Super Bowl coaches Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but the teams they have built in their personal style will square off this Sunday in Arizona.
When New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft jettisoned Carroll as his head coach in 2000 and replaced him with Belichick, there’s no way he could have imagined that the two would be facing off in the Super Bowl 15 years later.
It was Carroll’s second head coaching failure and since not many get the chance for a third, the California native surprised many by eschewing the pro ranks to return to his home state to try his hand at the college level. Nine seasons at USC yielded three national titles (although one was since vacated as punishment for NCAA rules violations) and Carroll, his coaching resume rehabilitated, was back given that third shot at the big time with the Seattle Seahawks in 2010.
While Carroll was out of sight and out of the NFL’s mind, his successor in New England was building a dynasty, dominating the AFC East to the tune of 12 division titles in 15 seasons and ending the 2001, 2003 and 2004 campaigns by winning the Super Bowl. But having lifted the Lombardi Trophy three times in four years, 62-year-old Belichick has been frustrated in his efforts to join Pittsburgh’s Chuck Noll as the only four-time title winning head coach, losing twice to the New York Giants at the final hurdle (his six trips to the Super Bowl ties the record) and falling another three times in the AFC title game.
Carroll is playing catch-up, but has rapidly transformed the Seahawks first into a contender, then a division winner and last year a dominant force that swept aside all before them en route to the biggest Super Bowl victory in 20 years.
Now the pair will be on opposite sidelines of the University of Phoenix Stadium with legacies on the line and a pair of teams that reflect their personalities in more than just the Xs and Os of their respective playbooks, but with that you have to take the rough with the smooth.
Carroll may be 63 but his enthusiasm is legendary and was well suited to the college game, yet Seattle’s players have taken his effervescence onto the field in spades. The confidence with which they play often strays into a cockiness and arrogance, manifested most obviously by mouthy cornerback Richard Sherman and the crotch-grabbing antics of running back Marshawn Lynch, which is offputting to rival and neutral fans but is backed up by their performances.
Players like Sherman, Doug Baldwin and Kam Chancellor are encouraged go into every game with a massive chip on their shoulders, a motivating force for sure but something that can look silly when the likes of Baldwin attack the media with the ‘Nobody believed in us’ line after a game in which they were favoured by more than a touchdown and widely picked to advance.
Mainly though, Carroll has inspired total devotion and instilled an unflappable belief in his locker room, something that came to the fore during their NFC Championship comeback against the Green Bay Packers. In an interview earlier this week he neatly distilled his coaching philosophy when describing his tolerance of Lynch’s antics: ‘We’ve always celebrated the uniqueness of our players in a way that allows them to play their best.’
The contrast with New England could not be more stark, with players speaking less of their love for Belichick but yet still retaining that unshakeable faith in their coach and his methods. And let’s face it, ‘The Hoodie’ is a difficult man to warm to, who rarely displays enthusiasm for, or enjoyment of, anything at all, save perhaps for a rapier-like putdown of an unwitting member of the media at the weekly press conferences he so obviously finds a chore.
Both coaches have tasted controversy during their careers, but while Carroll’s recruiting infractions at USC and the frequency of his players’ penalties for doping offences seem to be the result of a desire to gain every edge over his opponents, Belichick appears more interested in testing the rulebook just because he can, or perhaps because he feels it doesn’t apply to him.
He was fined $500,000 in 2007 over ‘Spygate’ when the Patriots were discovered to have been illegally taping New York Jets practices, but most NFL analysts believe the benefits to the Patriots of such taping was small at best, while his sixth run to the Super Bowl has been overshadowed by an NFL investigation into whether the Patriots intentionally deflated their game balls during the AFC title win over Indianapolis, another seemingly unnecessary risk given the minimal impact on the actual result.
His willingness to exploit any loopholes in the NFL rulebook, such as the eligible receiver rule which he utlilised to devastating effect to befuddle a furious Ravens sideline and again against the Colts when offensive tackle Nate Solder caught a touchdown pass, only adds to rival fans’ and players’ dislike or distrust of Belichick and ‘the Patriot way’.
There’s a definite sense that Belichick believes he is superior to his rivals, but it’s hard to argue when it comes to the results. Most coaches preach to their teams to not worry too much about the opposition, to ‘play our game’ and the rest will look after itself. Seattle’s gameplan is essentially straightforward: Run the ball until you can’t run it any more and then dominate the line of scrimmage with swarming defence. Carroll puts his schemes in place and then puts faith in his players to overpower their opponents, challenging the other side to win each individual battle.
Belichick, though, operates differently, micromanaging every game, shifting his team’s focus each week to relentlessly attack their weakest link.
Offensively, that could mean abandoning the run game one week, as they did against when they went after the Baltimore secondary in the divisional round, and then carrying the ball 40 times for nearly 200 yards the next week against Indianapolis.
On the other side of the ball, Belichick schemes to take away your biggest weapon and then dares you to beat him with one hand behind your back, so expect him to zero in on shutting down rushing lanes for Seattle running back Lynch and quarterback Russell Wilson and demand the Seahawks beat them through the air.
There is more than just a Super Bowl ring on the line this Sunday for these coaches. Belichick was undoubtedly the coach of the last decade, but a a fourth title would be an extraordinary mark of his longevity and make him the front-runner for this decade as well, in spite of the stains on his reputation.
As it stands his main rival for that honour looks like Carroll, who would leap in front of the man who followed him in Foxborough and in becoming the first coach since Belichick to win back-to-back championships would take a giant step towards his own Hall of Fame CV.
