Raiders fire Pete Carroll after one disastrous season

The anticipated fallout for Raiders head coach Pete Carroll has become official.

Las Vegas fired the Super Bowl-winning coach after just one season and an abysmal 3-14 record, which allowed the Raiders to end up with the No. 1 pick, despite picking up a Week 18 win against the Chiefs.

Carroll, 74, won a Super Bowl with the Seahawks and lost another one with Seattle, but nothing translated once he joined the Raiders and brought quarterback Geno Smith with him.

They shocked the Patriots with a Week 1 win, but then Las Vegas proceeded to lose 14 of the next 15 games.

“The Las Vegas Raiders have relieved Pete Carroll of his duties as head coach,” owner Mark Davis 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 head coach. Together, they will guide football decisions with a shared focus on leadership, culture and alignment with the organization’s long-term vision and goals.”

In the aftermath of Sunday’s game, Carroll said “of course” he’d like to return and also said nobody had talked to him about retirement.

“I don’t think I’ve ever coached as hard as I did this year,” Carroll told reporters Sunday, according to The Athletic. “I had to. We had to keep coming back, keep finding ways to keep our mentality together and keep pushing at practice and preparation when there wasn’t anything to show for it.

“It was fun as hell, and we were able to carry that mentality through this whole season with so few rewards in terms of the games. I’m pretty impressed by these guys … and appreciate the hell out of how they were able to keep coming back and keep coming back and staying with the message and bringing the love for their teammates and all the things that we ask them to do.”

So now the Raiders will begin their latest search for a head coach — their fourth since 2022.

The franchise originally tapped Josh McDaniels in January 2022 before he was canned midway through the 2023 season. The team elevated Antonio Pierce to interim head coach after McDaniels’ firing, and he was named the successor for 2024.

Pierce was fired last January before Carroll was brought on.

This coaching search will follow a tumultuous stretch that also featured the canning of offensive coordinator Chip Kelly and an ugly saga with Maxx Crosby.

The star edge rusher stormed out of the team building after the Raiders opted to shut him down when Crosby still believed he could play, prompting speculation that it was a move to continue taking and securing the No. 1 pick to likely draft Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

The Raiders are now one of six coaching vacancies that’ll need to be filled in the weeks and months ahead, along with the Cardinals, Giants, Browns, Falcons and Titans.