Pete Carroll has become the NFL’s latest one-and-done head coach.
The Las Vegas Raiders fired Carroll on Monday after the team finished 3–14, tying for the league’s worst record in his lone season at the helm. The move marks yet another reset for a franchise that will now be searching for its fourth full-time head coach since 2022.
“The Las Vegas Raiders have relieved Pete Carroll of his duties as head coach,” the team said in a statement. “We appreciate and wish him and his family all the best. Moving forward, General Manager John Spytek will lead all football operations in close collaboration with Tom Brady, including the search for the club’s next coach.”
Carroll, 74, became the oldest head coach in modern NFL history when he was hired last January to replace Antonio Pierce, who also lasted just one full season. The former Seattle Seahawks coach had spent a year away from coaching following his surprise dismissal at the end of the 2023 season.
After a season-ending win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Carroll said he hoped to return and denied speculation about retirement.
“Nobody is talking to me about that,” Carroll said. “I haven’t said a word about that.”
Expectations were raised early when the Raiders acquired quarterback Geno Smith — Carroll’s former signal-caller in Seattle — and selected running back Ashton Jeanty with the No. 6 overall pick. Instead, familiar issues resurfaced. Smith led the NFL with 17 interceptions, and Las Vegas fielded the league’s worst rushing offense on a per-game basis.
The Raiders also dismissed offensive coordinator Chip Kelly after 11 weeks, despite reportedly making him the NFL’s highest-paid coordinator. Defensive star Maxx Crosby missed the final two games with a knee injury and reportedly left the facility after learning the team would shut him down for the remainder of the season.
Carroll, who had never won fewer than six games in his previous 18 NFL seasons, admitted during the year that the challenge was greater than he anticipated.
“It blows me away that this is the situation that we’re in,” Carroll said in late December. “But maybe it had to be this hard.”
The Raiders now enter the offseason with significant resources and uncertainty. According to Over The Cap, Las Vegas is projected to have approximately $100.8 million in salary-cap space — third most in the league — along with the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NFL draft, positioning the franchise for another major rebuild.
