Raiders’ New Head Coach Looks To Hire Staff From Current Team Coaches, New Faces, Former Colleagues
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Pete Carroll’s hiring philosophy makes sense whether you’re an National Football League head coach or a CEO of a big company.
The longtime football coach who has piled up 181 NFL wins and a Super Bowl title explained his staff hires will include current Raiders coaches, new faces and “people that have been around me.”
It’s an interesting approach for the former Seattle Seahawks head coach who readily confesses he does things his own way.
We’ve already seen his hiring philosophy is action during the past week. A current Raiders coach who will continue on the job is Patrick Graham, who was retained by Carroll as defensive coordinator.
Meanwhile, a new staffer who is one of the biggest names in the offensive coordinator business is Chip Kelly, coming off a college football national championship as the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator. Kelly was named the Raiders OC this week.
Kelly’s resume includes being the former head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles (2013-15) and San Francisco 49ers (2016), while serving as the former head coach of Oregon from 2009-12.
The Raiders also named Mark Thewes as senior vice president of football operations and strategy. Thewes enters his 23rd season in the NFL after spending the past 16 seasons with the Denver Broncos. He most recently served as the Broncos’ vice president of football operations and compliance from 2020-2024 after serving as the team’s director of team administration from 2012-19. Thewes alo worked for the Cleveland Browns from 1999-2004 and spent four years with GMR Marketing in Charlotte, N.C., before he joined the Broncos as assistant to the head coach in 2009.
Interestingly enough, many new coaches hire their former friends and colleagues. We will see if Carroll hires his former Seahawks coaches or even players.
During his introduction presser at Raiders headquarters, Carroll explained his hiring philosophy this way: “I’m really looking for people that have been with me, that understand the philosophy to some
extent. I want guys that have never been around me before so they have to learn what we’re all about
and we can watch the process of them learning what we’re all about and what we expect, and then I’m
hoping that we can maintain some of the terrific coaches that are on the staff, too, so we can have the
benefit of the insights that they bring and the continuity that they can generate for us.
“So it’s a combination of people that we’re looking for.”
Carroll stressed he wants players and staff who love the game and the competition — and staff who can “keep me balanced.”
Last week, he said, “We want guys that love the game. Obviously if nothing else, we’ve hammered that home today. We want to make sure that we do that. Also, it’s important to find people that can help us
grow and challenge us, and those also — I know in my history, I need people to keep me on track. As you
can tell, I get pretty juiced up and I’m going to get going. I need people to keep me balanced.”
PROMO
