Help, Pats Fans: Perception of Pete in New England

Help me here, New England fans.


I have a few Patriot fans in my life, and they all REALLY hate Pete Carroll. As does Boston Sports Guy Bill Simmons. As far as I can tell, this stems mostly from from his time in New England (duh).

I'd really like to hear a few things:

1. Is that in fact the prevalent feeling around NE?

2. Please explain it's basis, if so.


Here's my best guess -

"Pete took a team that should have been able to muster repeated Super Bowl appearances and ruined it"

Maybe it was is Rah-Rah attitude (which would be the single dumbest and most stereotypical reason)

Or something like that.

Anyway, I'd love to hear a real honest, thoughtful explanation of these strong feelings that as far as I can tell are virtually baseless. I mean, are you really sure NE was a Super Bowl shoe-in vs those two strong Broncos teams?

I think a lot of University of Washington fans weren't the biggest fans of his on day 1 of his hire (myself included) because of his time at USC. I can't speak for everyone, but in retrospect I think that had a lot to do with jealousy. Even more-so I'll also say that I dead wrong, and so is anyone else that thinks he's some slime bag recruiter / NCAA violator, win at all costs type. He's totally the real deal, does fantastic things for our players, our community, etc, etc. Call me naive if you want, but I don't think he had anything to do with Bush's violations, and I think it's sad that it's tarnished a wonderful football legacy.

It's probably analogous to Steve Sarkisian in a 'what if' scenario where Sarkisian goes on to win national championships at USC. There are already a lot of UW fans who hate Sark, and his success elsewhere would only make that hatred even deeper.

Maybe Jim Mora too, though Jim Mora was such a horrible coach in Seattle. Carroll was competent and had a winning record with a team that probably wasn't quite as good as Patriots fans thought it was. Look at the Patriots with Belichick before Tom Brady took over.

Fortunately for us dawg fans, there is a better chance of me shacking up with Kate Upton than Sark winning a National Championship.

Hawkpower":2rlj2vzm said:

Fortunately for us dawg fans, there is a better chance of me shacking up with Kate Upton than Sark winning a National Championship.

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Your wife isn't going to be happy, but it will probably be worth it..

Pete IS hated in New England, and he was hated before the Pats took a snap under him. His West Coast style was dead before it began. Reporters pretty much openly mocked him.

The Pete we have in Seattle isn't the same guy they had in New England.

He's the guy who gets his ass kicked in the first reel of the movie then goes off one some quest to find himself and returns to kick the villain's ass and win the girl's heart in the last reel.

Between New England and USC he realised his coaching philosophy and general philosophy about life, the universe, and everything. Then he proved it worked at USC and further honed it during his tenure there. Now back in the NFL he's reinventing the team concept as it applies to the NFL.

Read his book - you'll understand.

Scottemojo":2u5qyp6e said:

Pete IS hated in New England, and he was hated before the Pats took a snap under him. His West Coast style was dead before it began. Reporters pretty much openly mocked him.

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For once the East Coast Media did us a solid.

Scottemojo":12mcft99 said:

Pete IS hated in New England, and he was hated before the Pats took a snap under him. His West Coast style was dead before it began. Reporters pretty much openly mocked him.

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If you read 'Win Forever,' Robert Craft told Pete he wanted a team that was 'just like the Forty Niners,' so if that's the reason for the hatred of Pete, it is grossly misdirected.

He had no chance to succeed in NE. Pretty much nobody would have had a chance. Replacing Parcells?! No way!

Personally I couldn't stand Parcells and gave Pete a chance, but his hands were tied behind his back from the start. He didn't have control of the front office, and he couldn't control a team full of vets who didn't take to Pete's 'rah rah' enthusiasm. Having Bobby Grier making the decisions on personnel sure didn't help either.

Coming from the Jets didn't help either. The media helped run him out of town. They almost succeeded in doing the same with Belichick.

HawKnPeppa":3q0nz5rw said:

Scottemojo":3q0nz5rw said:

Pete IS hated in New England, and he was hated before the Pats took a snap under him. His West Coast style was dead before it began. Reporters pretty much openly mocked him.

Click to expand...

If you read 'Win Forever,' Robert Craft told Pete he wanted a team that was 'just like the Forty Niners,' so if that's the reason for the hatred of Pete, it is grossly misdirected.

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I read win forever.

I remember at the time that the media undermined him. His team was full of leaks. He definitely was not ready to take over a team that was not full of players subscribing to his methods.

There are still plenty of East Coast places where a guy like Pete would still have an uphill battle with the local media.

Sorry to add my two cents to an aging thread but it took a day or two get registered on this site.

I've been a Patriots fan since the sixties. I have no idea why anyone in NE would "hate" Pete Carroll.

I did not realize until this week that Pete is 63, actually older than Belichick, who is 62. I am 62 1/2 so this meant something to me.

I must admit I find Pete's diction and accent a little irksome, but what I find especially odd (and a little annoying), is that Russell Wilson talks exactly like him. Am I the only one to notice this? Not a big deal, and I certainly don't dislike Pete Carroll for the way he talks, but I just think it's weird that they sound so much alike.