The Las Vegas Raiders hired Pete Carroll as their new head coach on Friday.
Carroll, 73, comes to the Raiders with 18 years experience as a head coach and he has won a Super Bowl and he’s well respected as a culture builder and as a leader.
Let’s look at Carroll compares and differs to the five other full-time head coaches team owner Mark Davis has hired in the past 13-plus years:
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Dennis Allen:
There’s really no comparison other than they both specialize on defense. These hires are at the total different spectrum. Allen was 39 when the Raiders hired him and he had no NFL head-coaching experience and he wasn’t very well known.
Jack Del Rio:
There is some comparisons. They are both defensive coaches and Del Rio had previous NFL coaching experience as he coached the Jacksonville Jaguars for nine years. Also, like Carroll, Del Rio wasn’t a super hot coaching candidate when Davis hired him. But Del Rio couldn’t get close to Carroll’s experience or his winning pedigree. Carroll is much more respected in NFL circles than Del Rio was.
Jon Gruden:
There’s some similarities here as well. Gruden too won a Super Bowl as a head coach and he had 11 seasons of head-coaching experience when Davis brought him back to the franchise in 2018. he was also a bog name like Carroll was. There were two big differences: Gruden was already revered by Raiders fans when he came back, but he was coming off of a 10-season NFL break. Carroll was out just for last season.
Josh McDaniels:
McDaniels had some head-coaching experience, but he was mostly known as an offensive coordinator and he was 45 when Davis hired him. So, he was a pretty different case than Carroll.
Antonio Pierce:
They’re defensive coaches and that were the same path and they are both rah-rah player types. But Pierce had just nine games as an interim coach as experience and he had very little NFL coaching experience.
Conclusion:
Carroll is a pretty different hire for Carroll. He has respect around the league and there will be a lot of interest around the NFL to see if eh can still lead a winning program at this point in his career. It’s a worthwhile endeavor for all involved.
