When Pete Carroll was hired to be the Las Vegas Raiders head coach back in January, one of the first things he addressed was how he planned to put together his coaching staff.
Fast forward to OTAs, that staff is firmly in place and much as he described.
"I'm really looking for people that have been with me, that understand the philosophy to some extent," Carroll said in his introductory press conference. "I want guys that have never been around me before so they have to learn what we're all about and we can watch the process of them learning what we're all about and what we expect, and then I'm hoping that we can maintain some of the terrific coaches that are on the staff, too, so we can have the benefit of the insights that they bring and the continuity that they can generate for us.
"It's a combination of people that we're looking for, but it's all going to fall back into the same thing. We want ball people. We want guys that love the game."
Carroll has brought in a lot of new faces he's never worked with, many from the college level. At the NFL Combine, Carroll said this was a strategic choice – believing that coaches who've recently been at the college level provide valuable intel in scouting and ability to relate to younger players.
This includes running backs coach Deland McCullough, who was with a Notre Dame team that played in the CFB National Championship Game last year. Ironically, he was defeated by an Ohio State team which new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was with. McCullough previously interned with the Seattle Seahawks while he was a running backs coach at Indiana, but is excited for his first opportunity to work directly under Carroll.
"The expertise and the resume speaks for itself," McCullough said. "The energy is outstanding and that was was one of the draws for me when I came here. ... When the opportunity came up to come here, to me over the last few years it was always about the right fit and the right opportunity if I was going back to the NFL. Pete Carroll was somebody who I definitely had a high level of respect for and a reverence for and I thought that I could not only help him with what he's doing here, but he can help me with some of the goals I have."