‘Compete for Pete:’ Raiders’ brass counting on new coach Carroll’s energy

When the 2025-2026 Raiders first hit the practice field together for offseason team activities in May, neither their probable newly acquired quarterback nor incumbent starter Aidan O’Connell figure to make the first pass.

New coach Pete Caroll will likely take those honors for himself. During his time with the Seattle Seahawks from 2010 to 2023, Carroll would usually be the first person on the scene before practice sessions.

He’d warm up with some full-field sprints to be loose enough to throw to the receivers by the time they started trickling onto the field.

“To me, it’s always been about playing catch,” Carroll said. “I’ve loved the game since I was a little kid. If I get a chance to go out and throw the ball around, I’m doing it …There’s no end in that to me. You’re either competing or you’re not, and I’m always competing. That’s how I will get it done in every way possible. To me this game should be fun. If we’re not having fun, I’m screwing it up.”

Raiders majority owner Mark Davis introduced Carroll as the 24^th coach in his franchise’s history, and its fifth since it moved to Las Vegas in 2020, Monday morning at the team’s Henderson headquarters. He did the same for new general manager John Spytek, also the fifth in his position in Las Vegas.

Carroll and Spytek addressed the media and answered questions for 40 minutes with the former emerging as the unsurprising star of the production behind a display of the Raiders’ three Lombardi Trophies in their team meeting room.

Spytek joked that Carroll was “crushing this press conference,” as he mostly contributed in a secondary role.

Carroll said that he and Spytek would be, “collaborating to the nth degree,” when it came to personnel matters, but it’s clear the coach is now the forward-facing leader of the organization.  

The pair didn’t downplay the influence of new minority owner Tom Brady’s role in their hirings and said the seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback and the rest of the ownership group would be involved in all major decision-making. But Brady has yet to speak to the media since buying into the Raiders, and Davis has been increasingly forthcoming about his shortcomings from a football perspective.

This is Carroll’s show now.

“I can’t wait to see what ‘Compete for Pete’ looks like every day,” Spytek said. “I think I’ve got a pretty good feel for it so far with just the energy and passion he presents every day. (It’s) something I’ve been drawn to over the past, we were talking about on the way here, what feels like 10 days, but I think it’s only been three since we first started talking.”

Carroll has made a legendary career out of inspiring younger generations, including winning a Super Bowl with the Seahawks and two collegiate national championships at Southern California, but he will really be pushing that ability to the brink with the Raiders.

He’ll be the oldest coach in NFL history, at 74, by Week 3 of next season. The 44-year-old Spytek played two seasons of college football at the University of Michigan, one alongside Brady, while Carroll was in his third major head-coaching job at USC.  

Some, if not most, of Carroll’s Raiders players will be less than a third of his age. Even the 69-year-old Davis cracked a joke about Carroll’s age, though he said it wasn’t a deterrent to his candidacy because of how much passion he showed in the interview.

“It might have been the first one we did and his energy was amazing,” Davis said of Carroll. “It’s funny, when my mom found out Carroll was going to be the new head coach, my mom is Carroll Davis, and she just turned 93. She thought we were talking about her but I told her, ‘No, we’re doing Pete Carroll because we’re looking for that youth.’”

Carroll shared fewer laughs about his age but did interrupt Spytek at one point while the general manager was thanking his former high school football coach, Bill Young, and marveling at how he was still coaching at, “like 75-years-old.”

Spytek glanced over at Carroll during the speech, and the coach at least jokingly took offense.

“Why are you looking at me,” Carroll said with a smile.

When a reporter later asked Carroll more directly about his age, he piped up that he’s, “not real proud of wearing this No. 73 on my back.”

Carroll has never as much as considered retirement. He reportedly didn’t want to step down from his post at Seattle before amicably agreeing to do so a year ago, but he said that in hindsight the year off was, “incredibly valuable.”

He felt he learned by doing everything from watching his grandson play quarterback in junior-varsity high school games to taking in his son working as offensive coordinator at the University of Washington. He also kept a close eye on the Washington Commanders and Carolina Panthers, which are now led by former Carroll assistants in head coaches Dan Quinn and Dave Canales, respectively.

“It’s about competing and proving that you have value, you have worth and can add to it,” Carroll said. “I don’t care how old you are. And for anybody that’s out there that’s old and wants to know how to do it, you friggin’ battle every day and you compete and you find a way to get better. Everyone needs to be coached up, and that’s what’s been happening for me.”

In a positive sign for the start of the Carroll and Spytek regime, two pillars of the franchise attended the news conference — edge rusher Maxx Crosby and left tackle Kolton Miller. Carroll addressed Crosby, who was wearing a boot on his left ankle after recently undergoing surgery, directly at the beginning.

“Maxx, send the message man: We’re coming after you,” Carroll said. “We’re going to come find you guys and get this thing rolling as soon as possible with the highest expectations, with a mentality that will drive high performance in a way that hopefully everyone will hear us. Everyone will know us. I’m excited to take on that challenge.”

One noted former Raider and Seahawk under Carroll, running back Marshawn Lynch, sat in the front row to show his support. Several players on Carroll’s 2014 Super Bowl team including Lynch later turned on the coach and criticized him, but the majority of them have now made amends.

That includes free agent quarterback Russell Wilson, who’s reportedly one of the Raiders’ options at quarterback next season. Lynch showed every sign that he was behind Carroll on Monday, drowning out one of the coach’s statements about opposing fans at Allegiant Stadium by yelling the, “Rai-ders,” chant with all his might.

Carroll loved the interruption. If he can get his players to operate with his level of energy every day, then he believes it’s only a matter of time before the Raiders turn it all around.   

“We’re going to be fired up about who we are and what we stand for,” Carroll said.