INGLEWOOD, Calif. – If there was any lingering doubt that Pete Carroll still wants to coach after being ousted from the Seattle Seahawks‘ top job, it was dispelled on Monday by an unusual news-breaking source – his friend, recording icon Snoop Dogg.
In a media roundtable to promote his upcoming football movie, “The Underdoggs,” Snoop (real name Calvin Broadus Jr.) revealed to FOX Sports that he had been the first person to speak to Carroll after the Seahawks made their announcement on Jan. 10.
“Pete Carroll – I called him the minute they fired him, because that’s my friend,” Snoop said at his recording compound near Los Angeles International Airport. “His spirits were up high and he was looking forward to another team calling him.
“That’s what coaches do, they don’t go ‘oh man, they fired me, I’m going to lose my mind. [It’s] ‘Nah, who is the next team in town, I would love to coach there. Oh, they got a great quarterback, they need this.’ That’s what we do as coaches.”
As the session ended, I asked the 52-year-old rap legend where he would like to see Carroll end up if he were to bring his experience and Super Bowl-winning credentials to a new head role. “He wanted to go to the (Los Angeles) Chargers,” Snoop replied. “That’s what he wanted. But I don’t know if they want him.”
Officially, Carroll has transitioned into a position that keeps him with Seattle, accepting an undefined role as an “advisor.”
However, former colleagues and friends have repeatedly indicated they would be surprised if he did not at least attempt to see if there were other opportunities to remain in a head coaching role, even at the age of 72.
Former Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman recently told FS1’s “Undisputed” how he was left with a similar impression about Carroll after a dinner involving the coach and several ex-players the night of his departure from the Seattle hot seat — and suggested the Chargers as a potential destination.
“One thing that was evident was that he wasn’t done, it doesn’t seem like he was done,” Sherman said. “He wants to be a head coach in the National Football League.”
FOX analyst Eric Mangini told me last week that he was also certain Carroll still had the coaching itch, and speculated that a return to the college game, where he enjoyed success with USC – and became pals with Snoop – might be a viable option.
Even Carroll himself admitted that he’d fought hard to stay in the job he’d held for 14 years, but had been unable to sway team ownership.
As for Snoop, “The Underdoggs” is an R-rated comedy that will be released on Amazon Prime Video this Friday and is centered on Snoop’s character Jaycen “Two Js” Jennings, a washed-up NFL star who performs community service coaching a youth football team to avoid jail time.
Snoop drew upon his love of football coaching for the role, and spoke passionately about how he believes teaching sports and life lessons is an art form in its own right.
“Coaching, the thing that I love the most is the interaction, the engagement with that player,” he said. “That process of learning that player, helping them grow and then learning from them.
“It is a learning and teaching process, you have to learn his dos and don’ts before you can teach him. Then at the same time, he is going to teach you some things about yourself as a coach. I really love that side of it, being able to lock and load with a whole team and then individually coach a person.”
Several players from Snoop’s youth league in Southern California have gone on to big things, as evidenced by the current NFL postseason.
Rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud, who Snoop has known since Stroud was 11, continued to impress while helping the Houston Texans to the divisional round, while Romeo Doubs made further moves in cementing himself as a fast-improving receiving option for the Green Bay Packers.
In terms of future coaching endeavors, Snoop accepted that the altered landscape in the college game and the impact made by another friend, Deion Sanders, meant that he had flirted with the thought of trying his hand at that level, only to dismiss the idea. The reason? Well, it would be hard to imagine a board of regents being fine with his daily habit of partaking in a certain green-colored substance in the name of medicinal benefit.
Either way, he’s probably too busy recording, parenting, acting and managing his various business endeavors and watching his former players shine. And, on Monday, at least, serving as an NFL news insider.
