Honestly, did you think we'd be here when they hired Pete?

Hi,

Ashamed to admit it now but I remember the moment I heard we hired Pete. I was driving and immediatly felt sick. After the problems with Mora and Ruskell, I was hoping we'd chose a "proven coach" and a GM like Holmy. I thought Leiweke and Alllen were nuts to take flyer on Pete Rah Rah Carroll. Spent the next few months rolling my eyes and critisizing every move Carroll and later John Schneider made...

...then the 2010 season started. I was impressed from the 1st regular season game and started to tone down my crabbing. When they beat the Bears in Chicago, I shut up completely and bought into the program.

I now get the philospy Pete and JS have about recruiting players with chips on their shoulders and who are a little different cause that's who Pete are and Leiweke and Allen were smart enough to see it's a winning formula. Sometimes you have to break from the pack to lead it.

Contrast our experience against the different coaching vacancies that were filled this off season. Most talkin' heads thought that the Titans, Browns, etc... should go for a "proven coach". They even graded the hires based on each new coach's trackrecords. I didn't see any real out of the box selections this offseason. Too bad more teams don't learn from Seattle's approach.

I am glad to say I was totally wrong about Pete and have enjoyed the ride... now let's bring the Lombardi home to the NW!

Just wondering how many saw this coming the day we hired Pete?

I didn't necessarily expect a SB appearance within 4 years, but I did think he would turn our team around and make it a contender. I always thought Carroll got a bit of a raw deal in New York and New England, and I was hopeful that he'd be able to replicate his USC success with the Seahawks.

My initial reaction was to roll my eyes and say "oh no".

But I was won over in training camp when it seemed like the players really were buying in and so much of the roster was turned over in an effort to acquire talent.

I really the first draft too.

So I was willing to give them a shot and be on board by the time Pete's first season got underway. Most of my dislike of the Pete hiring just came from the media reaction. But they've all proven to be wrong too.

I'm not a college football fan so I had no clue who Pete Carroll was before he came here.

I remember when he was hired and I was pretty excited because I knew he had done well at USC, but I hadn't heard anything about him before that (I'm 16), I thought he would do really well for us, but I didn't predict a SB in 4 years.

Maybe not quite this fast or soon, but I was optimistic because I thought:

1. Pete got a raw deal in the NFL before.
2. What he did with the "33rd NFL team" at USC was impressive.

Besides after the 2008 and 2009 seasons (which forevermore should be stricken from all records), I figured we had very little to lose.

I was behind it 100% then, and still am. I was so happy when they dumped everyone from that mess we had before and picked a winner. That announcement made me feel we finally had a chance to go over the top and be a real team. I hadn't been that happy as a Hawk fan since the early days. When Flores was hired I knew things had gone the wrong direction. Didn't feel we had really gotten back on track until Pete was hired. Holmgren was a move in the right direction, but you could see problems coming right off the bat, he was just too stuck on himself.

My reaction to his hiring;



Yeah I doubted him, and am delightfully eating crow

I think most of us said oh no. Glad we were wrong

Admittedly, my initial reaction was "are you kidding me" w/ the aforementioned eye roll. After about an hour or 2 of shaking my head I finally said to myself why do I dislike this guy? The answer as I soul searched seemed to me more of a hate for Pac 10 rival USC and all their damn championships/dominance. I never blamed him for the whole Bush fiasco and always felt the NCAA went too far there even against a rival (east coast bias?) I then started reading all kinds of articles about PC the coach/man and found I actually like his attitude. I really got on board when he started churning the roster and his first draft. I thought here is a guy w/ the cojones to do what needed to be done.

All that said, a SUPERBOWL in 4 yrs......WOW!!!! Are you kidding me??? I am truly impressed and love the guy to death.

Go Hawks!!!

Like others, I don't watch college ball much so I didn't really know much about Pete. But I was damned sure he couldn't possibly be any worse than the flaming incompetent idiot jerkface he replaced. As that first off-season progressed - the draft and training camp - and I learned more about and heard more from Pete (and let's not forget JS!), it didn't take me long to realize that this was going to be something really, really good.

I did not. I thought Pete was an amazing college coach because his raw raw glass half full always compete personality was a perfect fit for getting high school and college kids to work hard............I didn't think it'd translate to grown men in the NFL, some of which made more than he did and had no reason to listen to his mumbo jumbo.

Took me til 2011 to say "this dude is turning this franchise into something special". At first I wanted no parts of pete.

I didn't know what to think at first, but I read an article that college coaches and coaches on their second or third HC job in the NFL do better than most OC hires, first-time HC hires, etc. around the time that made me think that it was worth trying. I was in wait-and-see mode, but I didn't have strong feelings about the hire.

It also helped that he was following Mora, who sucked, and not Holmgren, who had taken our franchise to new heights in his time.

Purely based on his success in USC and his brief stunt in the the NFL and the win forever mantra, all of this did make me believe that we would be here right around this time.

I pretty much thought it was worth a shot. Anything was better than Mora and the end of Holmgren.

I live in LA so I saw Pete all over the place all the time (not in person) and I figured why not. Pro's might buy into his style...lets give this a whirl...

But did I expect a Super Bowl appearance in 4 years considering the lack of talent and age of the roster...HELL NO!!!!

Yes. Yes I did.

I didn't buy in until end of 2010...I saw the T-Jack year and said hey we're going places.

I don't follow college football at all and as I don't live in the US it's hardly newsworthy, so I had absolutely no idea who Pete Carroll was (genuinely, until maybe the combine I have no idea who any players are aside from big names that are mentioned on NFL news, like Manziel, Bridgewater, Clowney... and that's about it).

Yet I had a feeling that this was the guy, just listening to his message and what he wanted to do. I bought in immediately.

I liked the hiring.. I didn't figure it would be a 4 year and in the superbowl kind of run.... but I liked the energy from day one... Nothing I hated worse than the blank emotionless look on Mora's face every game... I hated that and wanted to see some energy. We got energy!