Bill Belichick downplays Pete Carroll age concern amid Raiders hire

North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick isn’t the only 70-plus year old coach to take over a football program or franchise this offseason. The Las Vegas Raiders hired 73-year-old Pete Carroll as their head coach on Friday, more than a month after the 72-year-old Belichick was hired as the head coach of the Tar Heels.

Bill Belichick joined The Pat McAfee Show on Friday and was asked for his thoughts on Pete Carroll landing the Raiders job at his age. Belichick expects Carroll to excel in the role.

Belichick pointed to the fact that there are multiple veteran coaches in their 60s who are highly successful as a reason to believe in Pete Carroll.

“Well, you know, it’s just a number,” Belichick said of Carroll’s age. “But I think Pete’s got a ton of energy. If you look at some of the coaches in the league, like Andy Reid is not doing too bad. Sean Payton has a lot of experience, did a good job of turning that program around in Denver pretty quickly. Not too bad.”

Reid is 66, while Payton is 61 — both much younger than Pete Carroll. However, Belichick also pointed out that Donald Trump was just elected President at 78 years old.

“We just saw a President who’s 78 years old get elected. It looks like he’s got a lot of energy, too. He’s already getting some stuff done that he promised he would do,” Belichick said. “Not talking politics, I’m just saying for his age he looks pretty active. So I think it’s really more about the person and the situation.”

Finally, Belichick said that no matter Pete Carroll’s age, he is an excellent football coach. The longtime Seattle Seahawks head coach won a national championship at USC and a Super Bowl with the Seahawks.

Belichick believes that he will be an upgrade for the Raiders, who went 9-17 in two seasons under Antonio Pierce.

“You know, Pete knows how to run a good program. He’s done that multiple times,” Belichick said. “And I’m sure he’ll add a lot to Las Vegas. And honestly I think they’ll improve a lot this year. Let’s put it like that.”

Pete Carroll was the head coach at USC from 2001-09, winning four Rose Bowls and seven Pac-10 Championships. He then coached the Seahawks from 2010-23, going 137-89 and reaching the playoffs 10 times.