The whirlwind known as Pete Carroll spun into his new office at Seattle Seahawks headquarters, firing off greetings: what's up, what's happening, what's next, let's do this. He gestured out the window at Lake Washington. He cranked the Foo Fighters on his stereo. This was classic Carroll, the human amplifier, energetic and intense and an impossible-to-believe 58 years old. Only this time, in his return to the NFL, everything is different. 'Come and feel the sunshine,' he said, as he motioned toward the couch. Carroll left the NFL for the second time in 1999, fired by the New England Patriots, humbled again. Over nine years, he built a dynasty at Southern California and ballooned his coaching legend to mythical proportions. Now, Carroll returns to the league where the ultimate success has eluded him. Despite curious timing, he insisted the move had nothing to do with the potential NCAA sanctions looming at USC. Instead, he kept returning to philosophy, his philosophy and its evolution and all the reasons it will work this time. 'We're operating in the absence of fear right now,' Carroll said. 'We're going for it.' The implementation of that philosophy started immediately. Carroll signed a five-year contract worth more than $30 million, yet the first time he addressed the organization, he started with, 'Hi, I'm Pete.' Carroll is more comfortable, more in control, than in his two previous stints as an NFL head coach, with the Jets in 1994 and New England from 1997 to 1999. He had a 33-31 record in four seasons and made the playoffs twice, but his tenures, particularly with the Patriots, appeared doomed from the outset. In New England, Carroll followed Bill Parcells, and worse yet, he followed Parcells after a Super Bowl appearance. Carroll wanted to install a system similar to San Francisco's, but he said he failed to properly convey the tenets. He said his 'West Coast mentality' clashed in an East Coast environment. On personnel matters, he answered to General Manager Bobby Grier. 'It was disconnected, and that was my responsibility,' Carroll said. 'I wasn't able to make it come together, when I knew that that's what you have to do, or else you fail.' Tedy Bruschi, a Patriots linebacker turned ESPN football analyst, remembered the energy. With Carroll, that always stood out. Energy in meetings. Energy in practice. As if Red Bull powered Carroll instead of oxygen. But Bruschi said some of his teammates disdained that 'enthusiastic, energetic, college-type approach.' They lived the Parcells way, loved the Parcells way, and Carroll's methods stood in stark contrast. He met resistance. At the time, Bruschi did not notice the disconnect between Carroll and the front office. But later, when he watched Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli operate seamlessly and the Patriots won Super Bowls, he saw the difference. Carroll had run a team divided. 'There were veteran players, key, important players, who only wanted to do it Parcells' way,' Bruschi said. 'Pete should have gotten another year, and if he did, there's no doubt in my mind we would have been successful.' Instead, Carroll had enormous success in college. He said he never planned to leave. At least five NFL teams inquired over the years, but none of those overtures, Carroll said, advanced beyond an initial conversation. He considered his philosophy at odds with typical NFL philosophy. He refused to 'divide the approach in any manner, because I knew it would be doomed to fail.' When the Seahawks called, at the behest of the owner Paul Allen, what most surprised Carroll was his reaction to their offer. He surged with excitement, bordering on euphoria. He called friends and asked what they thought about a return to the NFL. Don't be crazy, one told him. But every important element aligned. Carroll, a self-described West Coast guy, had found a West Coast team, in a lackluster division, with two draft picks in the first 14 overall. Ownership ceded almost total control. (Skeptics note again the NCAA investigation at Southern California. Carroll testified last month before the NCAA's Committee on Infractions.) 'The most important thing was that they were willing to accept our philosophy and approach,' Carroll said. 'They came after that. They hired the philosophy. That was important to me, the key.' Carroll described the philosophy in vague terms. The short version: to perform better than before, to pursue a competitive edge, to maximize potential. But Carroll is selling the same valuable asset in Seattle that he sold in Southern California -- himself. Asked for an example of his philosophy in practice, he said: 'Nine years. Every single moment of the time I was at S.C. was an example. And I feel different now. We're already off on a totally different path. It's a cultural shift. I don't know the right way or the wrong way. I just know our way.' Carroll said he could already feel the atmosphere changing, in the building and from the players. No longer charged with recruiting, he found a quieter, more football-centric environment and filled it with familiar assistants, the same philosophy, the same music blasting from his iPod. Bruschi pointed to Belichick as an example of a head coach whose later tenure proved more successful than his first. 'There's no reason to doubt Pete,' Bruschi said. 'He's already done it in the NFL. He won. He took teams to the playoffs. And he'll do it again.' Carroll inherits a roster in transition as he returns to the NFL. The Seahawks went 9-23 the past two seasons, as the front office feuded and the talent dwindled. 'A house divided sure failed' is how Tod Leiweke, the chief executive, described the dynamics to The Seattle Times. The pillars that led the greatest run in franchise history -- Shaun Alexander, Mike Holmgren, Matt Hasselbeck and Walter Jones -- are gone or nearing the end. Jones, a 36-year-old offensive tackle, could retire before this season. That would leave only Hasselbeck, who will compete for the quarterback's job with Charlie Whitehurst, acquired last week in a move that raised eyebrows across the NFL. The Super Bowl appearance after the 2005 season, with Alexander scoring almost at will and Holmgren scowling on the sideline, seems like a distant memory. Where Carroll failed in New England, he must connect his program here, with swirling, continual change. He says the process is not instant. Then he says he will not be patient. Then he says he wants to win instantly, right now. He grabs the digital recorder on his desk and holds it near the speakers. Some philosophy, a little Foo Fighters, for the road. This is classic Carroll, NFL Version, 3.0. Come and feel the sunshine. 