Paul GutierrezJan 24, 2025, 10:42 AM ET
ClosePaul Gutierrez joined NFL Nation in 2013 and serves as its Las Vegas Raiders reporter. He has a multi-platform role – writing on ESPN.com, television appearances on NFL Live and SportsCenter, and podcast and radio appearances. Before coming to ESPN, Gutierrez spent three years at CSN Bay Area as a multi-platform reporter, covering the Raiders and Oakland Athletics as well as anchoring the SportsNet Central cable news show. Gutierrez votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame and is also a member of the Professional Football Writers of America and currently serves as the PFWA’s Las Vegas chapter president. He is also a member of the California Chicano News Media Association and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Gutierrez has authored three books: Tommy Davis’ Tales from the Dodgers Dugout, 100 Things Raiders Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die and If These Walls Could Talk: Stories from the Raiders Sideline, Locker Room and Press Box with Lincoln Kennedy. You can follow Paul on Twitter @PGutierrezESPN
HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders have reached an agreement with Pete Carroll to became the franchise’s head coach on a three-year deal with a fourth-year team option, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Carroll, who turns 74 on Sept. 15, is one of four head coaches to have led teams to both a college football national championship and the Super Bowl. The others are Barry Switzer, Jimmy Johnson and Jim Harbaugh.
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Carroll will also be the Raiders’ fifth coach, including interim coaches, since the franchise moved to Las Vegas from Oakland in 2020. The others were Jon Gruden, Rich Bisaccia, Josh McDaniels and Antonio Pierce.
Carroll will be the team’s ninth coach, including interims, since Raiders owner Mark Davis took over upon the death of his father, Al Davis, in 2011. The others were Hue Jackson, Dennis Allen, Tony Sparano, Jack Del Rio, Gruden, Bisaccia, McDaniels and Pierce.
As such, Carroll represents stability and experience for a team needing both, especially since Gruden was forced to resign amid his email controversy in October 2021.
Carroll’s veteran presence is expected to mesh well with first-time general manager John Spytek, who was finalizing a deal to join Las Vegas earlier in the week, as well as compete in an AFC West division that already boasts coaching heavyweights in Kansas City (Andy Reid), Denver (Sean Payton) and Los Angeles Chargers (Harbaugh).
With the Seattle Seahawks, Carroll won Super Bowl XLVIII and a pair of NFC titles, and made 10 playoff appearances in 14 years while going 137-89-1 in the regular season, 10-9 in the postseason to become the winningest coach in Seahawks history. Including his head coaching stints with the New York Jets, with whom he went 6-10 in 1994, and the New England Patriots, where he went 27-21 in three seasons with a playoff appearance from 1997 to ’99, his career record is 181-131-1.
After spending the 2000 season out of football and reshaping his coaching philosophy, Carroll was hired by USC, beginning a dominant nine-year run that included seven consecutive Pac-10 titles, a pair of national championships and a 97-19 record in nine years, from 2001 to ’09, though NCAA sanctions followed.
The Seahawks lured him away from USC in 2010 with the promise of final say in personnel moves, something he didn’t have in either of his two previous head coaching stops.
Carroll is a defensive-minded coach who, along with Spytek, will have to address the large number of pending free agents on that side of the ball for Las Vegas. Among them: defensive ends Malcolm Koonce and K’Lavon Chaisson, linebackers Robert Spillane and Divine Deablo, cornerback Nate Hobbs and safeties Tre’von Moehrig and Marcus Epps.
Plus, the Raiders, who hold the No. 6 overall draft pick as well as more than $108 million in salary cap space, need an upgrade at quarterback, but return first-team All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers.
The Raiders fired Pierce as coach and Tom Telesco as GM after one season together.
Pierce had been initially promoted from linebackers coach to interim coach upon the firing on Halloween night 2023 of McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler after less than two full seasons.
Las Vegas finished last in the AFC West with a 4-13 record that included a 10-game losing streak, the franchise’s longest such skid in 10 years.
