Getty Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll is among the leaders in this key statistic this season.
Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick are the only two head coaches in the NFL at least 70 years old. But the Seattle Seahawks head coach has something else in common with the head coach of the New England Patriots.
Based on a report from Sportico, Carroll and Belichick are the only coaches in American sports to be paid at least $15 million per season.
The HIGHEST PAID COACHES IN SPORTS
Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll are tops among the 29 coaches in U.S. sports who earn at least $8.5 million a year, including 12 each in the NFL and college football.
At $15 million per season, Sportico reported Carroll is the second-highest paid coach in American sports. Belichick was the highest paid this season with a salary of $20 million.
Carroll was one of six NFL coaches to be in the Top 10 on the list. All six of those coaches have won the Super Bowl.
Interestingly, Belichick was the only one who has won more than one Super Bowl.
Three college football coaches, Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney and Kirby Smart, and one NBA coach, Gregg Popovich, were the other four coaches in the Top 10 highest-paid American sports coaches this year.
All of them have won at least one championship. Three of them have won multiple titles.
Carroll is the Second-Highest NFL Coach at $15 Million Per Season
While that may sound like a lot of money for a coach, Carroll has earned it by being one of the best in his profession.
In 13 seasons with the Seahawks, Carroll has posted just three losing years, and has never won fewer than 7 games in a season. He’s also earned nine playoff appearances, six division titles, two NFC Championships and a Super Bowl title.
Overall, Carroll has amassed a 126-78-1 (.617) regular season record in Seattle. He’s also gone 10-8 in the playoffs.
Carroll previously coached for the Patriots and New York Jets. With 33 wins combined in New England and New York, Carroll has accumulated a total of 159 wins in the NFL, which is tied for third among active head coaches in the league.
The only active NFL head coaches with more wins than Carroll is Belichick and Andy Reid.
Rarity of Carroll’s College & NFL Success
In addition to his NFL success, Carroll won multiple championships in college while head coach at USC.
Although his tenure has been viewed controversially because of the rule violations committed at USC during his time as Trojans head coach, the winning on the field can’t really be debated.
Carroll registered a 97-19 (.836) record in nine seasons at USC. During the seven-year span from 2002-08, the Trojans lost just nine games.
USC won a share of the AP national championship in 2003 and then won the BCS National Championship with a 13-0 record during 2004. The Trojans nearly won back-to-back BCS titles but lost against Texas in what is regarded as one of the best college football games of all time the following season.
Still, that kind of success in both college and the NFL is rare. Carroll is one of the just three coaches in history with a championship at each level. The other two coaches to accomplish that feat were Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer.
Clearly, the records and titles for Carroll in the NFL and college speak for themselves. It’s unsurprising that he is one of the top paid coaches in American sports.