Culture Needs Consequences - Eric D. Williams Fox Sports

So Pete Carroll's known for his energy and optimism.

What made that optimism, I guess, an operating discipline rather than a personality trait?

Well, first of all, I think it's authentic.

I think when people see Pete, they maybe think that he's putting on an act or something.

But if you talk to Pete off the podium, you're going to get the same guy that you get when you talk to him, you know, in front of reporters.

And that's the same person he was in the locker room.

And so I think that's one of the reasons why it worked was his is authentic.

And I think also it's something that he strongly believed in, that positive approach.

Again, as a person that grew up playing football, I never had a coach like Pete.

They all coached out of fear.

They made you run.

They screamed at you.

You know, you're kind of berated throughout practice.

And there's short-term benefits to negative reinforcement.

I think Pete understood the longer-term benefits you could have for positive reinforcement and being optimistic.

And so it worked, but you also have to be able to discipline guys.

If there's something that goes wrong, you can't always be positive.

And so we talked about it, 300 roster transactions.

If you didn't get on board, the guy was coming to give you a pink slip.

And so that was the deterrent they had to not... you know, believing in what was happening in the line.

And if you didn't want to be there, they were ready to show you the door pretty quick.

And on a couple of different occasions, guys that I would request to talk those first couple of years, I would go to talk to them and they would tell me, actually, you can't talk to him because that person's been cut.

And so there was a couple of instances where I had to kind of, you know, go a different direction and pivot because the guy I had asked to talk to was no longer on the team.

So, again, you know, he gets your attention.

You know, the positive Pete stuff is real.