Win Forever

by Pete Carroll

  But the story doesn’t end there.

  I had just arrived at the San Francisco 49ers in 1995. Members of our staff were invited to the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame banquet, an annual affair. I accompanied the group to enjoy a night out with many of the local sports legends and dignitaries and, at the break in the evening’s festivities, whom did I happen to see but Rick Barry. My old hero was walking across the floor, being followed by a pack of autograph seekers, much to his dismay. I was struck with the thought: Here’s my chance. After all these years, I can finally ask Rick if he really had this philosophy of “If I miss my first ten shots, look out!”

  I hesitated for a minute and I told myself, Aw, what the heck, you may never get this chance again. Go for it! So I jumped out of my chair and joined the group of autograph seekers—no special access, just another fan. Feeling like a true groupie, I worked my way to Rick’s side. He was looking quite perturbed by the whole scene, and I introduced myself as the new defensive coordinator of the 49ers, in hopes that might serve as a good icebreaker. Instead, he glanced at me with a skeptical glare that might as well have said, “Yeah, sure, buddy, and I’m Red Auerbach!”

  Not to be denied this opportunity, I doggedly pressed on. Making myself heard over the crowd, I called out, “Hey, Rick, did you ever say that you’re a 44 percent lifetime shooter, and if you miss your first ten shots, look out?” Now I had his attention. He looked at me as if he had just smelled something awful and replied, “I never said that!”

  And in a flash, my life philosophy and all that I had validated it with was dashed! For a moment I felt foolish. After all, this mantra, which displayed Rick’s confidence about himself, had been a huge thing for me, as I had adopted the mentality and come to rely upon it over the years. But then I thought, No way am I going to let this break my spirit. This mantra has served me well, and I’ ll be damned if I’m not going to stick with it anyway! I don’t need Rick Barry to validate my credo; I can think for myself.

  And in the next instant, as I was walking away, I heard Rick call out in my direction. I turned around. Aha! I thought, elated and relieved. He’s going to say he remembered making that statement after all, and he really did believe in it.

  Rick Barry looked into my expectant face, stared me dead in the eye, and said, “And besides, I was a 46 percent lifetime shooter!”

  The overwhelming certainty Rick displayed on that occasion just blew me away. I felt as if I had been let in on one of the secrets to his success. Even today, I consider him to be one of the best examples of the direct link between someone knowing himself and being successful. When you truly know yourself, you have the best chance of using your strengths to your best advantage. And when things aren’t going so well, it is so much easier to get back on track when you have a plan for where you want to go.

  When I speak to young men and women coming out of high school or college who are just beginning to learn about themselves, I give them all the same advice: No matter what the task, what the job, compete to make yourself valuable at whatever you’re doing. This work ethic is what makes it highly probable that good things will happen to you. Your first job experiences may not be what you’ve dreamed about, but there is intrinsic value in a job well done, and you will be recognized for that. Your real value comes from being dependable and resourceful, and someone is bound to notice. Know that you are always preparing for your very next job.

  We are all different individuals. We all have different strengths and weaknesses, and not all of us have the same opportunities in life. The better we understand ourselves, the more informed we become about where it makes sense for us to focus our energies. That’s why I encourage people to spend some time writing down words or phrases that describe their personality traits, values, dreams, goals, and more. I frequently challenge people to write down their personal philosophy as well, or at least give it a try.

  It sounds like pretty basic stuff, but in reality it is anything but an easy process. If that process interests you then dig in and get ready to compete to find your truth—and don’t be discouraged if it takes longer than you expected. Listen to your heart, trust your intuition, and allow yourself to be fascinated by the adventure of finding the real you. It’s the journey to discover your personal truth that will make all the difference.

  My own journey has led me to so many unexpected places and into so many unexpected roles—even that of poet. My theme? I’ll give you one guess.

  A few years ago, when the NCAA still allowed head coaches to recruit in the spring, I went to watch a talented high school running back named Dillon Baxter. It was baseball season, and as a freshman he was starting in center field on the varsity baseball team. Athletically, he was obviously a cut above the other players. His team was down a run going into the final inning and he was up with a runner on third. I was thinking, There’s no way this young kid is going to come through and win this game right here. I had already evaluated him as an extraordinary football player in the fall, but could he be so special and hit a game-winning home run right in front of me? With two outs and the game on the line, he took two bad cuts and was quickly down in the count, 0-2. On the third pitch, he cracked a fastball to left center. My first thought was, No way, it can’t be . . . The ball kept carrying, bringing the fans to their feet. As we were about to cheer for a home run, the opposing team’s center fielder made an incredible catch, just before the wall. Dillon almost pulled it off, and needless to say, I walked away entirely i mpressed.

  After the game, I was sitting on a plane heading to visit another recruit. I couldn’t stop thinking about the baseball game and the young phenom I had just seen. He was only fourteen years old! I couldn’t help but think about his next three years of high school and the pressure that would be on him in so many different ways. I began to text him, but soon realized that the message was too long, and way too emotional. So I saved it and wrote it down later. In a matter of minutes it was done, and I titled it “Always Compete.”

  Deciding not to send it, I just put it in my desk drawer. A year later, I pulled it out of that drawer to revisit my thoughts inspired by that young kid in San Diego. I realized that this was not a message just written for some superstar prospect but rather a message to send to every great young athlete we would ever recruit and every player on our team. I was writing this to remind them to be humble and keep their heads on straight while competing for their goals and dreams. Furthermore, they should never hold back as they discover who they are and what they stand for.

  During our 2007 team banquet, I finally decided to break it out, so I read this poem aloud. That senior class of twenty-three members had won five straight Pac-10 titles and had accomplished things that could only be done by great competitors. As they were moving on, I felt myself competing one final time to coach up our message to these players. As our saying goes, if you want to Win Forever, Always Compete.

  ALWAYS COMPETE

  Always Compete . . .

  As you progress through your sporting life . . .

  Always Compete.

  If you want to go for it . . .

  Always Compete.

  You’re gonna have to make choices in life and those choices need to be conscious decisions. There’s only one person in control here, and that person is you . . .

  You hold all the cards. You are the master of you. It’s time to admit it . . .

  You have always known this. So if you’re ready, act on it . . . Always Compete.

  Don’t you dare try to be too cool, don’t you dare be afraid of life,

  Just “dare to be great,” and let it rip.

  Always be humble, always be kind, always be respectful . . . Always Compete.

  Everything you do counts and screams who you are. There is no hiding from you.

  Act as if the whole world will know who you are . . . Always Compete.

  Be true to yourself and let nothing hold you back. Compete to be the greatest you, and that will always be enough and that will be a li
fetime!

  Always Compete.

  CONCLUSION

  The process of self-discovery, creating a vision, and competing to hold on to those ideals allowed my nine years at USC to be the most extraordinary years of my life. Yes, we won countless games and many championships, but to be honest, there are only a few football memories that really stick out.

  I can vividly recall our first team meeting at the fifty-yard line. I remember when we turned around our first season at Arizona with a big win, the Orange Bowl victory over Oklahoma, and the epic fourth-and-nine play at South Bend. Of course, there are a few I would rather forget, such as the Texas game or the losses in my final season at USC, but my time in Heritage Hall was really never about individual moments. They won’t be what I’ll cherish as my life moves on, and they won’t be the topic of conversation when I meet new friends in Seattle.

  Rather, what will remain in my heart will be the journey that the USC football program allowed me to be a part of, from that first interview at the Sheraton Hotel near the airport to my final press conference when I resigned in January 2010. You see, life is never about singular moments because they are never enough to sustain pure happiness. Sure, postgame victory celebrations, Friday-night team meetings, and staff retreats are a blast, and I hope to have many more overlooking Seattle in the years to come, but life is about the journey.

  Within that journey were incredible relationships that were made, friendships that were formed, and personal growth that was evident. Within that journey was watching players arrive as skinny, wide-eyed freshmen and leave as college graduates, NFL draft picks, or even free-agent signees. Within that journey were invitations to former players’ weddings, pictures of their firstborn children, and random text messages saying thank you. Within that journey was watching young coaches accept coordinator and head coaching jobs at other institutions and teams. Within that journey was watching former members of the Bloods, Crips, and Mexican Mafia graduate from A Better LA’s community-supported intervention training program. Within that journey was growth, discovery, and sheer joy.

  So when I’m asked what I’ll miss most about my time at USC and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, it won’t be the wins, and it surely won’t be the losses. Instead, it will be the people—those who affected me and those whom I’ve been fortunate enough to affect.

  You see, the beauty of life is that it doesn’t stop. It keeps moving and keeps evolving, and as I look toward my next competitive challenge with the Seattle Seahawks, I can’t help but feel reenergized, more enthusiastic, and as focused as I have ever been in my career.

  Yet it is vital for me to share the reason why I am so excited. Not that I wasn’t happy at USC, but why I left has everything to do with who I am at my core. I’m a competitor, and when I was weighing my options in January to either remain at USC or accept the position in Seattle, it became so clear to me what to do. I had to trust my intuition, my philosophy, and my vision, and that led me to what ended up being an obvious decision.

  To be the vice president of football operations and head coach of the Seattle Seahawks is a dream job. To have the ability to make decisions, be innovative, and work with what will be known as the best front office in football is a perfect fit for my personality. It was obvious from the first interview with Tod Leiweke; in our hiring of our general manager, John Schneider; and in every off-season acquisition we’ve made, that this organization is committed “to do things better than they have ever been done before”—and everyone, and I mean everyone, will be on the same page.

  Within the first month of my hiring, I took our entire organization of over three hundred employees through the Win Forever philosophy. To everyone from the coaching staff to college scouts to the marketing and sales teams, ticket managers, public relations staff, and the entire front office, I presented the methodology that our organization would now live by. It was an incredible moment as I stood in front of 150 staff members in our team meeting room and was streamed live to the other employees at Qwest Field. I could feel that they had been thirsting for a moment like this. Since then, I have been able to watch our approach resonate throughout the entire organization. The point was not to boast about the philosophy I had developed ten years ago. Rather, it was to be sure that when we take our first step as an organization, we take it together, as competitors.

  I know that I will be evaluated in Seattle by wins and losses. That is the nature of the profession I’ve chosen for the last thirty-six years. But our record is not what motivates me to wake up and drive to the Seahawks training facility everyday.

  What motivates me is the competition that this job offers and the competitive level that it requires on a daily basis. Years ago I was asked, “Pete, which is better: winning or competing?”

  My response was instantaneous: “Competing . . . because it lasts longer.”

  As you watch our organization in Seattle take on new challenges this fall, I want you to watch for specifics. Follow our team during training camp and into our first game and, I hope, into the play-offs. You will know how we operate, how we speak, how we train, and how we compete. It won’t be magic and it won’t change the world, but it will be unique. We will be uniquely us. You should have a clear understanding of what we did while at USC and why we chose to use certain methods, and you can see the record of the success that came from that approach. Now, at the highest level of competition, you’ll be able to see if we can take a team that won nine games in the past two years and change that culture. You’ll be able to watch it unfold, with inside knowledge about what our philosophy entails and the competitive theme we will be following.

  The Win Forever philosophy is successful because we set out a vision “to do things better than they have ever been done before,” with competition being the central theme driving us to maximize our potential. But understand that competition does not need to be your theme. You have to find the philosophy and the vision and the theme that work for you. They are for you to discover, for you to embrace, and for you to accept. Make them yours. Live them to your fullest. Maximize your potential.

  Win Forever.

  I would love to hear your philosophy in twenty-five words or less,

  as well as the vision you created.

  Please e-mail me at PeteCarroll@WinForever.com.

  Acknowledgments

  Acknowledging all the people who made this book possible takes me back to the early years of playing sports at home in Greenbrae. My brother Jim and our friends were always available and helped shape my love for playing sports. Regarding team sports, it began with my first football coach, John Pagliaro, as he instilled a pride and toughness that gave me the foundation and expectation for what competition was all about. Following him, I have to thank all of my early coaches who made the game fun and helped me want to play forever. My high school football coach, Bob Troppmann, took over from there, instilling pride and respect for the game. Along with my coaches, I was truly inspired by my early sports heroes such as Willie Mays, Gale Sayers, Rick Barry, and others and I have competed to be like them ever since childhood.

  I must also thank my loving wife and best friend, Glena, as she enabled me to chase this dream of a lifetime with undying support and love. I could not have accomplished anything without her. She has held our loving family together and helped them become strong and independent, allowing us all to be best friends today.

  The inspiration for this book came one day when I sat down in my office at USC with then assistant quarterback coach, Yogi Roth, and proceeded to map out a plan to generate revenue to help support my growing foundation, A Better LA. Yogi’s first response was, “Well, you gotta write a book!” I said, “Okay, what else?” and we proceeded to fill a white board with ideas such as staging a peace rally, spreading A Better LA’s message on 60 Minutes, creating a sports academy for players and coaches, and developing an IMAX film about college football. These ideas have all come together with the book being an integral piece. Yogi was there at “inspi
ration” and has been there every step of the way in creating our Win Forever business. By sharing his extraordinary work ethic, creative talents, and competitiveness he has been the driving force in bringing our Win Forever philosophy to the world. Yogi eventually took charge of the enormous process of writing this book, and without him, it never would have made it into print.

  Invaluable support came from my lifelong friend Dave Perron, as he helped me stay on course and maintain a balanced mentality when challenges arose. Dave also helped me assemble a fantastic group of advisers. Long-time friend Mark Jackson always kept me connected to the core of our philosophy as we created our plan together. Mark was with me at the outset and has been a steady force dating back to our beginnings in New England. Gary Uberstine has provided overall guidance, legal and business expertise, as well as unending loyalty, and has represented me for nearly twenty years.

  Keith Sarkisian has brought us into the world of entertainment through his work at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment and has brought us countless opportunities and extraordinary insight. Andy Bark, who is widely known for shaping the industry of teen athlete development, has inspired us all as he implemented our philosophy within his business, now at ESPN RISE. Andy continues to consult for the corporate side of our Win Forever efforts and he has tremendous value. Entrepreneur Michael Gale has given us a global scope and outlook that will continue to shape our vision for the future.

  Our Win Forever collaboration has been a joyous one with our team believing in the vision we set in motion and bringing it to life. I am so grateful for their loyalty and support in all ways.