Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll will turn 71 in the 2021 season. At some point, Seattle will have to replace him. For the record, I don’t want Seattle to have to replace Carroll. He has been the best head coach in Seahawks history and should help lead Seattle back to the postseason this coming year.
For anyone at this point to argue that Pete Carroll is not the best Seahawks coach ever is simply a person not liking Pete for whatever reason. Carroll has the most wins (124 – Mike Holmgren is second with 86) in Seattle history, best winning percentage (.648 – next closest is Chuck Knox at .559 so it isn’t close), most playoff wins (10 – Holmgren is next with 4) and led Seattle to its only Super Bowl win.
But at some point sooner rather than later, Seattle will have a new coach on the sidelines. Carroll will be missed, whether you love him or hate him. He’s been a good coach. Seattle will likely still have a very talented roster for another coach to take over so whoever does replace Carroll will have very little argument that the team isn’t good enough to win.
Coaches who could replace Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll one day
But what kind of coach should the Seahawks pursue. Carroll was a long-time NFL coach on some kind of level and then went back into the college ranks and was very good at USC and transitioned smoothly to the NFL, thank goodness.
Would Seattle try to go the same route again? Or would the Seahawks try to get an experienced NFL coach who would take on an experienced roster? The decision could set up Seattle for success or failure over the next 5-8 years.
Greg Roman
Of the three coaches I have on this list, Roman is the only one without any true head coaching experience. That doesn’t mean he isn’t worthy of being a head coach because the shock to me is why he hasn’t already become one.
Roman is an offensive coach, of course, having been the offensive coordinator for the 49ers when Colin Kaepernick was leading the offense and has been the head of the offense with the Baltimore Ravens the past two seasons. You don’t think Lamar Jackson can be a good NFL quarterback? Roman disagrees.
Imagine what a hands-on-to-the-offense head coach Roman might be if Russell Wilson was the quarterback! Sure, Jackson has all kinds of physical ability but Wilson is the better quarterback and is more likely to lead his team to a Super Bowl.
I am going to assume that Roman is smart enough to know that if he became a head coach that he would hire a strong-willed defensive coordinator. This way Roman can still focus on what he knows best – the offense – oversee the roster as a whole but when it comes to in-game defensive management, trust someone he knows. Heck, maybe Roman brings Ravens DC Don “Wink” Martindale to Seattle with him.
Luke Fickell
Pete Carroll sort of failed in his first stint as an NFL (or maybe he just wasn’t given a true chance) and went back to college, led USC to a boatload of wins, came back to the Seahawks and the rest is history. This means a college coach can come to the NFL and be instantly successful, especially if that coach has a strong general manager to help him build a roster.
Carroll had that when he came to Seattle in 2010 and so would Fickell. Fickell was involved with an ultra-successful college program at Ohio State but decided he needed to do his own thing and be the head coach at Cincinnati. Fickell took over a program that had little in 2017 but since 2018 the Bearcats record is 31-5.
Fickell does a few things very well. One is to create speedy, athletic and aggressive defenses. Fickell knows how to get his teams to play extremely well in the secondary too. Basically, Fickell reminds me a lot of Pete Carroll when he joined the Seahawks. Seattle’s defense will be smart and aggressive and dictate play.
I also think Fickell would be happy to take over an NFL team. No offense to Cincinnati but that isn’t a job where a coach plans on staying for a very long time. It’s a leaping pad to better coaching opportunities and the Seahawks and Fickell would be a great match.
Jim Harbaugh
I know. Here we go again, right? Jim Harbaugh was a good coach with the 49ers, though he ultimately failed to Pete Carroll, then seemed to wear out his welcome and went to coach the University of Michigan where he has underwhelmed. Why would Harbaugh be welcome with the Seahawks?
Harbaugh is likely a better NFL coach than a college coach. Being a college coach means that one has to recruit at a high level while also making sure that their respective educational institution is also respected. Michigan is a good school with high standards and getting kids to play there is tougher than at a place like Iowa.
Plus, Harbaugh is probably better at getting players from a mid-point to an end-point, meaning that taking a good college player who has already developed to some degree to be a good pro is one thing. But taking a high school player with promise and making him into a good college player is a different thing.
Harbaugh is better with the former than the latter as his 44-19-1 record with the 49ers between 2011 and 2014 would prove. That is really all that the Seahawks need. If Schneider can get along with Harbaugh then Schneider can build the roster and Harbaugh can mold that roster into a playoff team. He’s proven he can do that in the NFL and he would be a good coach to replace Pete Carroll.