12th Man Rising
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If Pete Carroll does leave, who’s the next coach of the Seahawks?

By Todd Vandenberg

SEATTLE, WA - DECEMBER 17: Head coach Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks walks the field before the game against the Los Angeles Rams at CenturyLink Field on December 17, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr /Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - DECEMBER 17: Head coach Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks walks the field before the game against the Los Angeles Rams at CenturyLink Field on December 17, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr /Getty Images) /
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Chris Peterson
TEMPE, AZ – OCTOBER 14: Head coach Chris Peterson of the Washington Huskies reacts during the second half of the college football game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Sun Devil Stadium on October 14, 2017 in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils defeated the Huskies 13-7. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Two likely candidates to take over at CenturyLink

Chris Peterson. I’ll kick off with our site co-expert’s perennial favorite candidate. Much like Pete Carroll, Peterson has proven himself at the college level. He was 92-12 as the head coach of Boise State. The Broncos went to seven straight bowl games under Peterson and won five.

He’s wrapping up his fourth season as head coach of the Washington Huskies, and has had them in double digit wins for the past two years. Peterson has an excellent offensive mind.,and certainly shows the creativity the Seahawks offense sorely lacks. It’s a bit scary to think of what he could do with Russell Wilson, isn’t it?

Kris Richard. I’d be remiss if I didn’t consider the Seahawks current defensive coordinator. It’s true he inherited the Legion of Boom in 2015 as the defensive coordinator. It’s equally true he was the defensive backs coach since 2011. When did the LOB start? Oh yeah….funny how that worked out, huh?

Consider too that Pete Carroll practically raised him from a pup at USC, and Richard has the pedigree. He’d certainly be one of the younger head coaches in the league, but that hasn’t exactly hurt the Rams this year. If you can coach, you can coach. Richard has the experience he needs for the job.

Here’s one guy who won’t take Pete Carroll’s place

Jon Gruden. No way Jon Gruden ever coaches the Seahawks. Gruden’s name comes up every time there’s an opening for a high profile coaching gig. Which means his name comes up every year. Pretty sure this was a major industry in Knoxville Tennessee, creating “Gruden to UT” websites. Even now the rumors are growing that he could be headed back to Tampa Bay. Good luck with that. Yes, he won a Super Bowl. In my view, he won that game because he was intimately familiar with his opponents. He coached the Oakland Raiders the previous year, so he kind of knew their personnel really well.

I know, he got the Bucs to 12-4 that year. Congrats, Coach Gruden, you had one really good year. Gruden’s career record is 95-81. After that Super Bowl year, Gruden was just 45-51 with Tampa Bay. He’s the Mark Rypien of NFL coaches. I love the guy in the booth. He was a good coach who managed to ride the lightning one year, that’s all.

I don’t think Pete Carroll will leave after this season is done. And I don’t think Sunday will be the Seahawks last game, either. He has two years left on his extension, and I expect he wants to take a full-strength Seahawks team back to the playoffs for another title run.

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