Pete Carroll Football Quotations

Once you're a football player, you're a football player for life. You always think of yourself in terms of that. We all do. It's hard to get rid of when you can't play anymore.

I have great respect for Walt and all the stuff he has done. For years, I have been calling him to ask him what's up, how to do this and how to do that. He is a really good football coach.

When he returns he'll have had the most practice time with us (of any healthy running back). We do have a good feeling for what we can do; we're really excited about his ability to help this football team. He's doing really well, and there's a chance he could (play) now.

History has shown we're a really good second-half football team and particularly strong in the fourth quarter. We count on that.

There is an awful lot here with two winning football teams. What more could fans ask for?

He was obviously the difference in the football game. He's really off the charts.

It has been a great process, ... It has been really fun to put the thing together with the challenge of trying to replace really terrific football coaches. Now we have to go out and prove what we're all about. There is a lot of scrutiny and question marks that I think are valid, but I think this group is going to do a great job.

People are always looking for the hot new deal. I don't particularly like it because it takes away from the standard traditional football stuff.

The argument about the system is out there and that's probably good, ... We did what we could, impressing the people in the AP poll and the coaches who felt free to vote.

That was our moment. I was trying to win the football game. We came within one fourth down of doing it. Missed it by that much.

That was a phenomenal night by one guy. I don't want to take anything away from their football team but that guy is an extraordinary player.

We get down to the end of the season and we've got a couple of games left and we're fortunately in that position, then that's a whole different thing, and we'll deal with it when the time comes. But right now it's not something that our guys talk about. It's not something topical on our football team because it means nothing.

You make the first down, you win the football game.

What my thoughts come back to about this football team right now, this is a program that has found a level of excellence. We'll get back to work and see how it comes together. We have great players coming on to offset the guys that are leaving.

We just could not stop him. Vince Young is just an extraordinary football player.

Vince Young was an extraordinary talent out there tonight. He's really off the charts. That's a heck of a football player.

There's no question that as much pressure as can be generated in college football is surrounding Matt. He's marvelous at dealing with it, but he's just a kid, too. He's got his times when he'd much rather be outside all of the attention, but that's just life and that's what it is.

This is not the same football team, this is not the same offense, ... The players are the same, but they are performing at a higher level because of the guy who is running the thing.

This is a fantastic and improved football team; the impact of the head coach is obvious,

They move the football better than ever. Sam Keller has just taken over and done a fantastic job.

This is the kind of class where you're going to feel the impact immediately. They can handle the pressure of playing early. I think a dozen of these guys will be a factor. There are really good football players who are going to be called on right away.

They're so talent-laden that when they put their special teams together, they have terrific athletes in every spot. They're fast, they're explosive and they have terrific athletes at every spot. They've taken a bunch of great football players and when they get their chance to do something, they're making the most of it.

As we do every spring, we'll try to establish the high level of competitiveness, intensity and work ethic that have been the hallmark of our program. Spring football is a very important time for us to develop and capture those attributes.

Absolutely, heck yeah. We're counting on that competition.

It?s kids, it?s family, it?s football . . . it?s just fun.

It was really a unique experience. I had been at the University of Pacific for my first three years coaching. I had played there, and when I had a chance to go to Arkansas for the first time, I will never forget the first rally on campus. It was crazy, and the energy was awesome, and the band was playing and the students went nuts. It was the first sense of what big-time college football was like, to be on the inside of it. That year at Arkansas was the year that really energized me about being a college coach and liking it and coaching on the big level. I got captured by it.

It's what everyone dreams about that comes to play here, and we try to be real frank about it. We have tremendous NFL experience on our staff, our background and the way we teach is exactly the way they do up there. It's a selling point.

They have played really good football, and they have tons of highlights and good things to show, ... But they have been unable to get their win in the Pac-10. That just screams about the Pac-10 offenses. They bring in a terrific running back, a terrific receiver.

That's an extraordinary football player. He's not only big, he's fast. He probably made us miss a dozen tackles.

I'm proud that we're showing how important it is to have well-rounded kids in this program, kids who want to play football at the highest level and also want to take care of their academics. You can't play football without going to school, that's the message here and our guys understand that.

I really need to see that play again. I didn't even get a chance to look at the replay, but it looked like a phenomenal play. It looked like he got stuck up in a pile of guys and he was able to spin around and get back out to get going. It was just a terrific play by an amazing football player.

If you make that first down, you're squatting on the football to win the game. We just missed it. By what -- two inches?

He's so unique and so explosive and such a great competitor. He has all the physical talents to do it. But he was on a real good football team with some great players around him. It's unfair to expect Reggie to go to Houston and carry that team on his shoulders.

He's an extraordinary football player. He's so fast. He's big. He probably made us miss 11 tackles.

Gosh, we finished so strong. We just pounded the football in the second half.

You can't get a big enough game for us.

You can watch our players. He has generated this tremendous level of effort by our linemen and our receivers because they don't know where he's going to wind up, and they're convinced when he's running the football it might be to right where they are. Nobody wants to be embarrassed by not having a full level of effort on the play.

The open side Defensive End has to be one of your best football players. Size does not matter as much. We want an athletic player who can move around.

I had no plan for that year but it wound up being one of the most important years of my football coaching career. It hit me along the way that I needed to really get at the heart of what's really true to myself. And then I was able to mold it and shape it in the years at SC to become the approach and the concept and the culture that we try to create here at Seattle.

Of course we want to win every game, but winning forever is more about realizing your potential and making yourself as good as you can be. Realizing that is a tremendous accomplishment, whether it's in football or in life.