Derek Carr wants to coach. ‘There are dream things that you want to do’

Former Fresno State quarterback Derek Carr sharpened the focus on his desire to get into coaching in a wide-ranging interview with The Fresno Bee, saying that it will happen.

The when, where and at what level are open questions. But while hitting on topics including the new world of college football and the NFL, along with brother David Carr, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2002 NFL Draft out of Fresno State, Derek Carr left no doubt.

“I definitely want to coach. I’m definitely going to coach,” said Carr, who retired from the NFL in June after spending 11 years in the league with the now-Las Vegas Raiders and New Orleans Saints.

“Right now, I’m coaching fourth through sixth grade and the scheme that I’m putting in is about 1% of my brain power, and I have the itch to want to share all of that, to put 11 people out there and scheme people up,” he said. “I have a passion for that, and a passion honestly to raise the next generation, not just for who they are on the football field but who they can be off the field, too, in our communities and those kinds of things. .”

That passion has been pushed along by a former coach, and the opportunity this fall to help his older brothers, David and Darren, with offensive game planning for Bakersfield Christian High. Darren Carr is the head coach for the Eagles, who advanced to the 2-AA state championship game this year. David Carr, who spent 10 years in the NFL and won a Super Bowl ring with the New York Giants, put together the offense. Not surprisingly, it’s balanced, efficient and averaging more than 33 points a game this season.

“This year has been fun for me,” Derek Carr said. “(David) is putting in these game plans and I get to sit there and kind of watch what he’s doing and the players he has and go, ‘Hey, what about this?’ Doing these things with David, using a little bit of what you know and learning the players, putting them in a position to succeed and then watching them flourish, that has been awesome.”

Jon Gruden, who coached Carr with the Raiders from 2018 to 2021, helped foster that desire in Derek Carr to one day become a coach at a high level.

“Coach Gruden always told me, ‘You’re going to be a great coach.’ He personally liked my leadership and the way I knew the game,” Derek Carr said.

There was a third thing — some actual coaching. It happened over the summer, before the 2024 season. Carr was at Fresno State, getting in some throwing in with his nephew Tyler, David’s son, who played tight end for the Bulldogs before he suffered a knee injury.

Derek Carr said he ran into two players in the Duncan Building, where the football offices and locker room are located. Key players, he said. Their approach to the work, to the coming season, was not quite right.

He corrected it, quietly but firmly.

“It wasn’t anything anyone else saw. I just happened to walk around a certain corner at the right time,” Carr said. “I remember saying that to them, and I remember my nephew was, like, it changed the way that they handle their business. That was when I knew that the Lord was like, ‘You need to raise the next generation, you need to raise them up and show them what it actually takes in a loving, but setting-the-standard kind of way.’”

There are opportunities at the college and high school level, well into hiring seasons. Carr could be a head coach, a coordinator. At the FBS (football bowl subdivision) level, the NCAA in 2024 removed an on-field coaches cap. A coach with an analyst or quality control title can work with players.

David Carr said he sees his brother at the front of the room, in charge. To get there at the college level likely requires time as a position coach or a coordinator. But that could be a very fast track for Derek Carr, who set a number of Raiders’ franchise records, including career passing yards, passing touchdowns and most game-winning drives.

“He would be great no matter what he did, but it’s mostly for the impact that he would have as the guy at the front,” David Carr said. “As the coach goes, so goes the team. (New York Giants’ coach) Tom Coughlin was the guy that I learned that from the most. Tom was a guy that cared about being on time, about doing things the right way, and that’s just how everyone did things.

“There was a certain standard. (Pittsburgh Steelers’ coach) Mike Tomlin talks about that all the time. The standard is the standard. That’s a great saying, but it has to be lived out every day by the guy running the show. I would like to see him in that role just because I think he could make the most impact, and it would be a great situation for everybody involved.”

The right opportunity could lure Derek and David Carr, and instantly elevate a program. David Carr has seen it. On Bakersfield Christian game days, Derek Carr is known as the hype man. He doesn’t have a title, and said he tries not to get in the way. But he tries to motivate, to encourage. “I want so bad, like, I’m, ‘Please Darren, ask me to give the speech.’ I want to be in the front of the room.”

Some people are wired that way, and he is definitely one of those guys, David Carr said.

What that looks like, or how it comes together, Carr said he does not know. But he is exploring every opportunity, as they come along.

“There have been people reaching out at all different levels, even the NFL level,” Carr said. “I’m not going that route yet. I want to see my kids too much, I want to hang out with my wife. That part is not as intriguing to me right now. But definitely colleges and high schools have reached out. Those are the things I’m talking about with David and my wife Heather. Where are you willing to go? What are you willing to do? How much?

“It’s actually a fun time because a lot of those conversations are happening. It’s that season of people trying to figure those things out for themselves, and for us. I’m just being patient with it, and praying about certain situations. Obviously, there are dream things that you want to do. But there’s always part of you that’s like, OK, if we can’t do this or this, do we do this to get ready for this. All those conversations have been happening.”

©2025 The Fresno Bee. Visit fresnobee.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.