The rivalry has been well-documented in several sources.[1][2] In 2013, sports columnist Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report called it "the best rivalry in the NFL",[3] while sportscaster Adam Schein called them both each other's "greatest rival" in a 2014 article for NFL.com.[4]
While Harbaugh was a starting quarterback in the NFL, he competed in eight games against teams that had Carroll on their coaching staff.[8] Teams with Carroll on their staff recorded a win-loss record of 5–3 in these games.[8]
As head coaches, the two had their first game against each other in the 2007 season, when the Trojans hosted the Cardinal.[8] USC was experiencing a 35-game winning streak at home and were expected to have a blowout victory, with spread betting odds favoring the Trojans a point spread of between 39 and 41.5 points.[8] However, the Cardinal defeated the Trojans 24–23 in one of the largest point-spread upsets in college football history.[8][9]The following season, Stanford hosted USC in a game won by the Trojans 45–23.[10] According to David Leon Moore of USA Today, the game saw "some odd gamesmanship" in the closing moments.[10] In garbage time, Carroll attempted to ice the kicker during a field goal attempt from Stanford.[10] Following this, Harbaugh opted against repeating the field goal attempt and instead directed the team to score another touchdown, which they did.[10]
In 2009, Carroll's and Harbaugh's teams met for the first time with both having winning records.[9] In a blowout win, Stanford defeated USC with a final score of 55–21, breaking the record for the most points any team had ever scored against USC in a single game.[9] Towards the end of the game, Harbaugh's team attempted to run up the score by attempting a two-point conversion instead of an extra point kick.[9] As a result, during the coaches' post-game handshake at midfield, Carroll asked Harbaugh, "What's your deal? You all right?", to which Harbaugh replied, "Yeah, I'm good. What's your deal?".[10] Carroll then turned and said "Nice game".[10] According to Marcel Davis of Bleacher Report, this post-game interaction "put the microscope on every one of their meetings".[9] At the end of the season, Carroll stepped down as the Trojans' head coach.[10] In a 2014 article on the two coaches, Moore stated, "Harbaugh's upstart Stanford program helped end Carroll's University of Southern Californiadynasty".[10]
Carroll departed from USC in January 2010,[11] accepting an offer to become the head coach for the NFL's Seattle Seahawks.[10] Meanwhile, Harbaugh remained the Cardinal's head coach for the 2010 season before accepting a head coaching position with the NFL's San Francisco 49ers.[10] As in their college coaching careers, the two were guaranteed to meet each other on an annual basis, as both teams were in the NFC Westdivision.[10] As a result, the rivalry recommenced for the 2011 NFL season.[9] In both teams' season openers and the first time that the two coaches had faced each other in the NFL, Harbaugh's 49ers defeated Carroll's Seahawks 33–17.[9] Carroll's first win against Harbaugh would come the following season.[9]
While the 49ers were one of the most successful teams in the NFC West during their first few seasons under Harbaugh, Davis reported early in the 2013 season that Carroll's Seahawks had supplanted them as the division's premier team.[9] In the 2013–14 NFL playoffs, the two teams met in the NFC Championship Game.[10] The Seahawks won with a score of 23–17, advancing to Super Bowl XLVIII.[12] In June 2014, during a town hall meeting, Carroll responded to a reporter's question about his rivalry with Harbaugh by saying, "I think Jim's a great coach. I've watched him in college, I've watched him in San Francisco. He's done a great job molding the style of play and he's a big force in our division … and we love beating him."[13] This NFC West rivalry lasted through the 2014 season, after which Harbaugh accepted the head coaching position for the Michigan Wolverines football team.[14] Carroll worked with the Seahawks until retiring after the 2023 season.[2]
Prior to the start of the 2024 season, Harbaugh returned to the NFL when he accepted the head coaching position for the Los Angeles Chargers.[2] Following that season, the Las Vegas Raiders announced that they had hired Carroll as their new head coach, to start in the 2025 season.[15] As both teams compete in the AFC West division, Reuters reported on the hiring by saying that Carroll would "resume a long rivalry" with Harbaugh.[15]
Accomplishments by the two rivals
As of September 15, 2025
NFL
Accomplishment
Carroll
Harbaugh
Head-to-head wins
5
5
Super Bowls
1
0
Super Bowl app.
2
1
Playoff app.
12
4
Division titles
6
2
Regular season record
170–120–1 (.586)
55–25–1 (.685)
Playoff record
11–11 (.500)
5–4 (.556)
Carroll and Harbaugh only met head-to-head as Seahawks/49ers and Raiders/Chargers head coaches but Carroll also coached for the Jets and Patriots.
College
Accomplishment
Carroll
Harbaugh
Head-to-head wins
1
2
National titles
2
1
Conference titles
7
5
Overall record
97–19 (.836)
144–52 (.735)
Bowl record
7–2 (.778)
5–7 (.417)
Carroll and Harbaugh only met head-to-head as USC/Stanford head coaches but Harbaugh also coached for San Diego and Michigan.
Results
As of September 15, 2025
Pete Carroll vs. Jim Harbaugh Game-by-Game Results
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