49ers fans divided over Pete Carroll being linked to DC role - "He’s a train wreck," "This would be amazing"

Fresh off a disappointing season, the San Francisco 49ers made changes to their coaching staff. Runner-ups in Super Bowl LVIII, the team decided after the season to demote Nick Sorensen from the defensive coordinator role, as the unit struggled for most of the year.

49ers fans have been dreaming of Robert Saleh's return, their defensive coordinator from 2017 to 2020. Saleh was fired from his New York Jets head coach job midway through the 2024 season, but he's currently on the hunt for the head coach job of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

A curious option has emerged to fill the defensive coordinator role. Pete Carroll, former head coach of the Seattle Seahawks from 2009 to 2023, has reportedly been discussed by the 49ers as a possible option for the job.

The fans had varied opinions:

"HC he’s a train wreck but better than hammy."

"This would be amazing."

"No way Carroll comes to San Francisco. He wants to be a head coach, not a coordinator, especially under Shanahan after the rivalry that they’ve had over the years. No way", said one fan.

"Internal discussions are all well and good, but would Carroll want to come back as a coordinator? I doubt it", said another fan.

"I'm not mad at that, bringing in former enemies from Seattle like Richard Sherman, I'd say worked out pretty well for us", a third fan noted.

Carroll has held the role before when he was the defensive coordinator for San Francisco in 1995 and 1996, before leaving to take the job as the New England Patriots head coach in 1997.

Pete Carroll had an intense rivalry with the 49ers over the last 16 years

The interesting part about this discussion is the fact that Carroll, who's 73, most recently was the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, the 49ers' division rivals, from 2010 to 2023.

There were many tense moments during this period, especially at the start of the last decade, when the two teams competed both in the division and in the playoffs. With the Seahawks struggling in Carroll's final years, his last season in Seattle coincided with San Francisco reaching the Super Bowl.

Overall, Carroll ended his stint in Seattle with an 18-12 record against San Francisco.