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“Pete Carroll out as Seahawks coach.”

I hadn’t expected that headline ever, actually.

And then I started going through clips from some of the interviews on Seattle Sports 710, the KJ Wright show and some of Gee Scott’s comments on his podcast.

And it’s pretty clear. A lot of people knew for a long time that there were problems in the Seahawks locker room. Problems nobody wanted to talk about publicly except former linebacker KJ Wright.

“They were just so distracted. It is not even about the opponent’s anymore, because what they’re finding, they’re finding their own internal battles within the building. They’re fighting guys buying into what’s coach currently saying.”

KJ talking with Mike Salk on Seattle Sports a month ago saying that, unlike when he was with the team, this year’s team had no accountability for mistakes on the field.

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“In my locker room, players, we handled it, we handled each other. If you if you doing this, you put in the grain, we handled each other when I look at this team right now that no brother is holding the other brother accountable.”

So it appears that the culture that had worked for so long, fell apart.

I’m still not clear about when the slide began, or why no one seemed to want to talk about it or name names. But the implication was that the coach who is legendary for how much he loves his players, found that the general approach wasn’t working.

“What I’m hearing from Coach Carroll is that he’s sick and tired of these guys. He’s extremely frustrated. He feels like he’s preaching to him. He’s trying to be nice with them, but they’re just not receiving his message. Well, so he says you don’t dissent. You don’t give a damn what he’s saying at this point.”

So what do we learn? Well, something I think we already know that you can never rest on your laurels.

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The Seahawks win or lose are a hugely successful organization. They have an immense audience. They put on a great show. They employ deeply talented people, they make a lot of money.

And in Pete Carroll, they had a coach who even at 72 has so much energy he could run for president and age wouldn’t be an issue. And yet, like any organization, it’s continued success depends on the corporate culture and the office vibe.

And when those are not working. It doesn’t matter how talented your employees are. You got trouble.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.