How Pete Carroll’s Gap Year Back at USC Prepared Him to ‘Win Forever’ With Raiders

Eric Williams

NFL Reporter

HENDERSON, Nev. — What you first notice about Pete Carroll with the Las Vegas Raiders is that he’s the same. He’s still wearing a long-sleeve white shirt, grey khakis and white Nike Monarchs in what has become his unofficial coaching uniform over the years during his five decades of coaching football.

The trademark energy and enthusiasm also remain, as Carroll bebops around the practice field in preparation for the Raiders’ second game of the season – a nationally televised contest at Allegiant Stadium against his team’s AFC West rivals – the Los Angeles Chargers.

“It’s been dope playing for Pete for sure,” Raiders rookie running back Ashton Jeanty told me. “He’s an easy guy to get behind and play for. He brings a ton of energy and passion to the game of football. And he’s helped me a lot to grow as a player and as a person.” 

But Carroll said he was transformed earlier this year when he received an opportunity to put his lifelong learning expressed in his book, “Win Forever,” to use in the classroom with everyday students.

Called “The Game is Life,” Carroll taught the class as part of USC’s Marshall School of Business alongside Varun Soni, dean of Religious and Spiritual Life, and David Belasco, adjunct professor of entrepreneurship.

“The idea of the class was really something that Pete had thought about for a while – is it possible to coach up students for life, in the same way he coached up players for the game?” Soni told me. “Are the things that made his teams so successful on the field, are they transferable to all of us, to make us successful on the field? … We were coming in some ways trying to prove this concept – Pete’s idea that everyone needs to be coached up and how that could look in different ways.”

Varun Soni was one of the people Pete Carroll taught with at USC this past year. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Business of Fashion)

Soni already had first-hand experience of Carroll’s “Always Compete” philosophy. He arrived at the tail end of Carroll’s tenure at USC in 2008 and tried to beat him to work in the morning. Soni parked next to Carroll in the parking lot at USC.

“I’d come in at nine, and his car was already there,” Soni said. “And then I would come in at eight and his car was still there. I’d come in at seven in the morning and his car was already there. One time, I came in at six in the morning, and he was still there. Then, I was trying to explain to my wife why I was going to work at five in the morning (laughs).

“I don’t think I ever beat him once to work that whole fall semester. And then I later learned that during the season, he would sleep in his office, so I never had a chance. I begin to realize the level of competition and excellence was at a different level that I was even comprehending.”

Soni and Belasco will be in Las Vegas on Monday as guests of Carroll for the game, in part to help celebrate Carroll’s birthday. He turns 74 years old on Monday. Six months before the class started, Soni said the trio spent weeks putting the class together at Carroll’s cabin in Washington state, which included Carroll teaching him how to fish on his fully stocked lake. 

Soni said Carroll’s class of 55 students arrived from all walks of life, including women’s All-American basketball player JuJu Watkins and four-time beach volleyball national champions Audrey and Nicole Nourse.

Guest speakers included Tom Brady, Steve Kerr, Rachel Maddow, spiritualist Deepak Chopra and Jason Sudeikis dressed in character as Ted Lasso.  

Phong Doozy was hit by a car while crossing the street on a scooter during the spring semester class, suffering a skull fracture and other debilitating injuries. After spending a week in the hospital, Doozy returned to the class and said his time with Carroll helped reaffirm his path in life.

Doozy, 24, is finishing his second master’s at USC while also working full-time as a consultant at Stanford Health Care. 

“That class taught me more than any other class I took at USC,” Doozy told me. “I’d put it against a math class. I would put it against organic chemistry. I would argue that class saved as many lives as taking a human anatomy class at USC. That’s how powerful that class was.”

Just a few weeks into the class, Carroll interviewed for the head coaching job in Las Vegas. Carroll had been unceremoniously let go by the Seattle Seahawks after 14 seasons, which included back-to-back Super Bowl appearances. Carroll said teaching the class helped refocus his coaching philosophy, along with spending time watching his grandson Dillon play junior varsity football back up in Seattle. 

Pete Carroll was back on USC’s campus this past year, teaching a class in the Marshall School of Business. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“The philosophy that was in the class and the philosophy that was projected here for this job and looking ahead to coaching a football team was the same,” Carroll told me. “So, it worked out great. I had the time of my life with those kids and will never forget all that happened during that class because it wasn’t just a regular check into the classroom and check out. 

“There was a lot of heartfelt emotion and focus and challenges to change a life’s perspectives and things like that that were really, really rewarding.” 

Las Vegas linebacker Jamal Adams played for Carroll in Seattle and said his commitment to building a winning culture remains the same. That was evident in Carroll’s first win for the Raiders, a grind-it-out, 20-13 road victory over the New England Patriots in Week 1.

“He’s brought himself, his personality,” Adams told me. “He hasn’t changed. It’s good to see him bringing his philosophy and bringing what he believes in over here in teaching a new group of guys what he believes in.

“It’s cool to see coming in from the outside. Obviously, in Seattle the culture was already built when I got there, so I was just falling in line and learning on the go. But just to see him put it in with a new group of young guys and vets as well, it’s pretty cool to see.” 

Quarterback Geno Smith, who requested a trade from the Seahawks over the offseason to reunite with Carroll after playing under him for five years, has also seen the same Carroll he saw in Las Vegas that he saw in Seattle for five seasons.

“He’s just being Pete, doing all the things that he always does,” Smith told me. “He’s the same guy every day. It’s just consistency. When you see a consistent coach, it makes you want to be consistent, and I think everyone else follows suit.” 

Pete Carroll and Geno Smith reunited over the offseason after spending five seasons togehter with the Seahawks. (Photo by Jane Gershovich/Getty Images)

Carroll faces an old rival in Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh on Monday. It’s the first time the two will meet since Carroll was in Seattle and Harbaugh with the 49ers in 2014.

The decorated coaches are 6-6 all-time against each other, and Monday serves as a chance to break the tie. As usual, Carroll says he’s up for the challenge. 

“It’s a championship freaking game to me, and that’s the only way I’ve ever looked at these games. … and it doesn’t matter who, where or whatever, to me,” Carroll said. “And maybe that’s why we’ve been okay on these prime-time type of games. 

“For years, we’ve been good at it because we know how to approach it. And hopefully we’ll be able to do that again and perform like we’re capable.”

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on X at @eric_d_williams.

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