The Seattle Seahawks are in the midst of a rebuild. Pete Carroll is the oldest coach in the NFL. Simply asking: Who replaces Pete, possibly after 2022?
I don’t think Carroll is too old to coach, though. Who am I to judge that? Carroll still has more energy than most of us have likely ever had. But how long would he want to stay the coach during a rebuild when he could simply step down and do his Executive Vice President of Football Operations gig full-time?
The next couple of years might be rough for the team after trading Russell Wilson, releasing Bobby Wagner and not taking a chance on a high-priced free agent. Seattle had a bunch of cap space heading into the offseason and didn’t really spend much on other team’s free agent. Seattle still has the 13th-most cap room in the NFL.
5 coaches who could be the Seattle Seahawks new coach in 2023
Maybe Seattle is waiting until next offseason when the team has a ton of cleared space from the Wilson trade plus some great draft capital to truly and aggressively begin the rebuild. But by then, Carroll will be 71 years old. Not old, mind you, but maybe not the coach Seattle sees themselves as having for the next five seasons.
If the Seahawks are rebuilding, maybe they need to rebuild with a new coach, one who will be with the team for many years to come. If this is the case, Seattle might want to hire one of the five coaches that follow.
Sean Desai
Sean Desai was hired – and likely promised – with the idea that he would have a real chance to be the Seahawks next head coach. Desai came over from the Bears and was given the title of Associate Head Coach/Defense. Note, this is not an “assistant” head coach, but an Associate. That is an important difference because an associate by definition is a partner. An assistant is an underling.
This would imply that Desai is close to being a partner with Pete Carroll in 2022. If the defense does well this coming season you can bet that Desai is on a very short list to replace Carroll as soon as 2023. Carroll isn’t getting younger but Desai is already young.
Plus, a transition from Carroll to Desai if the defense is good this season would be a natural progression for everyone else on the coaching staff. Clint Hurtt is already defensive coordinator and would remain so under Desai. There’d be no need to change offensive coordinators as Shane Waldron, if the offense is decent, would keep the same position under Desai.
Desai knows his stuff. It doesn’t matter if he is African-American or not. Yes, the NFL might push for greater hiring of minority head coaches, but it doesn’t matter what color Desai is; He is worthy of getting a chance at being a head coach and if that happens in Seattle that certainly is not a bad thing.
Kellen Moore
There are still questions about whether Kellen Moore can truly be a leader as a head coach. The Cowboys, who Moore is currently the offensive coordinator, stumbled down the stretch of last year. But this might be due more to the fact that the NFL is a too pass-happy league at times and the Cowboys should have run more.
Some might have stated that Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy should have taken the reins of the offense at the end of the season last year. This seems completely incorrect, however. McCarthy did have success with the Packers but he also had Aaron Rodgers as his quarterback. McCarthy likes to throw the ball. Dallas’ offensive line is built for run-blocking. Dallas didn’t run enough.
Moore, who is only 33 years old, went to Boise State, but he is from the state of Washington. He wants a head coaching job and the NFL lately likes hiring young offensive-minded head coaches. The NFC West alone has Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan and Kliff Kingsbury. Moore could be the latest in the line of NFC West coaches to take over and lead a great offense.
Plus, Moore knows how to coach quarterbacks. He helped Dak Prescott become a very good quarterback. Moore will likely get a young QB with the Seahawks either by the draft or in Drew Lock who Moore can help mold into a leader long-term of Seattle’s offense.
Jerod Mayo
Jerod Mayo must not interview all that well. There is absolutely no reason to think Mayo would not make a very good head coach and he has been interviewed a few times for the same. One thing is he has played and coached under one of the most brilliant defensive minds in the history of the NFL, Bill Belichick. He played for the Patriots from 2008 through 2015 and has been its inside linebackers coach since 2019.
Mayo is just 36 years old. The real question isn’t if Mayo would make a good head coach, he would. But if Pete Carroll steps away (Carroll is never going to be fired for many reasons; Carroll is also Executive Vice President of Football Operations), would Sean Desai and Clint Hurtt accept having a new outsider, Mayo, become their boss?
Mayo has made his linebackers in New England better. Dont’a Hightower, for instance, is basically a Bobby Wagner-type, yet in 2019 Hightower made the Pro Bowl and had 5.5 sacks. Some of this is scheme, of course, but it’s also having a position coach that knows how to direct you in certain situations.
Mayo has simply been a success as a player and as a coach for too long in the NFL under one of the best coaches ever not to have picked up on how to make a defense great. Mayo would make the entire team great as the Seahawks head coach.
Kris Richard
I have written here before that I thought Kris Richard was not treated well by having him leave as defensive coordinator after the 2017 season. His three seasons as Seattle’s DC were good. 2017 didn’t go well because it seemed like almost every key player got hurt. But Richard has proven his quality as a defensive coach in the NFL since he left Seattle.
In 2022, Richard will be the co-defensive coordinator with the New Orleans Saints. Before that, Richard was the DBs coach in New Orleans and coached for a short time with the Cowboys. Every unit Richard has coached has gotten better and he gets the best out of the players he has.
One of the big reasons for Richard’s success, especially with players in the secondary, is Richard played for four years in the NFL and can speak a player’s language. Richard knows what it takes to be successful and has shown that players who play under his coaching develop. For this reason, players seem to really like working with Richard.
Richard would be a great leader in the locker room and his team would ready to play. In fact, Richard because he played for Pete Carroll and coached under Carroll would be one of the more natural progressions for the Seahawks. If Seattle chooses to keep their head coach as one who is defensive-minded, hiring Richard makes sense.
Jim Harbaugh
I’ve written about this one before. Harbaugh is a good coach. He might be a better NFL coach if he doesn’t haven’t full control over the roster. He would still need a strong general manager, in my opinion. If Harbaugh has too much control, that likely isn’t great.
But Harbaugh can coach. He proved that with the 49ers and Michigan has been consistently pretty good since he’s been there. But the locker room is where a coach wins or loses his team and Harbaugh won’t lose his team there.
In fact, he had Colin Kaepernick, his former 49ers QB who has been blackballed the last five years in the NFL, at Michigan’s spring game’s halftime to basically give Kaepernick a pro day to show he still has the skills to play in the league.
Harbaugh stands by his players, just like Pete Carroll has. A player wants to play for a coach like that and gives extra effort. I am surprised Harbaugh hasn’t been hired as a head coach by some NFL team. Maybe he wants too much power. But he was very successful with the 49ers so it’s a bit surprising some team hasn’t given him that power.
But no matter what, Harbaugh is a good football coach. He will keep a team relevant and likely better than the sum of that team’s parts. The Seahawks were successful with one college coach who used to be an NFL head coach – Pete Carroll – so why not go to the well twice and hire Harbaugh to replace Carroll?