The Las Vegas Raiders hired Pete Carroll on a three-year contract to lead their team going forward. Carroll last coached the Seattle Seahawks in the 2023-24 season, with a record of 9-8 before stepping down as head coach.
Now, he joins the Raiders in the AFC West, where he will see a familiar face.
Carroll will play against Jim Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers twice a season now, after playing against each other when Harbaugh was the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.
The Bolts’ head coach joined the Pat McAfee show on June 9th and shared a brief message on playing against a Carroll-coached team again.
“We’re playing them [week] two. What we know about them, we know they’re gonna be good,” Harbaugh said on the show. “[Kansas City] Chiefs week one. [Las Vegas] Raiders week two. [Denver] Broncos week three. We’re gonna find out where we stand in that competitive division right off the bat.”
All-Time Record Against Each Other
GettyPete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh faced each other in the NFC West.
Jim Harbaugh was the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers for four seasons and faced off against Pete Carroll and his Seahawks. Carroll took the head-to-head series, 5-4.
“It’s a respect. A lot of respect for him, the competitor he is, the teams that he produces. We just talked the other day. I like to feel like he’s got the same kind of competitive respect as I have for him,” Harbaugh said, via the Chargers. “We’ve had some battles and we’re about to have them again.”
One of the more notable matchups between these two head coaches was in the 2014 NFC Championship game, where the Seahawks secured a win against Harbaugh’s 49ers. Seattle would go on to win the Super Bowl two weeks later.
The pair has also faced each other at the collegiate level in the Pac-10, with Harbaugh coaching Stanford and Pete Carroll coaching USC.
Harbaugh takes the cake in this head-to-head, with the Bolts head coach going 2-1 against the Trojans during that time.
Carroll Building His Team
GettyPete Carroll brought a familiar face with him to Sin City.
Pete Carroll is entering a rebuild with the Las Vegas Raiders, who had a 4-13 record last season.
The Raiders traded for quarterback Geno Smith in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The
He’s going to bring us great stability and belief in the kinds of things that we stand for,” Carroll said, via Fox Sports. “His habits are so stellar. The way he works, the way he looks at the game, the way he looks at the challenges of it all is exactly in line with the way we think. He’ll represent us in magnificent fashion.”
Smith had his best season of his career under Carroll and won the Comeback Player of the Year Award. The former Seahawk recorded 4,282 passing yards and 30 passing touchdowns.
“I think there is unfinished business, and I think when people think about my story, you know, Coach Carroll was a big part of that,” Smith explained during his introductory news conference Monday, via the NFL. “He gave me an opportunity when not many people would have. He saw the hard work that I was putting in, he saw the things behind the scenes that I do that allow me to get this opportunity.”
“But to be able to play for him and again, to be a part of this organization, it means everything to myself and my family.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Chargers’ Harbaugh on Playing Against Familiar HC Opponent appeared first on Heavy Sports.