Seattle Seahawks: Four biggest questions about the future of the franchise

Number one: Does Pete Carroll need to step down as head coach?

Since 2010 when Pete Carroll became the head coach and John Schneider became the general manager, Seattle has had a very unique dynamic leading the team. On most teams, the GM is the coach’s boss. It doesn’t work this way in Seattle because while Carroll is the coach, he is also the Vice President of Football Operations.

Schneider meanwhile is the GM and Executive Vice President of the team. Basically, Schneider cannot fire Carroll and, even if he could, would be very unlikely to do so.

Carroll would have to be forced out by ownership. I have seen on the interwebs people saying something to the belief that if Paul Allen, former owner of the team who passed away in 2018, were still alive he might let Carroll go. I find this difficult to believe for several reasons. But it also sells the current head of the organization, Jody Allen, short. We don’t know what Jody Allen will do and maybe she will intercede in a way Paul Allen did not.

But here is the thing, 12s. Pete Carroll is going to be the head coach in 2022 unless he chooses to leave. Carroll has been far too successful (nine playoff appearances in 12 seasons – assuming Seattle misses the playoffs this season) to be terminated because of one bad year.

Is Carroll getting older? Yes, he will be 71 years old when the 2022 season gets underway. But he is still in better shape than most humans. He is too loyal to his former players-turned-coaches (Norton, Jr.), though, and he may not want to be in charge of a rebuild. And a rebuild is something the Seahawks have to do to some degree after 2021 or they are going to face many years of being a bad team.