In his final press conference as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll shed some tears. There was a sense of sadness, or at least wistfulness from the 72-year-old Wednesday afternoon. He has never been shy about his feelings. But an event that could have felt more like a funeral still contained the one thing Carroll has exuded in his time in Seattle: optimism.

"I’m frickin' jacked, I’m fired up, I'm not tired, I'm not worn down," Carroll said. "It’s the end of the season, I’m supposed to go lay on a cot somewhere, I ain’t feeling like that. What's coming? I don’t know, I've got no idea and I really don’t care right now. But I'm excited about it.”

The words “frickin jacked” were not necessarily the ones used by many fans when the Seahawks hired Carroll all the way back in 2010. While he had dominated the college ranks at USC—no matter what the NCAA tries to tell you—his prior experience as an NFL head coach with the Jets and Patriots was a mixed bag at best.

But to say Carroll won over the hearts of Seattle sports fans is an understatement. In his 14 seasons in charge, the Seahawks only had a losing record three times, and one of those years saw the team make the playoffs anyway, and give us one of the greatest plays in football history, also known as the Beast Quake. He won the division four times, took the team to two Super Bowls and brought home the only one in franchise history. (The results of the other game have been erased from my mind thanks to an excellent shock therapist.) Players loved him, and he helped make Seattle a destination for top talent; something many Seattle teams have struggled with over the years.

And the one constant for Carroll—outside of really good players—was his optimism that the way he did things would work. Many legendary coaches would be described as even-keeled, but that wouldn’t be an accurate description here. When the Seahawks were elite, Carroll was positive they would keep it going. When things were bad, Carroll was confident in a turnaround. When things were ever-so-mediocre, Carroll was, well you get it. This was not Lou Piniella throwing bases over them mountains or George Karl looking like he had poor service at El Gaucho for 48 minutes. Carroll was fired up at all times, and he made sure everyone from the players to the fans felt it.

Sometimes, that optimism could frustrate. Carroll was loyal to his system, staff, and players to a perceived fault. While Seattle had more than its fair share of coordinator changes during his regime, the next name was often a replica of the name before, leading to many frustrating losses and seasons that ended earlier than perhaps they should have. There were draft pick snafus that seemed to be errors in both process and result, and the power Carroll had in the organization means he gets the blame along with the credit for the good ones. For every Bobby Wagner, a Germain Ifedi.

But even with the questionable draft choices and a stubbornness that could drive even the most die-hard fan of the Seahawks crazy, there was something to be admired in Carroll’s faith in what he had built. The only reason Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” doesn’t seem applicable is that it seems unlikely he has any regrets at all. So much of sports coverage these days seems to be based on “hot takes” that are flooded with negativity. Carroll wouldn’t feed into that. He thrived on the opposite end of the spectrum.

His tenure ended on what most would describe as a down note, but through it all, Carroll did what he knew, and it worked a lot more than it didn’t. You can’t help but wonder how much better things would be if more people saw things the same way.