Video: Pete Carroll says he learned from mistakes as Patriots head coach

Pete Carroll was the head coach of the New England Patriots from 1997-99, and we all (mostly) remember it well.

He came in after Bill Parcells and you couldn't have two more contrasting styles. Parcells, the disciplinarian, and Carroll the laid back southern California guy who wore sandals all the time. Patriots fans didn't like Carroll much, and after three years Kraft and family decided enough was enough.

Record wise, Carroll's Patriots didn't do half bad. They were 10-6 in his first year but dropped a win each year after that. After an 8-8 season in 1999, he was let go. Ultimately, he was replaced by Bill Belichick, so we all know how that turned out.

Robert Kraft admitted years ago that he felt that he was unfair to Coach Carroll during his time in New England. Carroll was not afforded the control over the roster that he would've liked and that Parcells had before him. After a shaky split with Parcells, Kraft was a little uneasy about making the same mistake twice.

"In some ways, I think the experience with Parcells made it more difficult for me to allow him to have the authority (Carroll) wanted here," said Kraft back in 2010, via USAToday. "And I was definitely making sure we had checks and balances until I knew I had the right person...I'm not sure that was fair to him. He was a heck of a coach."

One thing is for sure though, a lot of the players that ended up raising three championship trophies for Bill Belichick, started out under the tutelage of Pete Carroll.

In some crazy way, Pats fans owe a bit of their gratitude to the current Seahawks coach for that, as begrudgingly as they'd admit that.

"I really think that Pete had a direct result on the success we had after he left," former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said via NewsDay. "We had key players develop under his tutelage in those three years, three hidden years that people forget about . . . If Pete had one more year, he would have turned it around."

Carroll, certainly a polarizing figure in New England, is now 14 years later at the top of the NFL, playing in it's biggest game. It was hard to imagine at the tail end of last century that he would come this far in the NFL.