The Raiders welcomed the new duo who will lead the franchise’s coaching and leadership staff, as Pete Carroll was officially introduced as head coach and John Spytek as general manager.
“I feel like we have the infrastructure in this organization to go forward in the future,” said team owner Mark Davis. “The energy of Pete (Carroll), his love of the game and how much he wanted to be a Raider. Knowing him for the first time in the interview process, John (Spytek) impressed me with his desire to work hard and build this the right way. ”
After 23 uninterrupted years as head coach between the collegial and professional levels, Carroll was officially out of American football during 2024, marking just the second time where he was not part of a coaching staff since 1973. He has a total of 30 years of experience in the NFL, 18 of them as head coach. His most recent stop was where he lived most successfully, having the position with the Seattle Seahawks from 2010 to 2023. He qualified for the postseason in 10 of those 14 years, including two trips to the Super Bowl, raising the Vince Lombardi Trophy with his victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 48.
“You are competing or you are not, and I am always competing, this is how we will do it in every possible way,” said Carroll. “For me this game must be fun, if we are not having fun then I am ruining it. If I do a good job teaching then we are going to have fun here, they are going to grow here, they are going to understand what we are dealing with. That is what I bring to the table, if you do not want to compete then you are in the wrong place. Our players will understand that very quickly. John (Spytek) and I totally agree with the kind of people around whom we are going to build this program. ”
Carroll became the head coach with the most experience taking the job with the Bad guys, accumulating 291 regular season games directed and 22 in the postseason throughout his 18 years as head coach in the NFL. Throughout all those years he made important connections with his players, receiving a lot of support from items he previously led when his hiring in Las Vegas was made official. In fact, during the press conference in which he was presented was Marshawn Lynch, whom he led in Seattle, as well as who is now his defensive wing star Maxx Crosby.
“If there’s one thing I want you to understand, it’s that if you want to be on a great team, you need to be a great teammate,” said Carroll. “Teaching and instilling that in the composition of our program will be crucial. The central theme of our team will be the competition and everything begins there. ”
Raiders present Pete Carroll and John Spytek | Raiders Report
Throughout his career in multiple NFL directives, John Spytek was a man who had the confidence of high command to be a key player in evaluating the talent of players from the college level. He spent a total of nine years in Tampa Bay, where he arrived as director of player personnel in 2016, being elevated to vice president of player personnel in 2021 after the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl 55 and later taking the position of general manager assistant who had the last two campaigns. Now he receives his first opportunity to be the general manager of a franchise by accepting that position with the Raiders.
“When I dreamed of having one of these jobs, I always wanted it to be with an iconic franchise like the Raiders,” said Spytek. “I’m not sure I got far enough in my dreams when I was a kid in Pewaukee, Wisconsin to be able to sit here with the Raiders, but here I am. There are some teams that means a little more. There are some teams that the NFL is best with when they are doing things right. Receiving this responsibility is not something I take lightly, but I feel extremely honored and humble to be here with this opportunity in front of us, and I couldn’t be more excited to start and do it with Coach (Pete) Carroll. ”
Now come important days for key dates on the calendar for the 2025 season, where in the first instance they will hire for Carroll’s coaching staff and the Spytek board. At the same time, they will be analyzing the team’s current template and how they will seek to build it to keep the team in position not only to play, but to contend in the only division that sent three teams to the postseason during the 2024 campaign.
“I don’t think there is a perfect way to do it,” Spytek said of how to build his template. “For us in Tampa it was recently drafted and developed. I think at the start of the season, 44 of the players who made it to the roster of 53 were drafted or signed by us as free, non-drafted agents. I think all the headlines, except two, were. But at the end of the day, we will search anywhere we can to find a good player. I don’t care if it’s in Michigan or Ohio State. But our job is to keep an open mind that we will literally go anywhere in the country, anywhere in Canada to find a good player. ”
The base has been laid with Pete Carroll and John Spytek, they now have significant months ahead of work in the different stages of low season, training ground, preseason and regular campaign. One step at a time, but in each of those steps you will have the mentality of competing to be the best.