Seahawks coach Pete Carroll raised some eyebrows on May 10 when he tweeted a picture of himself with the controversial professor and best-selling author Jordan Peterson, thanking Peterson for “speaking to our staff and enlightening us today.”
Peterson has been accused of sexism and transphobia, and in Seattle and elsewhere Carroll took some criticism for bringing Peterson to talk to the Seahawks coaching staff. But Carroll said yesterday that while he knows not everyone agrees with Peterson’s views, he was glad to hear what Peterson had to say.
“I do know that there’s varying opinions,” Carroll said. “It happened to be an opportunity — I had heard about Jordan’s work and some of his perspectives. He was speaking here in town and we had an opportunity to get him to come by. He is a very thought-provoking individual. His psychology background, his mentality, his approach is an amazing perspective that he has created and he’s created a following. I just wanted to know what I could share with our people in terms of our personal growth and organizational growth and see if something could come of that with the opportunity that was presented. He did a marvelous job in visiting with us and I know he tore it up downtown and has a great following.”
Carroll said Peterson had an important message for the staff.
“He talked about personal growth. He talked about perspective and life and working together and helping each other find our best, things that really rang true to us around here,” Carroll said.
Carroll frequently brings guest speakers to address his players and coaches, a practice he began at USC and has continued in Seattle.