HENDERSON, Nev. — Pete Carroll was announced Saturday as the next leader of the Las Vegas Raiders, who who hope that even as the oldest head coach in the NFL, the 73-year-old will provide stability for an organization badly lacking it.
The team and Carroll agreed in principle Friday to a three-year deal with a one-year team option, a person with knowledge of the agreement told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract hadn’t been finalized at the time.
The club did not announce the terms of the deal, which brings Carroll back to an NFL sideline after a one-season absence.
Before sending out their news release, the Raiders made a social media post with a photo showing chewing gum with their indoor practice facility in the background. Carroll is known to chew gum on the sidelines.
Carroll replaces Antonio Pierce, who was fired after going 4-13 in his first full season. Pierce was 5-4 as an interim coach in 2023 after replacing Josh McDaniels.
The Raiders hope Carroll will be able to repeat the type of success he enjoyed in Seattle, where he led the Seahawks to two Super Bowl appearances as head coach. They won it all in the 2013 season and came an interception in the end zone away from having back-to-back titles, denied by the New England Patriots.
He spent 14 seasons with the Seahawks, going 137-89-1 from 2010 to 2023.
Carroll becomes the team’s 14th head coach since Jon Gruden was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002. He is the fifth coach, including those in an interim role, just since the Raiders moved to Las Vegas in 2020.
Overall, Carroll is 170-120-1 in the NFL.
He began his NFL head-coaching career with the New York Jets in 1994, going 6-10. He was 27-21 in three seasons with the Patriots from 1997-99 and joined the Seahawks in 2010 after nine seasons in the college ranks at Southern California. He led the Trojans to back-to-back AP national championships in the 2003-04 seasons; they were also the BCS champs in the second of those campaigns, but LSU was the BCS champ for 2003.
Carroll will become the third NFL coach since 1940 to lead at least four teams, joining Bill Parcells and Marty Schottenheimer.