Seattle Seahawks HC Pete Carroll has had an extraordinary career, and the coaching bloodlines have extended to his sons.
Both of Carroll’s sons are football coaches. With a variety of experiences between them and very different career paths, what do we know about their careers?
Who Are Pete Carroll’s Sons?
Carroll has two sons, Brennan and Nate, and one daughter, Jaime. Both Brennan and Nate have coaching pedigree and have even coached alongside their father in Seattle, as well as in college.
Brennan Carroll
Brennan Carroll is Carroll’s eldest son, born on March 20, 1979.
He has made a name for himself as a coach and is currently the offensive coordinator for the Arizona Wildcats.
His first coaching job, however, came in 2001 straight out of college, where Brennan was a tight end for Delaware and Pittsburgh.
After graduating, Brennan joined the USC coaching staff as a graduate assistant. He followed his father, who was head coach of USC from 2001 to 2009. In his second year, Brennan moved to coach the tight ends — a job he stayed for five seasons until 2009.
But when Carroll became head coach for the Seahawks in 2010, Lane Kiffin was brought in as USC’s new head coach, and Brennan was not retained on the staff.
After leaving the Trojans, Brennan found himself with the Miami Hurricanes. There, he coached tight ends before coaching wide receivers and being the recruiting coordinator.
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In 2015, Brennan headed to the NFL, joining his father in Seattle as an offensive line assistant. He would stay in this role until 2019, when he became the Seahawks’ run game coordinator.
In 2021, Brennan returned to college football, taking the job as offensive coordinator for the Arizona Wildcats. He is currently in his third season with the Wildcats, who are 9-3 this season and nationally ranked as a top-25 team.
Nate Carroll
Nate Carroll was born on March 24, 1987, and is the youngest of Pete’s sons. He is currently a senior offensive assistant in Seattle.
Before his NFL coaching career, Nate had a playing career and was recruited by mostly small schools. A multi-sport athlete, Nate was recruited to the University of San Diego by Jim Harbaugh.
Speaking to Ian Rapoport, Nate shed some light on his recruitment, saying, “I was a high school football player, recruited by small schools, and I wasn’t planning on playing in college. I wasn’t paying much attention to the recruiting. Then I got recruited by San Diego, and they’d had a couple of good years, and they had Harbaugh.”
Nate was initially interested in the offer. “That was intriguing,” Nate shared. “He had the pedigree — an NFL quarterback — and I grew up watching him play football, throwing that Hail Mary (in 1995).”
Ultimately, Nate decided to head to Los Angeles and be a Trojan. Nate said, “I decided to go to USC. Free tuition for my family, and I decided not to play football.”
After graduating in 2010, Nate was offered the opportunity to follow his father and be on the Seahawks’ coaching staff.
Nate has spent his whole coaching career in Seattle, holding several different roles.
He started as a personal assistant to the scouting department before becoming a defensive assistant for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Nate then transitioned to the offensive side of the ball as an assistant in 2013, after he was initially thinking of moving to Jacksonville when Gus Bradley took the Jaguars’ head coaching job.
Nate then coached as an assistant wide receivers coach from 2014-2017. He was then promoted, serving as a wide receiver coach for four seasons between 2018 and 2021. Since 2022, Nate has been a senior offensive assistant in Seattle.
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