Pete Carroll making USC return, teaching class in spring

Former NFL and USC Trojans head coach Pete Carroll is out of coaching now and getting into teaching with a class at USC this Spring.

Carroll shared the news that he would be teaching a class at USC on Sports Radio 93.3 KJR-FM. However, he did not offer any specifics on the class, like what the topic is going to be about.

This comes after Carroll parted ways with the Seattle Seahawks, a franchise he brought a Super Bowl to, making 2024 the first season he hasn’t been a head coach either at the NFL or college level since 2000. It also gives him time to do things like teach at USC, where he was a two-time national champion.

“I’m looking forward to that,” Carroll said. “It’s going to be a really exciting endeavor when it’s finalized and all that.”

Carroll’s appearance on the radio was his first time talking to local media since stepping down as the head coach of the Seahawks. At the time, it was announced he would become an advisor within the organization but ESPN has reported that it’s a role he only holds nominally.

At the same time, Carroll did mention in his radio appearance that he is going to do some advising for some other clubs and work on some projects. He, notably, didn’t share which clubs but they aren’t football related.

“I’m excited about it because there’s more stuff to teach,” Carroll said. “There’s more stuff to share. Everybody wants to know what I’m doing and all that, am I coaching or what am I doing, I’m working with some really fun people and some exciting opportunities to do some really cool stuff and putting things together … for others, so I’m going to keep working that way and see what happens.”

Despite all of that, Carroll didn’t completely rule out the idea of coaching again, even if the desire isn’t there right now.

“I get asked it a lot and I’m pretty familiar with the answer now. I could coach tomorrow. I’m physically in the best shape I’ve been in in a long time,” Carroll said. “I’m ready to do all the activities that I’m doing and feeling really good about it. I could, but I don’t really — I’m not desiring it at this point. This isn’t the coaching season. We’ll see what happens. I’m not waiting on it at all. I’m going ahead. I’ve got other things that I want to do that I’m excited about, and I’m going to see how all that goes. I’m not thinking that I’m holding my breath and that kind of thing. If it’s been 40-something years, 48 years or whatever coaching, and that’s it, I’ll feel OK about that.”

Pete Carroll was the head coach at USC from 2001 through the 2009 season. While there, he had massive amounts of success, winning multiple national championships, coaching multiple Heisman winners, and going to a bowl game every season. Despite all that success, he left the program ahead of an athletics scandal breaking.

USC was the only college job that Carroll held at the college level since 1984. He was, otherwise, an NFL assistant and head coach during that time. He’ll be best remembered for his time in Seattle, where he found plenty of success coaching the Legion of Boom defense and winning the NFC West five times. On top of that, he also has stops as the New York Jets and New England Patriots head coach.