49ers' chief NFC West rival surprisingly dismisses its head coach

The 49ers won't be seeing a familiar face on the Seahawks twice a year, as it looks as if Pete Carroll will no longer be head coach there.

The last holdover (aside from linebacker Bobby Wagner and the fans) from the heyday rivalry years between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks has moved along.

On Wednesday, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the Hawks were removing longtime head coach Pete Carroll from his duties, ending a span of coaching with the Niners' top NFC West rivals that lasted from 2010 through 2023, a span of 14 years in which he helped lead Seattle to its first and only Super Bowl victory.

San Francisco fans won't want to recall what happened the game prior to that win.

Later on Wednesday, the Seahawks confirmed Schefter's report:

According to both the report and announcement, Carroll will remain part of the organization in an advisory role.

For now, though, the Hawks will be yet another one of the many teams this offseason searching for a new head coach and supporting staff.

Pete Carroll was a bane of the 49ers for many years

While rivalries often involve players and not necessarily coaches, Carroll certainly cemented himself as one whom 49ers fans loved to hate over the years.

For good reason, too.

While the rivalry swung back in the Niners' favor in recent years, the timeframe between 2010 and 2019 was almost entirely in Carroll and the Seahawks' corner. The Hawks went 19-11 against San Francisco during Carroll's tenure, and that includes the 49ers' recent stretch of five wins in a row.

The funny thing about it all? Carroll, a Bay Area native, was once a massive Niners fan who used to watch his boyhood team at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

Whatever the feelings are about Carroll, it is the end of an era.

Read more from Niner Noise