You can't spell the word compete without P.E.T.E.

Competition is a fitting word for Pete Carroll. It's a word he used quite often while being introduced as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Carroll has seen it all in the game of football, with 170 career wins, multiple NCAA National Championships and a Super Bowl XLVIII victory to his name.

Yet considering all he's accomplished, the word "competition" was by far the most spoken word by Carroll when describing the culture he's looking to bring to the Raiders. And he also made it clear that competition isn't limited to just his locker room, but extends to the front office, coaching staff and business operations as well.

"Competing, to me, is defined by striving for excellence," Carroll told Raiders.com following his introductory press conference. "It's not beating somebody and rubbing their nose in the dirt, that's not it. It's about striving in everything that you're doing. You're trying to be the best you can possibly be and that's the mentality that drives this program. Competition is the essential theme in our program. Our guys will hear it and they'll know where we're coming from about that.

"You're either competing, or you're not. That's really the mentality we're bringing."

Carroll spent the 2024 season as the Seahawks senior advisor after being relieved of his duties as head coach after 14 seasons. It was his first season not coaching since 2000, and shortly after that break, he became the USC Trojans head coach. During his most recent break away from the sidelines, he still spent a large portion of his time consuming football. Whether that was still being involved in the Seahawks daily operations or watching his grandson's high school football games.

When you look at Carroll's resume, it's hard not to pose the question, Why come to the Raiders? Why continue to coach after seemingly reaching every peak there is in football?

But according to him, it's a simple answer as the year off provided invaluable reflection.

"It's been a year full of just input, as the last time I had a year that I stepped away from it and it was extraordinarily life-changing for me. This year, I feel as if it's been the same," Carroll said. "The extraordinary opportunity to see things uniquely when you're not coaching ball, you don't get that observation opportunity. You just can't because you're so immersed in what you're doing. It was extremely valuable so I can't wait for all the things that I see that I want to do differently that what we've done in the past and I think there's improvements. ... It's been an amazing journey to get to this moment right here and I'm really fired up about taking advantage of that here."

Sitting alongside Carroll on the podium was John Spytek, the Raiders new general manger. Like the head coach, Spytek is a Super Bowl champion from his nine seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played a huge part in building a team that has now won four straight NFC South divisional titles.

He described the players he's looking to bring to the Raiders are not just players heralded for their athletic abilities, but also men of high character. Both Spytek and Carroll stated they plan to be equally aligned in making football decisions in efforts of building a new standard with the Silver and Black.

"When I dreamt about having one of these jobs, I always wanted it to be with an iconic franchise like the Raiders," Spytek said in his opening statement Monday. "I'm not sure I ever got far enough in my dreams as a young kid in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, that I could be sitting up here with the Raiders, but here I am. There's just some teams where it means a little bit more. There's just some teams where the NFL is better when they're crushing it. To have been given that responsibility is not something I take lightly, but I am extremely honored and humbled to be up here with an opportunity out in front of us, and I cannot be more excited to get started and to get started with Coach Carroll here."

"[A]t the end of the day, we're going to look anywhere we can to find a good football player," Spytek added. "I don't care if it's at Michigan, Ohio State. ... Our job is to be so open minded where we will literally go anywhere in the country, anywhere in Canada to find a good football player."

Following the press conference, Raiders Owner Mark Davis spoke with local media about the qualities of Carroll and Spytek that impressed him in the interview process. Davis admired the Raiders' new head coach from afar dating back to the Seahawks defeating the San Francisco 49ers in the 2013 NFC Championship game to make it to the Super Bowl.

"I [liked] Pete's energy but also Pete's love for the game and how badly he wanted to be a Raider. There were no ifs, ands or buts – he wanted to be a Raider," Davis said. "And John, just meeting him for the first time through the interview process, I was very impressed with his desire to work hard and build it the right way."

With the formalities out of the way, Carroll and Spytek will be working diligently to turn things around. They're inheriting a team that went 4-13 in 2024 and hold the No. 6 pick in the NFL Draft. Their main priority is putting together a coaching staff before bringing in players through free agency and the draft to build the roster. They're also confident in players already in the building to help set the tone moving forward, starting with four-time Pro Bowler Maxx Crosby, who was in attendance for their press conference.

"Maxx, send the message, man. We're coming after you," Carroll said. "We're going to come find you guys and get this thing rolling as soon as possible, with the highest of expectations, with a mentality that will drive high performance in a way that hopefully everybody is going to hear us and they're going to know us. I'm really proud to take on that challenge."

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