'One of the Greatest Competitors': Ex-Seattle Seahawks All-Pro Lauds Pete Carroll

After 14 seasons and the first Super Bowl victory in franchise history, former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll is still being praised by his former players.

Nov 30, 2023; Arlington, Texas, USA; Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll reacts during the first half against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. / Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Even as the Seattle Seahawks’ first season under head coach Mike Macdonald draws closer, Pete Carroll’s departure from the franchise doesn’t feel far in the rearview mirror. Fourteen seasons, two Super Bowl appearances and the first championship in the team’s 48-year history immortalized Carroll’s legacy with the franchise.

On an episode of the Locked On Seahawks podcast, Former All-Pro Seattle linebacker Lofa Tatupu reflected on Carroll’s legacy, stating the longtime Seahawks coach was “one of the greatest competitors I’ve ever met.”

Tatupu played under Carroll at USC from 2004–05 and in his final season with the Seahawks in 2010. He also coached alongside Carroll as an assistant linebackers coach for Seattle from 2015–16, giving him a unique viewpoint that none of Carroll's other former players rivaled.

“I don’t think enough people talk about that,” Tatupu said of Carroll’s competitive mentality. “You just go back … you watch him win a coin toss. The guy’s going nuts — Tiger Woods fist pumping like he just made the putt to win the Masters. That’s the pure just competition aspect that he loved.”

Carroll’s energy and mindset impacted Tatupu, he added, even as he entered the final season of his six-year NFL career. Tatupu signed a two-year contract with Atlanta in 2012 but suffered a season-ending injury in training camp, never playing a down for the Falcons before hanging up his cleats.

“That’s something that I always had kind of naturally gravitated towards, but he spurned on more love for it in terms of, ‘Well, you don’t have to lose any rep.’ And I was like, ‘You’re right, I don’t.’ I bought into it. When the players buy-in, it’s special, and that’s what it's about being a leader of men.”

When Tatupu joined Seattle’s coaching staff in 2015, he saw how the team was run from a different perspective. Even with his wealth of knowledge on the linebacker position, Tatupu had to try and uphold the standard set by Carroll and Ken Norton Jr., who had been the Seahawks head linebackers coach the previous five seasons before becoming the Raiders’ defensive coordinator.

“When I came here as a linebacker coach, it was probably the first time I was apprehensive or scared,” Tatupu said. “I was just like, ‘Okay, well, Bobby [Wagner’s] been to a Pro Bowl. KJ [Wright’s] on the cusp of Pro Bowls. Don’t mess it up.’ Because Pete, and also Ken Norton, did a phenomenal job with these guys.”

Tatupu also played under Norton at USC and during his last season with Seattle in 2010, and he added that Norton was key for him in that final season when his body “was already falling apart.”

“Honestly, if Ken Norton wasn’t there, I wouldn't have made it through that season,” Tatupu said. “I don’t think I had enough in me left to say, ‘I can do this.’ But it just took one look or one talk from Ken. He was a true leader. He knew what to say and what buttons to push, like, ‘Hey, you got this,’ or ‘I just need this out of you.’ Man, I’m forever grateful for both of those men, Pete Carroll and Ken Norton.”

In his lone season playing for Carroll and Norton in Seattle, Tatupu produced 89 tackles, returned an interception for a touchdown, and broke up seven passes, finishing his tenure on a strong note even if it was bittersweet when the team opted not to bring him back.

As for Seattle’s new coaching regime, Macdonald already has Tatupu in his corner. Carroll can never be replaced, but Tatupu believes Macdonald’s resume speaks for itself and he already sees a team buying in to what the new coach is selling.

“I’m excited to see what Macdonald will do because he’s proven everywhere he’s went they’ve gotten better. And that’s really the measuring stick.”