Raiders HC Pete Carroll offers tepid denial about potential retirement

Firings often happen swiftly in the NFL. Raiders fans will recall a few years ago when Jack Del Rio walked into the media room after the Raiders' season finale against the Chargers and announced he had just been fired. And while that's rather unusual, it is common practice for firings to occur within minutes of the last game of the season. After all, if that's the plan, why make the coach continue to go through the motions?

It was with that probability in mind that we eagerly anticipated the postgame press conference. Would Pete Carroll be coming to the podium? And if so, would he have any big announcements?

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It turns out, for the time being, he does not. He was asked if he wished to return and he said "Of course. Sure. Of course I would."

Then he was asked about recent reports that, rather than simply be fired, Carroll could opt to just retire. And his response to that was somewhat interesting.

"Nobody's talking to me about that," Carroll said. "I haven't said a word to anybody."

So, while he is saying he never told anyone he was retiring, he also didn't offer a flat denial that he could.

The seeming most likely reason would be that he could ultimately make the decision to retire, but that isn't part of his decision-making process right now. He would rather remain the head coach of the Raiders if they'll have him. Which if other recent reports are accurate, they are unlikely to do.

This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders HC Pete Carroll offers tepid denial about potential retirement