Seattle Seahawks Football Team

Scott Cushing, a civil attorney in the Thurston County prosecutor's office, was driving back from a doctor's appointment when news first hit the radio that Pete Carroll had been hired to coach the Seattle Seahawks. It was raining as usual -- the windows were up. Nobody could hear him as he screamed "Noooo!" at the steering wheel. "I almost careened off the road," said Cushing, who writes a sports blog for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "It was just disbelief, and anger. I couldn't fathom what they were thinking, putting this guy in charge."

The National Football League has explicit procedures for franchise relocation, but for the right amount of money, those guidelines can--and have--been overlooked. The Los Angeles Rams initially failed to meet NFL guidelines in their proposed move to St. Louis, but after team President John Shaw talked about financial terms with league officials, and the Rams agreed to pay a $29-million relocation fee, league owners agreed to let them go.

Pete Carroll might be tireless but he does have wheels. To that end, the Seattle Seahawks gave him the prime parking spot, just outside the front door of their facility, marking the space with a freshly minted sign with his name on it. It's a reminder to anyone who strolls by that the football world is different now than it was just days ago. "Not just a little different," Carroll said Tuesday after he was introduced as Seahawks coach....

Pete Carroll is leaving USC, and the coach the school considered its top choice to succeed him is no longer available. Several Trojans players said Sunday night that they were informed by text message from staff that Carroll would become coach of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. According to a source familiar with the negotiations, the deal will be signed this morning and Carroll will be introduced as the Seahawks coach Tuesday. Meantime, Oregon State Coach Mike Riley, who had been targeted by USC as Carroll's possible successor, agreed to a three-year contract extension.

Los Angeles has become an unwitting pawn in an intense chess game between the Seattle Seahawks and Washington's King County. Or Los Angeles is about to get another professional football team. These conflicting news bulletins surfaced almost hourly Thursday, saying the Seahawks, who are prepared to break their Kingdome lease, are leaving Seattle for Los Angeles, or--hold on--the Seahawks are staying in Seattle.

The more I hear from NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, the more I am convinced that the football team presently known as the Seattle Seahawks will never play a down here. Tagliabue's in-writing promise to the people of Cleveland to get them a team, still called Browns, while permitting Art Modell's current personnel to move to Baltimore, can be perceived as a promise to Los Angeles.

Pete Carroll might be tireless but he does have wheels. To that end, the Seattle Seahawks gave him the prime parking spot, just outside the front door of their facility, marking the space with a freshly minted sign with his name on it. It's a reminder to anyone who strolls by that the football world is different now than it was just days ago. "Not just a little different," Carroll said Tuesday after he was introduced as Seahawks coach....

Highly successful USC football Coach Pete Carroll was close to reaching an agreement with the Seattle Seahawks on Friday evening, headed toward a job switch that would deliver yet another blow to the university's besieged athletic program. While USC has come under fire for not properly monitoring athletes -- with two investigations involving football -- Seattle is offering big money and wide-ranging control. The 58-year-old Carroll has been offered the job of both coach and president at an annual salary of $7 million for five years, according to a source close to the negotiations who was not authorized to comment on the situation.

Ken Behring, owner of the Seattle Seahawks, said Saturday he is committed to immediately bringing his football team to Los Angeles with the dream of moving into a state-of-the-art football facility for the 1998 or 1999 season.

Throughout his USC career, Pete Carroll downplayed the notion he had something to prove in the pros, that his mediocre record as coach of the New York Jets and New England Patriots gnawed at him. But the Seattle Seahawks executive who Monday hired Carroll as coach believes that something-to-prove mentality indeed helped lure him back to the NFL. "He's got a little bit of a chip on his shoulder," Tod Leiweke, Seahawks chief executive, told...

Going from college to the pros in coaching might be compared to stepping out of a warm house into a cold and damp Seattle winter. Pete Carroll, get ready to turn your collar up. Maybe there's a reason Carroll was 33-31 as a head coach of the New England Patriots and New York Jets and 97-19 at USC. Maybe his rah-rah personality and having candy-store pick of the talent properly correlate with the disparity between his pro/college win-loss...

Pete Carroll is leaving USC, and the coach the school considered its top choice to succeed him is no longer available. Several Trojans players said Sunday night that they were informed by text message from staff that Carroll would become coach of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. According to a source familiar with the negotiations, the deal will be signed this morning and Carroll will be introduced as the Seahawks coach Tuesday. Meantime, Oregon State Coach Mike Riley, who had been targeted by USC as Carroll's possible successor, agreed to a three-year contract extension.

As the Seattle Seahawks worked through final details to bring Pete Carroll back to the NFL, USC has targeted a coach it wants to replace him. But it might not be easy to lure Oregon State's Mike Riley. Riley was among Athletic Director Mike Garrett's top choices in 2000 before he hired Carroll. A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed Saturday that Riley was at the top of USC's list. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

No matter how many times he said "psyched" or "blast" or did cannonballs into the university pool, Pete Carroll was always going to leave USC and go back to the National Football League. The only questions were the time, the date, the team, the billionaire owner and whether Carroll would: 1) get out on top, after a national championship; or 2) bolt for the door after a one-win-shy-of-10 season and the NCAA cops in his rearview mirror. So the final answer looks as if it's: No. 2. Carroll appears headed to the Seattle Seahawks -- not long after a judge ruled he could be deposed in the long-running Reggie Bush case, USC self-imposed sanctions on the basketball program, quarterback Aaron Corp transferred to lower-division Richmond and tailback Joe McKnight and star receiver Damian Williams declared for the NFL draft.

Why would Pete Carroll leave USC for the Seattle Seahawks when he rejected the entreaties of other NFL teams? And why is Carroll, who had a mediocre record as an NFL coach, attractive to the Seahawks? For Carroll, 58, the job offers spectacular money -- about $35 million over five seasons -- and complete control of personnel decisions as coach and president of the team. A source familiar with the situation told The Times on Friday a deal is nearly completed. Carroll has always felt he would have been more successful as coach of the New York Jets and New England Patriots had he had the final say on players with those organizations.

Brian Bosworth's once-promising football career appears over after only 24 NFL games. The man known as "the Boz" was supposed to be a modern-day Dick Butkus for the Seattle Seahawks. Instead, he was a major failure because of injuries. Bosworth, a middle linebacker who signed a 10-year, $11-million contract after he was taken as the first selection in the 1987 supplemental draft, was waived Tuesday by the Seahawks.

There he is, standing on the sideline early in the first quarter Sunday at the Coliseum--Seattle Seahawks defensive back Paul Moyer. A specialist. First and 10, Raiders. Relax Paul, it's too early. Second and six. Moyer adjusts his chin strap. Not yet, though. Third and six. Moyer looks to the coaching staff, gets the nod and trots onto the field. Raider quarterback Jay Schroeder goes back to throw. Wide receiver Mike Alexander breaks into the open. Schroeder throws. Moyer reacts.

Highly successful USC football Coach Pete Carroll was close to reaching an agreement with the Seattle Seahawks on Friday evening, headed toward a job switch that would deliver yet another blow to the university's besieged athletic program. While USC has come under fire for not properly monitoring athletes -- with two investigations involving football -- Seattle is offering big money and wide-ranging control. The 58-year-old Carroll has been offered the job of both coach and president at an annual salary of $7 million for five years, according to a source close to the negotiations who was not authorized to comment on the situation.

Chicago Bears defensive end and resident philosopher Alex Brown reflected on the place Sunday's 27-24 overtime victory over the Seattle Seahawks might warrant in team annals. "This game right here, it'll be an instant classic," Brown said after the NFC semifinal. "Great game. Somebody has to win and lose, and unfortunately ... " Brown hesitated. There are limits to sportsmanship. "No, fortunately, Seattle had to lose."