Pete Carroll has been the most successful head coach in Seattle Seahawks history. He has led the team to its only Super Bowl victory and he got back to another one. But those are closer to a decade ago than something that recently happened.
Eventually, all coaches are replaced, though. Even Bill Belichick may no longer be the head coach of the New England Patriots next year. After Pete Carroll has been the coach in Seattle since 2010, maybe he is not capable of helping make the changes - third-down offense and defense, for instance - that need to be made.
Carroll is the Vice President of Football Operations for the Seahawks, though. Unless he chooses to, he isn't going away from the organization. He might even have a say in who the next head coach for the Seahawks is. And if Seattle chooses a first-time head coach, they might choose one of the five guys that follow.
Five first-time head coaches that could be great fits for the Seattle Seahawks
1. Mike Macdonald, Baltimore Ravens Defensive Coordinator
Macdonald has been coaching for a decade but is still only 36 years old. He has been an NFL defensive coordinator for two seasons now, but he clearly has an idea of what he is doing. He coached linebackers for the Baltimore Ravens for three years from 2018 and 2020 and was part of a defensive scheme that produced the least amount of yards-per-game (307.8) over those three seasons. Macdonald then left to be the University of Michigan DC for 2021 and then returned to the Ravens in 2022.
Last year, the Ravens were number three in points allowed (18.5) and in 2023 they are third but have allowed fewer points (16.1). Baltimore, unlike Seattle, also knows how to get stops on third down as they allowed 34.9 percent conversions (fourth in the league) and in 2023 they are sixth but about the same number as last year (35.2). Baltimore is also third is red zone percentage (37.9).
The biggest question might be if Seattle wants to hire another defensive-minded coach. If Pete Carroll has input (and he should) as he also serves as the Vice President of Football Operations then hiring another DC as head coach makes sense. Macdonald might make a chance at the offensive coordinator position, however.
2. Kellen Moore, Los Angeles Chargers Offensive Coordinator
Kellen Moore is a Washington state native who played at Boise State. He started as an NFL offensive coordinator in 2019 with the Dallas Cowboys. The issue for Moore is that even though he had good offenses in Dallas, his head coach was also offensive-minded so there was a bit of micromanaging of Moore, it seems. Plus, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones doesn't let his football people be football people many times.
Moore would also be another young hire for Seattle. He is only 35 years old. But NFC West teams the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams struck gold with young offensive-minded head coaching hires in Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay, respectively. The hope would be that Seattle can do the same by hiring Moore.
Every season that Moore has been an OC his offenses have finished in the top seven. Moore and the Cowboys parted ways after 2022 and the Los Angeles Chargers snatched up Moore quickly to be their OC. The Chargers have not met expectations overall this year, but the offense isn't the problem. Los Angeles is eighth in scoring 25.9 points per game. Quarterback Justin Herbert also has 19 touchdown passes against just 5 interceptions.
The Chargers numbers have improved over 2022 as well. They are scoring 3 more points a game. Los Angeles has also jumped from 17th in yards per play in 2022 to 10th in 2023. Moore would have the same kind of impact over the Seahawks offense that Carroll currently has with the defense.
3. Ben Johnson, Detroit Lions Offensive Coordinator
Johnson would be another young head coach as he is only 37 years old. He has only been an offensive coordinator for two years but those two seasons have been impressive. He has also helped make Jared Goff into a very good quarterback when many doubted that could ever happen when Goff was with the Los Angeles Rams.
The Lions rank sixth in points per game (27.2) in 2023 and they were fifth (26.6) last year. The season before Johnson arrived in Detroit, the Lions were 25th in scoring (19.1). Detroit still had Jared Goff at quarterback in 2021, so the biggest reason for the improvement in the offense was the direction of the unit. The Lions has also jumped from last in the league in third-down conversions in 2021 (34.7) to 11th in 2023 (42.3).
Even though Johnson is only 37 years old, he has been coaching in some form in the league since 2012. He coached quarterbacks, wide receivers, and tight ends at various points with the Miami Dolphins between 2012 and 2018. He joined the Lions in 2020 as the tight ends coach.
Johnson knows how to run a versatile offense, too. The Lions are fourth in yards per play (5.9), they are fifth in passing yards per game (263.0), and fifth in rushing yards per game (136.6). Just imagine what Ben Johnson could do with the Seahawks receivers and running backs such as Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet.
4. Teryl Austin, Pittsburgh Steelers Defensive Coordinator
The oldest guy in this group is Austin. He is 58 years old and has been a coach either in college or in the NFL for decades. In fact, he was with the Seattle Seahawks as the team's secondary coach from 2003 through 2006. During that time, Seattle went to their first Super Bowl. Sure, the Seahawks had a fantastic offense, but their defense, especially the secondary, was very good, too.
While Austin hasn't been a head coach, he has been a defensive coordinator twice in his career. First, he was the Lions DC from 2014 through 2017, and Austin has been the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator for the last two years. How much does it say that though Austin has been coaching in the NFL full-time since 2003, he has only coached on one team (2015 Lions) that had a record worse than .500?
In 2023, the Steelers are second in creating turnovers (19), sixth in quarterback rating allowed (78.4), and have allowed the eighth-fewest rushing touchdowns (6). Pittsburgh has not allowed more than 20 points in a game since Week 4. While Pittsburgh does have an excellent player in T.J. Watt, they do not have a ton of depth of talent meaning Austin is getting the best from his players.
The Steelers are fourth in red zone percentage in 2023 (40.0) so while they might bend a little bit, they do not break. The Seahawks likely have more overall individual talent than the Steelers defensively but with the help of the direction from Austin, the unit should be better overall.
5. Eric Bieniemy, Washington Commanders Offensive Coordinator
Eric Bieniemy needed to leave the Kansas City Chiefs. Not that Bieniemy did anything wrong with the Chiefs where he was the offensive coordinator from 2018 through 2022, but there was likely an assumption among NFL teams that Bieniemy looked better than he actually was because he coached under Andy Reid and he had Patrick Mahomes as his quarterback. But 2023 has likely changed a lot of assumptions.
For one, the Chiefs are not doing as well offensively in 2023. Kansas City is 11th in points this year and they were first in 2022 and fourth in 2021. There were no major changes to the skill positions in KC this offseason so there is no reason they should be dramatically worse than last season. Mind you, the Chiefs are still better than most teams offensively as they should be with Mahomes, but winning another Super Bowl this year because of their offense is unlikely.
Bieniemy became the Washington Commanders offensive coordinator/associate head coach this offseason. He has led an offense that was 24th in scoring in 2022 (18.9) and 27th in yards per play (4.9) to one that is a decent 17th in scoring (21.5) and 14th in yards per play (5.2) in 2023. Bieniemy has also turned Sam Howell into a pretty decent NFL starting quarterback.
It is odd that Bieniemy hasn't gotten any head coaching offers from NFL teams yet. Again, maybe he was just under the shadow of Reid and Mahomes. But as long as he can interview well when talking to teams about head coaching possibilities, his work should stand for itself now.