Seattle Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll ‘Went Off’ On Owners Over Dragging Their Feet to Diversify the League

Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll isn’t standing on the sideline in the discussion about coaching diversity in the NFL.

According to an ESPN report, the 70-year-old spoke at the league’s meeting in Palm Beach last week, where he did not hold back his opinions about diversity hiring practices at the coach level.

Carroll Comes For NFL Owners

“He just went off,” according to a source, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “He was saying, you can do anything, but until owners get to know these candidates before the actual interviews and understand that they have to hire people who are different than them, it’s not going to really change.”

It seems like Carroll knows the NFL version of the Catalina wine mixer in coaching has been devoid of diverse candidates.

#Seahawks HC Pete Carroll stood up and called out owners during last week's meetings and let them know that the hiring practices around the NFL won't change unless owners get out of their own universe, per @AdamSchefter.

Carroll's rant went for 10 minutes. No one challenged him.

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) April 4, 2022

However, according to reports, Carroll’s words might not have bode well with the ownership group for the NFL’s 32 teams.

New Rules

Recently, the league announced that all 32 NFL teams must hire a minority offensive assistant coach for the 2022 season. It is the league’s attempt at jumpstarting a more inclusive coaching pool.

According to the new policy, the most significant change is that the offensive assistant coach hire can be “a female or a member of an ethnic or racial minority.”

Interestingly, Carroll’s words came a day after the new rule was announced. According to a statement from the NFL during the league meetings, the NFL’s Workplace Diversity Committee rolled out the changes to “strengthen and enhance the effectiveness of the NFL’s Rooney Rule,” according to a statement from the NFL.

When Keeping It Real Goes Right

According to reports, Carroll spoke for 10 minutes to the GMs and coaches. With three Black coaches in the league, Carroll’s words come when all eyes are on NFL owner culture.

If reports are accurate, Carroll assesses the lack of diversity across the NFL coaching spectrum as a lack of relationship between minority candidates and the owners.

Speaking directly to the GMs was a strategic move, since they advise ownership, and trust they did a “Runteldat,” Martin Lawrence-style, to the owner’s suite as soon as Carroll was done.

To find out more about Pete Carroll’s scathing indictment of NFL hiring practices concerning minorities, click here.