What kind of gum does Pete Carroll chew? Inside Seahawks HC's unique Bubble Yum obsession

Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll loves chewing gum during NFL games. The future Hall of Famer has won everything in the NFL with the Seahawks, and his trusted gum brand has been with him for the entire journey.

According to reports, Pete Carroll's go-to gum is Bubble Yum. Carroll is a fan of the classic Bubble Yum flavor, and on match days, he can go through as many as three packs of Bubble Yum gum. Carroll's love for gum is well documented, as ESPN once reported that Carroll's gum stash is updated rather regularly by the Seahawks director of equipment Erik Kennedy and his son Carson.

Pete Carroll's coaching career

Pete Carroll's coaching career started way back in 1973 when he was a graduate assistant at Pacific University. Carroll occupied that position for three years and soaked up enough knowledge in the process. Carroll's next stop was in Arkansas where he occupied the same role for one season. He was good enough that colleges started taking notice of him for coordinator roles. Carroll accepted one of such roles in 1978.

Iowa State University poached Carroll in 1978, appointing the future Super Bowl winner as a Secondary coordinator. This was the first of many coordinator roles that Carroll would occupy at the collegiate level. Carroll later worked with Ohio State, North Carolina State, and Pacific. Eventually, he left the collegiate scene to accept a job at the Buffalo Bills as a defensive backs coach in 1984.

In total, it took Carroll just over a decade to rise from graduate assistant to defensive backs coach in the National Football League. Pete Carroll spent another decade working as a defensive expert for the likes of the Bills, Minnesota Vikings, and New York Jets. It was during his stint with the Jets that he was elevated to the head coach position for the 1994 NFL season. Since then, Carroll has served as the defensive coordinator of a dominant San Francisco 49ers team and the head coach of the New England Patriots and USC.

However, Carroll's biggest successes in his career have come with the Seattle Seahawks. With Carroll at the helm, the Seahawks have made the postseason nine times, made two consecutive Super Bowl appearances, and snagged the franchise's first-ever Super Bowl win with a victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. With this, Pete Carroll is just one of two four head coaches to win a college football national championship and a Super Bowl.

Is Pete Carroll the oldest coach in the NFL?

Yes, Pete Carroll is the oldest head coach in the National Football League. The Seattle Seahawks head coach is slightly older than the second on the list, Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots. Carroll is 72 years old and, alongside Belichick, is just one of two septuagenarians in the National Football League.

Furthermore, Carroll is one of the best-paid head coaches in the league and has also notably served as the Seahawks' defacto general manager since he joined the franchise in 2010. Carroll is perhaps best known for creating the "Legion of Boom," arguably the most fearsome secondary in NFL history. Carroll is currently rebuilding the Seahawks after the surprise departure of Russell Wilson ahead of the 2022 NFL season.