Seattle Seahawks<\/a> coach Pete Carroll is 72, the oldest coach in the NFL<\/a>, with a Super Bowl trophy and the 17th-most wins (165) in NFL history. His team meetings are also a bit \u2026 unorthodox.<\/i><\/p>\n Jermaine<\/b> Kearse (wide receiver): <\/b>Honestly, the team meetings were a sh\u2013 ton of fun.<\/p>\n Malcolm<\/b> Smith (linebacker): <\/b>His team meetings are honestly what I think sets him apart from other coaches.<\/p>\n Chad Brown (former NFL linebacker and coaching intern):<\/b> Absolutely, without a doubt, the best team meetings of any team I was on as a coach or a player.<\/p>\n Luke Willson<\/a> (tight end):<\/b> I get drafted and come here for rookie minicamp with no idea what to expect. It\u2019s dead silent in the team meeting room. There are a bunch of rookies who don\u2019t even have free-agent contracts, a couple drafted guys and a couple of undrafted free agents. He just storms in the room and goes: \u201cAlright, alright, let\u2019s get this thing started right.\u201d He\u2019s like, \u201cOK, kickers, get up! Who are the kickers here?\u201d We had a couple kickers, and he has them do a basketball shootout, and he goes, \u201cWhoever wins gets to stay; whoever doesn\u2019t gets cut.\u201d He\u2019s totally kidding and I\u2019m just laughing. The next thing we know, we\u2019re shooting basketballs, he\u2019s got a couple of YouTube videos and we go out to practice and music is blaring the whole time and he\u2019s dancing around.<\/p>\n Ben Malcolmson (Carroll\u2019s chief of staff): <\/b>Barnum and Bailey\u2019s three-ring circus here.<\/p>\n Willson:<\/b> I was like, \u201cDude \u2026 this guy is kind of crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n Justin Britt<\/a> (center):<\/b> He would do what he called \u201cthe safe place.\u201d Everyone had a bullsh\u2013 story about them and none of it was true, but if you didn\u2019t know, it seemed believable.<\/p>\n Uchenna Nwosu<\/a> (outside linebacker): <\/b>He tells all these stories other guys went through \u2026 selling the hell out that story, making it sound really good and believable.<\/p>\n Britt: <\/b>He had people believe that my mom had this anger towards me and resented me because of how large my head was at birth. I had to play along with that for like four years.<\/p>\n Golden Tate<\/a> (wide receiver): <\/b>One team meeting he gets up there and says: \u201cHey, we\u2019ve got this new Gatorade. Why don\u2019t you guys make sure you try one out before practice? They\u2019re supposed to hydrate you really well. We don\u2019t want you out here pulling anything.\u201d<\/p>\n Shaquem Griffin<\/a> (linebacker): <\/b>Pete Carroll is just in a land of his own.<\/p>\n Tate: <\/b>We would open up the cooler and this fake snake would pop out. We\u2019d all jump and some of us would scream. He had a camera in there. Of course, the next day in the team meeting, he selected all the good ones and premiered it to the entire team.<\/p>\n Britt:<\/b> He would have a set amount of time in the day allocated to just having pure fun.<\/p>\n Malcolmson:<\/b> He hosted scooter races in the coaches\u2019 offices. There was a loop that he set up, and he would do timed scooter races.<\/p>\n Brown: <\/b>I was excited every day to go to work because, what is Pete going to do today? What fun thing is going to happen?<\/p>\n QB Pete coming soon to Quarterback on @netflix<\/a> \ud83d\udcfa pic.twitter.com\/CEskVNUtLr<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) August 18, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Britt: <\/b>By the time we got to the serious stuff, we were all like: \u201cI\u2019m awake, I\u2019m ready, my senses are right. Let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n Brown: <\/b>I\u2019ve never been in a football environment like that.<\/p>\n Tate:<\/b> He was a jokester. He was a serious<\/i> jokester.<\/p>\n Malcolmson:<\/b> Pete told our video crew: \u201cHey, if anyone trips (at practice) during a drill or a route, if they fall down, you\u2019ve got to edit it and slice it with sniper footage.\u201d<\/p>\n Kearse: <\/b>Everybody would be talking, and then the lights would just go down low.<\/p>\n Malcolmson:<\/b> It would cut to dramatic music and a sniper scene in a movie.<\/p>\n K.J. Wright<\/a> (linebacker):<\/b> Like \u201cAmerican Sniper\u201d or something. It would be like: \u201cI have an eye on him. I\u2019m locked on the target.\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolmson:<\/b> It\u2019s like a minute-long buildup, and everyone is like: \u201cOh no, who\u2019s gonna get got?\u201d<\/p>\n Wright: <\/b>And then the sniper would shoot, the guy would fall at practice and blood would splash out. It was the funniest sh\u2013 ever.<\/p>\n Nick Bellore<\/a> (fullback:)<\/b> He had a surgery on his leg or his knee. He came back to the team meeting right after he got it done.<\/p>\n Tyler Mabry<\/a> (tight end)<\/b>: He\u2019s driving on the golf cart at practice, and then I don\u2019t know if he had a cane, but he\u2019s walking, then he threw it down and started running.<\/p>\n Bellore:<\/b> He just came sprinting in like you\u2019d see a professional wrestler going into the ring.<\/p>\n Mabry: <\/b>Like this man just got saved by Jesus.<\/p>\n Bellore: <\/b>He sprinted down and then went and changed direction, and everyone was going nuts and he ran a pro agility (test). It was literally like he was doing a combine workout. I\u2019ve never laughed that hard in a meeting.<\/p>\n Britt: <\/b>Every new player that comes there goes: \u201cDon\u2019t go somewhere else. This is the best place.\u201d And it truly was.<\/p>\n Malcolmson:<\/b> For the New York Super Bowl, that was the first year our free-throw shooting contest really took off. We started to do it during almost every team meeting, and there was an in-season tournament. It really became part of the culture.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n GO DEEPER<\/p>\n The 2013 Seahawks and the secret sauce of a generational defense<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Kearse: <\/b>We had a whole NCAA-style bracket with defense on one side and offense on the other side.<\/p>\n Malcolmson: <\/b>That was Pete\u2019s request when we went out to New York for the week before the Super Bowl: \u201cMake sure there is a basketball hoop.\u201d We landed on a Sunday night the week before the Super Bowl. By the time we got to the hotel, it was probably 9 or 10 at night. I was like, \u201cI\u2019ve got to go figure out this basketball hoop because we have a team meeting first thing in the morning at the Giants\u2019<\/a> facility.\u201d<\/p>\n Brown:<\/b> There was always a genuine team-building purpose with everything.<\/p>\n Malcolmson: <\/b>I borrowed a car, went to Walmart in a suburban New Jersey town, got a full-scale basketball hoop, one of those ones where you pour sand or water in the base, then drove to the Giants\u2019 facility. By this point, it\u2019s probably midnight, and I ended up finishing building the hoop at 3 a.m.<\/p>\n Chris Carlisle (strength coach):<\/b> Tom Coughlin was the coach at the time, and all the Giants people were like: \u201cWhat are you doing? No, you can\u2019t bring that in. This is a meeting room. This is like church.\u201d<\/p>\n Willson:<\/b> I was nervous. I\u2019m a rookie. We\u2019re eight days out from the f\u2014ing Super Bowl. Pete comes in, wheels in a f\u2014ing basketball goal and is like: \u201cI don\u2019t give a sh\u2013 that it\u2019s the Super Bowl, we\u2019re doing the same thing we\u2019ve always done, boys. In fact, we\u2019re going to have an All-Star tournament with the best shooters of the year, and we\u2019re doing Round 1 today.<\/p>\n Malcolmson:<\/b> Just one of those crazy Pete things.<\/p>\n Willson:<\/b> All the stress, everything \u2014 it just disappeared. It was like: \u201cAlright, f\u2014 it, who gives a sh\u2013? We\u2019re in New York. It\u2019s the same thing as home.\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolmson:<\/b> One camp, we did full introductions before the basketball shoot-off. Tyler Lockett<\/a> came out in the dark to the Chicago Bulls\u2019 intro music, with lasers and a fog machine in the team meeting room. We had a confetti machine and a trophy presentation. It was so dumb but so fun.<\/p>\n Kearse: <\/b>Yeah, it was fun, but subliminally it was building a competitive edge. Even the rebounders took it serious.<\/p>\n Smith:<\/b> That program has consistently been competitive because he knows how to get the most out of his players from an emotional standpoint.<\/p>\n DeeJay Dallas<\/a> (running back): <\/b>The night-before meetings are his favorite\u2026<\/p>\n Malcolmson: <\/b>He would want the worst conference room at the hotel on Saturday night. We had about 100 people, and he would try to find the dingiest, smallest room at the hotel.<\/p>\n Bellore: <\/b>There\u2019s literally no room for any extra person. That\u2019s unique to here.<\/p>\n Malcolmson: <\/b>Every time the hotel would be like: \u201cWe have this nice big ballroom.\u201d And every time he\u2019d be like: \u201cNo, no, I want this side conference room.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith: <\/b>He pays so much attention to the energy of rooms.<\/p>\n Carlisle: <\/b>On the road, he\u2019d come down to the weight room and go: \u201cI just need to be around the players. I need to get that energy. I need to feel the team again.\u201d<\/p>\n Bellore: <\/b>He\u2019s right there, and we\u2019re all in there together.<\/p>\n Dallas: <\/b>He came in there, shirt unbuttoned, he was already fired up. He gets to talking, and he threw a chair \u2014 boom, it hit the wall. The chair is stuck in the wall. I was like, \u201cGoddamn! He fired up.\u201d<\/p>\n Artie Burns<\/a> (cornerback):<\/b> For a guy like that to have that much energy, it makes you want to play for him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n GO DEEPER<\/p>\n Pete Carroll’s vindication: How the Seahawks’ 71-year-old coach proved he’s still got it<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Dallas:<\/b> He\u2019s like, \u201cF\u2014 it, we\u2019re already fired up, we don\u2019t need no meeting!\u201d And we got out of our meeting.<\/p>\n Jordyn Brooks<\/a> (linebacker):<\/b> It gets pretty wild sometimes.<\/p>\n Phil Haynes<\/a> (offensive lineman)<\/b>: We always get really hype before a special teams meeting, but he got really, really excited and jumped through a whiteboard.<\/p>\n DeShawn Shead (former cornerback, current DBs coach): <\/b>Out of nowhere he got up \u2014 boom.<\/p>\n Wright:<\/b> He literally does a full-on cartwheel into it.<\/p>\n Riq Woolen<\/a> (cornerback):<\/b> But the whiteboard flipped over, and he flipped over with it.<\/p>\n Haynes: <\/b>I was like, \u201cMy God.\u201d We all checked to make sure he was OK, then we started cheering.<\/p>\n Woolen: <\/b>Good ol\u2019 Pete got right up, and he was like, \u201cThat was nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolmson: <\/b>The funny thing is, the whiteboard didn\u2019t really serve any purpose. But it was always in the same spot I think as a prop for whenever Pete decided to go tackle it.<\/p>\n Julian Love<\/a> (safety):<\/b> I got called on (recently). It was cool. His message for that (meeting) was, \u201cI\u2019m not out there by myself. I don\u2019t have to win the game for us. I don\u2019t have to do anything that\u2019s out of my control. Everyone has my back to get this done.\u201d I felt that the next day. After the game, he said it again like, \u201cJ Love, I told you we had your back.\u201d<\/p>\n Jason Peters<\/a> (offensive line):<\/b> He gives you himself. He\u2019s speaking from the heart. That\u2019s different from anywhere else I\u2019ve been.<\/p>\n Drew Lock<\/a> (quarterback): <\/b>The way he tells stories, commands the room, my mouth was open the whole time, like, \u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m here listening to him give a pregame speech about a game we\u2019re about to play tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n Willson:<\/b> We were playing a big game, and there was a bunch of media hype. He calls up Tyler Lockett and he has a chair. He\u2019s like: \u201cDo me a favor. Just stand on this.\u201d He\u2019s like: \u201cDo you think you can just lift one leg up?\u201d Lockett looks at him and lifts the leg up. He has him do all this stuff: \u201cDo a spin, do a counter spin.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cWhat the f\u2014 is going on?\u201d Then he\u2019s like: \u201cOK, serious question. Was any of that hard?\u201d Lockett\u2019s like, \u201cNo, not at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolmson:<\/b> Then he\u2019s like: \u201cWhat if I put this on the Empire State Building? Would you be able to do it then?\u201d Of course, the answer is no way. He\u2019s like: \u201cBut nothing\u2019s different, nothing\u2019s changed. It\u2019s all just your surroundings.\u201d<\/p>\n Willson: <\/b>You\u2019ve got to picture this is Pete Carroll\u2019s voice, so it\u2019s way more animated, and he\u2019s like, \u201cTomorrow, we\u2019re just playing f\u2014ing football. Field\u2019s the same size, football\u2019s the same size, plays are the same. F\u2014 all this nonsense about what happens if the Seahawks lose. Go out and rip it.\u201d<\/p>\n Britt: <\/b>The motivational person he is, it\u2019s unmatched.<\/p>\n Shead:<\/b> Pete got the most juice of any coach, anybody in America.<\/p>\n Griffin:<\/b> There\u2019s nobody like him.<\/p>\n Wright:<\/b> The guy\u2019s a legend.<\/p>\n (Illustration: John Bradford \/\u00a0<\/em>The Athletic; Photos: Nic Antaya, Sean M. Haffey \/ Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe Football 100,\u201d the definitive ranking of the NFL\u2019s best 100 players of all time, is on sale now. Order it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n The NFL\u2019s oldest coach doesn\u2019t always act like it. (Christopher Mast \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"go-deeper\"\/](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/cdn.theathletic.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=128,height=128,fit=cover,format=auto\/app\/uploads\/2022\/09\/28023623\/0928_Seahawks2013_Realignment-1024x683.jpg\")
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\n Carroll ranks fourth in wins among active coaches, two behind the Steelers\u2019 Mike Tomlin. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea \/ USA Today)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n