Could Seahawks be losing their play-caller?

Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell may be a candidate for the head coaching job at BYU.

Darrell Bevell’s name has surfaced as a possible candidate at BYU. The Cougars have an opening after Bronco Mendenhall accepted the same job at the University of Virginia.

Bevell has taken a lot of heat in 2015, beginning with the disastrous end of the Super Bowl and continuing through a tumultuous first two months of the regular season that saw the Seahawks offense struggle mightily. His fortunes seem to be looking up, however, after consecutive wins over Pittsburgh and Minnesota. The Seahawks offense is on fire, averaging 34.5 points in the four games since their bye week.

The 45 year old Bevell has been passing game coordinator and offensive play caller for the Seahawks since 2011. Prior to that he was the Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator for four years. He’s been working in the NFL for a total of 15 years, but started his career as a college assistant, working on the staff at Connecticut before joining the Green Bay Packers from 2000-2005.

If being a college head coach is on his wish list, the BYU opportunity makes a lot of sense. Cougars Athletic Director Tom Holmoe has said any head coach at his school must be an active member of the LDS church, which Bevell is. There are reports breaking at this hour that Bevell may even be meeting with school officials today.

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What could this mean for the Seahawks? Mendenhall is staying with BYU through their December 19th appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl, and schools enter a recruiting dead period after that. Would Bevell stay on staff in Seattle? There’s precedent for this. When Bill O’Brien was hired by Penn State he continued working for the Patriots through the end of the season, squeezing in recruiting and administrative duties for his new job during his off time.

We will certainly keep our eyes on this situation. The hunch here is this has legs, and might just be the ideal career move for Bevell.