Pete Carroll is currently in his 14th season with the Seattle Seahawks. He has been the franchise's most successful head coach and has brought the organization its only Super Bowl victory. Carroll has more regular season wins (134) than any other Seahawks head coach and has twice as many playoff victories (10) than any other head coach.
Pete Carroll has not been a bad head coach, of course. His win-loss record and number of playoff appearances speaks for itself. Any argument that Carroll is simply not good at coaching is a false one. That said, sometimes organizations just need a fresh perspective to help the franchise move forward.
Carroll is the oldest coach in the NFL at 72 years old and eventually, he will step down. He is unlikely to be fired because he is also the Vice President of Football Operations so Carroll leaving the team completely would mean a massive organizational change. If he does decide to step down from coaching soon, though, his replacement might be looking at him across the field in Week 13 when Seattle plays the Dallas Cowboys.
Seattle Seahawks should hire Dan Quinn as their next head coach
There may be no better fit to be the Seahawks' next head coach than Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. Not only is Quinn a fantastic defensive coach, but he had a fairly successful run as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons from 2015 until 2020. Quinn was fired in his sixth season with Atlanta, but prior to that, he led the team to two playoff appearances, including a Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots in the 2016 season.
Quinn has the experience and talent to be a very good head coach, no matter if that happens with the Seahawks or elsewhere. As defensive coordinator with the Seahawks in 2013 and 2014, Seattle allowed the fewest points and fewest yards each year. Since taking over as DC for the Cowboys, a team that consistently underperformed defensively until Dan Quinn's arrival in 2021, Dallas has improved overall each year. The year before Quinn went to the Cowboys, Dallas was 28th in points allowed and 23rd in yards allowed. In 2021, those numbers improved to 7 and 19, respectively.
This year, Dallas is 4th in points allowed and 3 in yards allowed. Yes, Dallas has a lot of talent on defense, but Quinn has always had the ability to maximize the talent he was given. That simply has not happened with the Seahawks in several years defensively, and that is over the course of two different defensive coordinators.
The other reason Dan Quinn would be an excellent fit in Seattle is because of his previous relationship with Pete Carroll. Carroll is very likely to have input on who Seattle's next head coach is. He has that right as the VP of Football Operations. Quinn does not need to be liked to be hired by a team, of course, but Carroll and Quinn probably have the kind of mutual respect that comes from working together successfully a decade ago.
The biggest question might be timing. Quinn decided to stay in Dallas after last offseason instead of entertain any head coaching openings. That could change this offseason. If Pete Carroll decides to remain as the Seahawks head coach another team could hire Quinn before Seattle has a chance to try to get Quinn to come back to Seattle.
Another question is does bringing Quinn in mean that he would want to change his offensive and defensive coordinators as well. Most coaches do, and those changes would make sense. But first, the Seahawks simply need to hire Dan Quinn.
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