Tom Brady, Raiders' Pete Carroll Hire Praised by NFL Fans After Antonio Pierce Exit

The Las Vegas Raiders sent shockwaves through the NFL on Friday as they progressed toward an agreement to make Pete Carroll their next head coach.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the Raiders and Carroll came to terms on a three-year deal with a fourth-year team option, bringing him back to coaching after one year away.

Legendary New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, who is a minority owner of the Raiders, is believed to have a strong voice in the Raiders' leadership decisions, which became apparent when they hired John Spytek as general manager this week.

Spytek was the assistant GM when Brady was with the Bucs as a player, and they played together at the University of Michigan.

Many fans and analysts took to social media on Friday to praise Brady's decision and his partnership with Carroll given that both of them have plenty of championship experience in the NFL:

This will be the Raiders' third head coach in three seasons and fifth in five years.

Jon Gruden resigned after a 3-2 start in 2021 following the discovery of emails containing racist, sexist and misogynistic language sent 10 years prior. Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia took over on an interim basis for the remainder of the season.

The Raiders then turned toward Josh McDaniels, who went just 9-16 before he was fired midway through the 2023 campaign. Linebackers coach Antonio Pierce took over, went 5-4 and earned the permanent head coaching gig.

However, the success he experienced in the back half of the 2023 campaign didn't come to fruition in 2024. Las Vegas started 2-2 but then lost 10 straight games en route to a 4-13 season. Opponents outscored the Raiders by 125 points. Las Vegas finished 29th in scoring and 25th in points allowed.

The Raiders fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy after a 2-7 start before turning to Scott Turner. The Raiders' offense didn't fare much better, though, as the team scored more than 20 points just one in their final eight games.

After the season, the Raiders relieved Pierce of his duties.

With that, the Raiders' coaching curse continued. No person has completed four full years as the Raiders' head coach since Gruden did from 1998-2001. Obviously, Las Vegas owner Mark Davis hopes to change that with the next hire.

Carroll has a five-decade long collegiate and NFL coaching career that began at Pacific in 1973 as a graduate assistant and most recently ended with the Seattle Seahawks in 2023.

His two most notable stops, of course, were with USC from 2001-2009 and the Seahawks in 2010-2023. At USC, the Trojans won two national titles in 2003 and 2004 and went 97-19. For seven straight seasons, USC finished no worse than fourth in the Associated Press poll.

Carroll then left for the Seahawks. Four years later, Seattle won its first and only Super Bowl. The team thrived under Carroll, going 137-89-1. The Seahawks made 10 playoff appearance and won the NFC West five times. They earned NFC titles in 2013 and 2014. The Seahawks parted ways with Carroll after the 2023 campaign.

The 73-year-old is back in the NFL, though. He has his work cut out for him in Las Vegas, but Carroll has enjoyed tremendous success in his last two stops, and that track record is hard to ignore even if he has a tall challenge ahead.