Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr were joined by San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Tuesday’s episode of The Ringer’s ‘Flying Coach’ podcast.
The trio discussed current events plaguing our nation, including the death of George Floyd and how it pertains to the peaceful protests of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who took a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality against people of color, and was subsequently never signed by an NFL team again.
Carroll spoke out about Kaepernick’s actions, praising him for taking a stand (metaphorically) and saying we owe a lot to him for what he did.
“I think that there was a moment in time that a young man captured,” Carroll said. “He took a stand on something, figuratively took a knee, but he stood up for something he believed in — and what an extraordinary moment it was that he was willing to take….But what happened from the process is it elevated awareness from people that just took everything away from what the statement was all about, and it just got tugged and pulled and ripped apart.”
“And the whole mission of what the statement was, such a beautiful … it’s still the statement that we’re making right today,” Carroll continued. “We’re not protecting our people. We’re not looking after one another. We’re not making the right choices. We’re not following the right process to bring people to justice when actions are taken. So I think it was a big sacrifice in the sense that a young man makes, but those are the courageous moments that some guys take. And we owe a tremendous amount to him for sure.”
Carroll and the Seahawks were interested in signing Kaepernick during the 2018 offseason, but his visit was reportedly called off because he would not tell the Seahawks if he planned to continue kneeling during the anthem.
Carroll acknowledged the team’s interest in Kaepernick but said reports of what happened between the two sides were exaggerated.
Carroll also admitted he does not feel like he is doing enough to make progress toward social justice in this country.
“We have to go beyond and act and take the action, and it’s going to be a challenge for people,” Carroll continued. “I feel frustrated I’m not doing enough. I’m not on it enough. I can’t get active enough to create the change. I think we need to make progress, not just change.”
Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner shared that Carroll dedicated a recent team meeting exclusively to discussing these issues, instead of talking about football, giving guys an opportunity to tell their stories, share their frustrations, and so on. Wagner said he is “grateful we have an organization that understands.”
“To have a platform and a situation where we can do that, I felt it was great,” Wagner continued. “At the end of the day, life is bigger than football.”
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