Stay Forever: How many more years of Pete Carroll do we expect to enjoy?

Don’t ever leave. Always come, Pete. (Sorry.)

Our selfish wishes notwithstanding, Circle of Life sits atop the standings, tied with Father Time — both undefeated. Peter Clay Carroll will grow old, someday (?). He’ll move on, someday (?).

Carroll is 45 55 65, in human years. No coach in the NFL is older, in human years. But there’s something ageless about the man who leads the Seattle Seahawks. Something that defies our typical expectations of youth and old age.

What he coaches another decade? Marv Levy was 68 when his Buffalo Bills made the Super Bowl for the last time; he stayed on a while longer and went 26-22 in three seasons after turning 70.

Come on, though. Daydreams are daydreams. Carroll won’t be here in ten years, still? He won’t see Russell Wilson through to retirement, will he? Russell’s retirement, I mean. Carroll wont be the BB to Wilson’s TB, riiiight?

Never underestimate a man in a top hat and monocle, I always say.

Cold water thrown: the longest Carroll has stayed employed in one location is nine years. At USC. And now he’s already logged seven seasons here. Maybe the end is sooner than we think. (For another look at Carroll’s shelf life as a coach, check out what Lars Russell had to say on the topic last month, while l’Affaire Sherman was eating up the internet.)

On the other hand, Carroll’s never before had the degree of control to implement his vision quite like what Paul Allen gave him in 2010. So who’s to guess how much Pete has left in the tank?

You. You are to guess.