Seattle Seahawks answer to coaching woes might be found in Michigan

I think we can all agree that the Seattle Seahawks need to make some changes this off-season, right 12s? I have found the answer in Michigan – but it may not be what you think I’m thinking. I think.

Now that our beloved Seahawks are guaranteed a non-winning season – oops, forgot about that 17th game. Okay, so now our beloved Seahawks are guaranteed a lousy season. I mean, even the Pollyannas can’t deny that 9-8 would be lousy after 12-4. And does anyone think this team could win six straight games? One straight would be an epic achievement at this point.

Anyway, 2021 has not gone according to plan. Yes, there have been several key injuries. But we all know this offense wasn’t clicking with a healthy Russell Wilson and Chris Carson. The defense was abysmal at the start, and gradually rose to – what, mediocrity at best? How often have we heard Pete Carroll say they lost track of carries or snap counts or rotations? Or that the game got away from them? Um…aren’t coaches supposed to handle those things?

Should Jim Harbaugh be Seattle Seahawks next head coach?

No, that doesn’t mean this Seahawks team should be blown up. The short answer, it shouldn’t. It doesn’t exactly mean I think Pete Carroll should be replaced, either. I can see the argument, though. But you have to be sure you’ve found someone better than who you’re replacing. And in fact, I found the answer several hundred miles to the east. 2,310 miles east of Renton, to be exact. A little Google sleuthing (or the arcane knowledge that I grew up in Michigan) leads one to the lovely city of Ann Arbor, the home of the Big House, the Michigan Wolverines, and coach Jim Harbaugh.

Harbaugh of course has experience in the NFL. Although the Niners tired of him, there’s no disputing his record was far better than his successors. Harbaugh was 44-19-1 with no losing seasons. So far Shanahan is 35-40 with only one winning season. Yet Shanahan is the genius. Uh-huh. Harbaugh is clearly, easily, without question the third-best coach in 49er history after Walsh and Siefert. And yes, it pains me to write those names, 12s.

Oh, wait… you think all this buildup means I want the Seahawks to hire Jim Harbaugh? Oh, heck no! Noooo….relax, 12s. No, I bring up Harbaugh because like Pete Carroll, he had earned a reputation as a top coach. A reputation that was truly earned and well-deserved in the case of both men. Pete Carroll has come under fire for his coaching staff in the past few seasons, especially this season, as we all know. I mean, we 12s are largely the ones lighting the fires. Just like Carroll, Harbaugh took a lot of heat over his staff over the past few seasons.

If you don’t know – and you may not, because why would you – Harbaugh played QB at Michigan. He is, as the saying goes, a Michigan Man. So the Maize and Blue desperately want him to succeed. Problem is, there’s this school to the south of them, like to refer to themselves as THE (redacted) State University. That school, whose mascot by the way is one of the few nuts that’s actually poisonous, wins far too often for the taste of Michiganders, and all right-thinking people of the Earth. Harbaugh couldn’t beat those kids from Columbus. Not once. His job security was getting a bit, shall we say, unstable.

And then the powers that be gave him a choice. “Jim, old buddy, old pal, old Michigan Man, you need to hire a new coaching staff. You need to hire a staff that understands how the game is played in the 21st century. Or, you can…well, you can just hire a whole new staff, Coach.” And Harbaugh took that kind-hearted advice and hired a new staff. And his team demolished the Buckeyes this past Saturday, for the first time in seven tries.

So the answer to the Seahawks coaching issues lies in Ann Arbor. No, Harbaugh isn’t the answer, but what Harbaugh did is. He listened. Okay, maybe he was forced to listen, but he listened and adapted. He changed his philosophy, he hired staff that fit that philosophy, he improved, and he won.

That’s what Pete Carroll and the Seahawks have to do. Carroll needs to change his staff, and update his philosophy to get the right staff. The Hawks need a coaching staff that can win in 2022, not 2002. As for Harbaugh, listen; he’s 1-6 versus his biggest rival. He can stay in Ann Arbor.