RENTON, Wash. — Aside from Seahawks coaches yelling plays and players prepping for Week 1 of the NFL season during training camp, you may find head coach Pete Carroll throwing passes to receivers or casually running 100-yard sprints down the field before practice begins.
At 71 years old, Carroll says he has no magical secret to staying active and healthy while being the NFL's oldest head coach. All of the constant physical activity is just who he is — who he's always been.
"I'm trying to have fun to tell you the truth," Carroll said. "I'm trying to have fun out here and part of that's being able to be available for it. You gotta work and you know stay in shape to do the things you want to do."
Carroll is the oldest active head coach in front of Bill Belichick by 213 days and will turn 72 on Sept. 15. Carroll doesn't want to miss out on the opportunity to stay engaged with the game he grew up with — even if it's as simple as completing passes to his wide receivers.
"I play catch every day," Carroll said. "To me, football has always been about playing catch. ... Since I was a little kid and I don't ever want to miss that. So you got to stay in shape to throw the football around."
Associate head coach Carl Smith has had fond memories of Carroll since 1982 when the pair coached football together at North Carolina State University, as offense and defensive coordinators, respectively. So, at Seahawks practices, when Smith sees Carroll run sprints and be increasingly active, it isn't anything new.
"He hasn't really changed since I met him in '82," Smith said. "He's always had that active mindset. ... He's uncommonly consistent and uncommonly curious about things, and he likes to have fun."
Smith says Carroll's personality and high energy have persisted since the two met. The only difference Smith has noticed is Carroll's 40-yard dash time.
Carroll's abundance of energy can be translated to training camp where he's attracted widespread media attention by sprinting along the hash marks, completing passing to receivers and running out to players after a successful drill.
"Pete's been a ton of energy from Day One," tight end Will Dissly said. "He's pretty much about competing and having fun, and he's really done a good job of making sure that that's the point in this building. ... It's a big reason why we're successful."
Dissly, who is in his sixth season with the team, is one of many Seahawks players who sees Carroll's work ethic as motivating. Dissly says it reminds him that if his head coach can participate in all of these activities at his age, what stops him from showing up every day and competing.
"It's definitely inspiring," Dissly said. "When you feel like you don't want to give it a go that day and you see Pete running around, you're like, 'Damn, he's out here just doing it.'
"I'm sure his body feels worse than mine, and he's still out there running and having fun. At the end of the day, it is a reminder that this is fun."
Carroll provides a sense of excitement around the locker room with popular activities, Dissly added. All while wearing his Seahawks long-sleeved shirt, khaki pants and Air Monarchs.
"He's one of those guys that, when you look at him, he motivates you every single day," quarterback Geno Smith said last week. "You see your head coach out there running sprints — it doesn't matter how old he is, he's out there, it's hot out there and he's working as hard as we are working. When you've got a head coach like that, man, it's not hard to come to work and give it your all."
Even with players seeing Carroll's activities as a stimulus, he sees it as being himself.
"I'm pretty motivated as it is," Carroll said. "I'm already kind of jacked up, so I don't think so. I was surprised if anybody thought that was motivation."
The original video featuring Carroll playing quarterback during practice is the most viewed video on X (formerly known as Twitter) of any NFL team since the start of training camp with more than 5 million video begins, per Seahawks communications. The video also has 5 million video begins on Instagram and more than 2.2 million on TikTok.
Carroll's videos received reactions from Roger Goodell, Snoop Dogg and Will Ferrell, tallying a combined 14 million video begins, 14 million impressions and 700,000 engagements across all social platforms.
Carroll jokingly added that he believed Snoop Dogg, Goodell and Ferrell would have his back when reacting to the video. Instead, their response sarcastically mentioned Carroll made his defensive secondary look bad.
"Got some really big backlash from some guys that were really serious about their thoughts about it. Some guys were mad at me," Carroll said with a grin. "Guys I wouldn't think would turn on me like that, but when Snoop gets pissed, you gotta listen, and shoot, Will, he was really mad at me."
Carroll's contract runs through 2025, and coaches and players want fans to be aware of the same active antics to stick around until he's done with coaching.
"I can't see him changing," Carl Smith said.
All the in-person and internet fun attributed to Carroll being sarcastic and energetic has donned on Carl Smith saying, "That's just Pete being Pete."
