5 defensive coaches Seattle Seahawks could replace Pete Carroll with

Pat Fitzgerald

In 2010, Seahawks owner Paul Allen turned to a college coach to take over the franchise. That coach was, of course, Pete Carroll. People may forget that in 2009, Seattle was a lost franchise. Carroll came in and made tons of changes. Obviously, some credit should go to general manager John Schneider as well. Seattle has been good for most of a decade. Let’s not forget that.

Fitzgerald is a bit different from Carroll. He doesn’t have NFL head coaching experience. But what he does do is get the best out of his players every single year. He has a lot of trouble recruiting at Northwestern because the school is one that values academics over sports and maybe every school should. But while recruits want to go to Alabama and Clemson or Ohio State, Fitzgerald has to do with what he can with the players he is lucky to get to come to Northwestern.

Fitzgerald has been the coach at his alma mater since 2006. But he is still only 47 years old. If Fitzgerald wants to keep coaching, he has a bunch of years left to do so. Between 1960 and 2005, Northwestern had eight winning seasons. Since 2006, Northwestern has had nine.

Fitzgerald was a great linebacker in college and has coached linebackers and defensive backs in college. He has no real ties to the NFL, though. This is what makes him a wild card coach for the Seahawks. Fitzgerald wouldn’t come in with a bunch of ego. He would just get the best out of the players he has. Seattle would need a general manager who knows how to acquire players but Fitzgerald would know the college game so well that he would be able to give great input on who Seattle should draft and the Seahawks need better drafts to build for the future.