A look at Pete Carroll's impact off the field
Pete Carroll's community impact
Taking a look back at Pete Carroll's impacts on and off the field over the last 14 seasons with the Seahawks.
SEATTLE - The Seattle Seahawks have parted ways with head coach Pete Carroll after 14 seasons, but in that time, he's become known for more than his stellar coaching, but for his humanitarian leadership.
Carroll is known throughout the professional football community and the Seattle community as an advocate. He made sure his players felt heard off the field too, and spoke on topics like racism in America, the COVID pandemic and making a difference.
During the 2020 racial injustice protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police, Carroll gave a 15-minute speech calling on fellow coaches to use their influence to listen to the message that Black fans and players have been telling them for years.
"Black people know the truth, they know exactly what's going on. It's white people who don't know. It's not that they're not telling us; they've been telling us the stories. We know what's right and what's wrong, we just have not been open to listen to it," Carroll said in 2020.
And he made sure to take his own words into action-- he committed to listening to the Black Lives Matter movement as the need for social reform took center stage.
"Understanding how powerful it is to say that ‘Black Lives Matter’ and to stand behind that principle and that thought. What that means to us is just more clearer than it was as it was to our players, as it to myself personally. As we all grow, we need to stay with it, we need to make something happen and we need to really worth this thing until we get where it has to go, to the right place where everybody is considered free and equal and just things are happening," he said in 2020.
His ability to listen and grow earned him even more respect from his players.
Another part of Carroll’s legacy was his involvement in WE Day Seattle, a charity event that helps those internationally who are stuck in poverty or forced in to child labor.
"As you go through this day, feel the energy, feel the juice. Spread the word! There's people all over our community that need to hear about this!"
Carroll will still have some involvement with the Seahawks, and likely still have involvement in the community that he loves.