset

As is the case with many defensive head coaches, Carroll has a reputation for being a conservative, run-first coach. However, both Brown and Baldwin refute this claim, pointing to the hard data. Per Brown:

There’s a couple of misconceptions about him. I’d say he’s branded as a run first coach, which if you look at early down pass rates, it’s just not true. He did run a bit more when the zone read was so effective with Russell Wilson, because of the efficiency, but what Pete has always spoke of is balance in an offense.

Baldwin added:

A lot of the perception was driven by the hire of Schottenheimer after passing a lot with Bevell in 2017 and the subsequent extreme run heaviness in 2018 (culminating in the disastrous playoff loss in Dallas that I’m sure Cowboys fans remember). In recent years it was much less extreme and they were even pass-heavy in the Geno Smith years. I think he’s more flexible with run heaviness now.

Carroll values a strong, reliable run game but is not hard-headed about it. Instead, he prefers to have an offense that takes pressure off its quarterback, frequently talking about his quarterback being more of a point guard than playing Superman all the time. Brown explains how this philosophy has drawn Carroll to the West Coast offense:

Pete was influenced a lot by the West Coast offense when he was with the 49ers in the 90’s, and if you look at his hires since that point, he’s been trying to replicate a West Coast, wide zone version of the offense.

In fact, his most recent offensive coordinator in Seattle was Shane Waldron, who he hired off of Sean McVay’s Rams staff. Odds are good that Carroll would return to that well with Dallas, especially considering how effective the approach was in turning Russell Wilson – a third-round pick – into a star and, later, reviving Geno Smith’s career.

Additionally, Carroll’s affinity for the West Coast offense is advantageous given that McCarthy implemented a lot of West Coast principles into the Cowboys offense when he took over play-calling. The structure of the offense would be different, of course, but the terminology would be very similar, thus easing the learning curve for the players.

Defensive mindset

Carroll is a defensive guru through and through, and his Legion of Boom defense defined his Seahawks tenure. Fundamentally, Carroll considers himself a disciple of Monte Kiffin and his legendary Tampa 2 scheme.

The Legion of Boom was essentially a modernization of the Tampa 2, incorporating elements of the 3-4 defense and pivoting to more middle-of-field-closed coverages to account for the trend of offenses targeting the middle of the field so much. Several Carroll proteges, including Dan Quinn, have found resounding success with tweaked versions of this defense lately.

A big part of the Seahawks’ decline under Carroll was the defensive decline after star players like Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas left and, as Baldwin notes, general manager John Schneider largely failed to replace those players:

…the team just wasn’t as good following the early 2010-s Legion of Boom years. Schneider definitely didn’t help, but I also wonder how much of Carroll’s defensive ideas require having an Earl Thomas. The defense was never the same after he left.

Carroll, who also held the title of executive vice president of football operations, had the contractual right to overrule Schneider on personnel decisions. However, both Baldwin and Brown suggest that Carroll rarely used this power, largely relying on Schneider’s instinct, sometimes to a fault. Schneider himself has echoed the same sentiment.

Pete Carroll's 3 Rules:

1. Be Early
"It's all about being organized and showing respect."

2. Protect the Team
"Are you helping or hurting the team? Every decision has an impact."

3. No Whining, Complaining, Excuses
"Positive attracts positive. Negative attracts negative."

— The Coaches' Journal (@TheCoachJournal) August 3, 2022

Carroll’s final year in Seattle saw a complete overhaul of the defensive scheme, largely implemented by ownership decree, and transitioned to more of a Vic Fangio defense. The switch did not work well, unsurprisingly, so any Carroll tenure in 2025 going forward would likely see a return to his traditional scheme.

That’s good news for the Cowboys, who have plenty of exposure to this style of defense from both Quinn and Kris Richard, two former Seahawks coordinators. Statistically speaking, the Cowboys’ two best stretches of defense the last decade came under both coaches.

Potential coaching staff

One of the benefits to Carroll’s lengthy career is that he has a deep, deep list of names that he could reach out to when building a staff. In trying to guess at a potential Carroll staff in 2025, bets are good that he’d reunite with several names from his Seahawks tenure.

Chad Morton coached running backs in Chicago this past year and would likely jump at the chance to reunite with Carroll given his comments on the coach a year ago. Clint Hurtt (defensive line), Karl Scott (defensive backs), and John Glenn (linebackers) are all with other teams, but could depart for Dallas.

At defensive coordinator, there are several options. Gus Bradley, Carroll’s first defensive coordinator in Seattle, is available; for what it’s worth, Brown feels that pairing is unlikely, but didn’t rule it out. Robert Saleh has frequently spoken highly of Carroll, and is looking for a career reset after his firing by the Jets. He’s also set to interview for the Cowboys’ head coaching job, connecting some potential dots. And Aden Durde is a rising coach with obvious ties to both Dan Quinn and Dallas (his brother is still a Cowboys scout); Durde is the Seahawks defensive coordinator, but he doesn’t call plays.

On offense, Carroll would likely seek to pluck another coach off the Shanahan or McVay tree, according to Brown. Mike LaFleur, current Rams offensive coordinator, has experience under both coaches and was also Saleh’s first coordinator with the Jets. He doesn’t call plays currently, and McVay has a history of allowing his coordinators to make lateral moves in order to call plays, doing just that with LaFleur’s brother, Matt.

Outside of LaFleur, Carroll could look at Klint Kubiak, most recently the Saints’ offensive coordinator and current coaching free agent, or his most recent Seahawks coordinator in Shane Waldron. Carroll may also look at some first time play-callers like 49ers tight ends coach Brian Fleury, Rams pass game coordinator Nick Caley, Packers pass game coordinator Jason Vrable, or Panthers (non-play-calling) offensive coordinator Brad Idzik, who coached under Carroll for several years before following Canales, first to Tampa Bay and then to Carolina. The aforementioned Waldron is also available.

Succession plan

The elephant in the room is Carroll’s age. He’ll turn 74 around Week 3 of the regular season, that would make him the oldest head coach to ever coach an NFL game. Carroll’s energy might be enough to convince some he can actually last the length of his contract, but it’s highly unlikely he’d coach into his 80’s.

For what it’s worth, both Baldwin and Brown have zero question of Carroll’s passion for the game.

“[Carroll’s age is] definitely a factor… this man is so energetic. He’s still really energetic. If he dyed his hair, you’d think he was fifty, easy. He is pure energy. Even his skin, he’s a vegan, I don’t think he drinks coffee, he is all natural and zen. He’s Mister Yoga and he exudes energy.”

When asked about Carroll’s age being a barrier to connecting with players, Baldwin said “This would be the least of my concerns. Carroll has always connected very well with players. This is probably his biggest strength.”

Reports from Carroll’s interview with the Bears suggested that he was putting together a hypothetical staff with a succession plan in mind. Carroll has a track record of developing coaches who work under him, too. In Seattle, he saw Gus Bradley and Dan Quinn leave for head coaching jobs, while position coaches like Jedd Fisch, Dave Canales, and Saleh later went on to become head coaches elsewhere and now credit Carroll for their growth.

Even at USC, Carroll coached and developed several young minds who went on to become college head coaches in Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, and Ed Orgeron. Kiffin and Sarkisian have both posted consecutive double digit win seasons in the SEC, and Orgeron won a national championship at LSU.

The idea of Carroll coming to Dallas with a head coach in waiting to learn under him isn’t the worst idea, especially considering Jones already has someone in mind: Jason Witten. Even back in his playing days, Witten was being talked about as a future coach. He’s already proven the hype right, leading Liberty Christian High School to consecutive state titles this year.

Witten seems to have a bright future as a coach, but he needs a lot more experience before leading an NFL team. Few coaches are more knowledgeable or accomplished as Carroll. So why not pair the two up and groom Witten to one day take over for Carroll?

Can he work with Jerry Jones?

The number one question for any head coaching candidate comes down to their ability to work with Jerry Jones. As mentioned before, Carroll had final say on roster decisions in Seattle, but he rarely exercised that power. Instead, he formulated clear parameters for what he wanted in a player and relied on Schneider to find players that fit that mold.

Jones and Will McClay have generally shown a willingness to take a similar approach, targeting different kinds of players for both Garrett and McCarthy. Brown notes that Seattle often took a similarly conservative approach in free agency to the Cowboys, so Carroll would come in with a level of familiarity in that sense.

At the end of the day, the Cowboys head coach needs to be someone who can manage ownership effectively, not being overly demanding to the point of being tuned out but also not rolling over. Brown believes Carroll has the personality to do that, but also questions if he has the patience for such a task after everything that unfolded in Seattle.

He’s a very good communicator, first, but also he’s an empath. He really understands the other person and where they’re coming from. I think the scary thing with Jerry is, yeah he can be hands off at times, but what if he just really loves Johnny Manziel?

I think if anyone can handle that, Pete Carroll can. But whether he wants to after [everything in Seattle] I just don’t know.

Brown ended our discussion with one final note about Carroll’s ability to manage a lot of moving parts in Seattle without things falling apart at the seams.

Another thing about Pete: a lot of stuff was kept in-house. So much of it. Which, again, when we talk about Dallas [chuckles] good luck with that, right?