For the first time since 2009, the Seattle Seahawks might not have a legend for a head coach, but it doesn’t need to be that way – even with Pete Carroll agreeing to make way for a new face in charge.
The Seattle coaching lineage is filled with household names (in the Seattle area, at least), and they all got Seattle to new heights in their careers.
Carroll is top of the Seattle pops for bringing the team their first and only championship, but Mike Holmgren was right there in 2005 as he led Seattle to their first Super Bowl appearance. And before Holmgren, Chuck Knox led the team to their first conference championship game. There have only been eight coaches in Seattle’s history, and only one not named Carroll, Holmgren, or Knox had a winning record.
So if the next coach wants to be Seattle’s best, they can’t just win a lot of games; they need to get the team back to competing for a championship.
Only a few household names are still looking for a head coaching job in the NFL, and not all of them have experienced a championship team firsthand. It takes being a part of a winning team to know what one looks like, and more than that, it takes knowing how to coach that roster to be winners. Plenty of guys can call plays, but not all of them are leaders of men.
Bill Belichick is still available, but one has to wonder if he knows how to build a winner anymore and if he and GM John Schneider will be comfortable building a roster together. If Schneider wanted to be able to develop his own vision without Pete, I have my doubts he would want to build one with Bill. My guess is John wants to bring in an experienced coach who will not be demanding the final say on personnel decisions.
So who does that leave us with – who has the winning experience and won’t clash with management? Is it Mike Vrabel? Probably not. Vrabel is a great coach and could be a great leader on defense, but I’m not sure he’s the right guy for head coach. His time in Tennessee was not super successful, and while he does know how to build a tough-guy culture, I’m not sure that’s what Seattle was missing. This team needed to get modern, and to do that, you don’t want to hire an old-school guy like Vrabel.
One name not getting a lot of traction in the headlines is former Carolina head coach Frank Reich.
Now, before I lose you, hear me out. Reich helped build a winner in Philadelphia, where he didn’t call plays, but he helped mold young QBs Carson Wentz and Nick Foles. Before I really lose you – remember those two teamed up to light the NFL world on fire in 2017. Wentz looked like the next great NFL QB and league MVP before hurting his knee late in the season. Everything looked lost, but Foles stepped in and had a playoff run only matched by one other guy – Jeff Hostetler. Reich was on the losing team against Hostettler in that Super Bowl, so he knew what an average Joe with a great mustache could do if given the opportunity. Foles led the Eagles to their first and only championship in team history, and Reich was hired as head coach the following season.
It looked like a dream match – Reich and all-pro QB Andrew Luck, who was in his prime years. The Colts won 10 games that year and made it to the divisional round of the playoffs, and it looked like big things were in store. But it was not to be, as Luck retired before the next season, and the Colts struggled to win with a patchwork offense. In 2020, the team brought in veteran QB Philip Rivers and improved on their 2018 season, although they lost their only playoff game. After Rivers retired, Reich vouched for Wentz, who had fallen out with the Eagles. Wentz had his moments with the Colts, but injuries kept him from being the QB they had expected, and he was traded in the offseason after missing the playoffs.
Veteran QBs Matt Ryan and Nick Foles were brought in, and the results were awful. Reich was fired after going 3-5-1, and it got worse from there as the team hired former player Jeff Saturday, who had zero coaching experience, to run the team, and they had a 1-7 record the rest of the way.
Carolina hired Reich as their new head coach in 2023, taking over a team with the number one overall pick and the chance to build a new team. Rumors swirled that Reich wanted to draft CJ Stroud, but the owner wanted Bryce Young. Whether Reich was overruled is in question, but Young was drafted, and Stroud went to Houston.
Reich lasted 11 games with Young at the helm and had just one win in that time. Reich was fired, and the team went 1-5 in his absence.
Before looking at the dumpster fire Reich’s last two teams turned into with him at the helm, consider who was running the teams. You need to look hard at the GMs and owners of those franchises. And more importantly, what did they do once Reich was gone? The Colts missed the playoffs, and the Panthers continued being the worst team in the league. This tells me talent is on the roster but not in the right places. Winning teams don’t turn into losers overnight, and losers don’t turn into winners any quicker.
Football is like geology – pressure and time. Over enough time, everything breaks down sooner or later. We don’t know how much input Reich gave to build these teams, but we know that neither of them went the way he expected them to. You can blame him for the Colts getting worse all you want, but they were building a team around a QB that wasn’t there anymore; that’s not easy to do. Then the Panthers started a rebuild, but not really. If you fire someone after year one of a reset, you’re either delusional or in over your head.
Seattle GM John Schnieder is neither delusional nor in over his head. He has a proven track record of bringing in great talent, and even if Pete Carroll had a lot of input on those choices, that doesn’t mean Schneider doesn’t know what he’s doing. Before arriving in Seattle, Schneider worked for the front office in Green Bay, which has a thirty-year record of building rosters correctly. The Packers’ way doesn’t happen quickly, but arguing with their results is tough. Twenty-four of Seattle’s best years have directly resulted from the Green Bay influence, so why stop now?
There is a good chance Seattle goes back to the well and re-hires a guy they had on the staff when Carroll first came to town in Dallas, defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. But if you’re bringing in Quinn, why get rid of Carroll? Why change head coaches if you think defense is what this team needs before anything else?
Quinn had some great years in Dallas as DC and in Atlanta as head coach, but they never had a top defense in Atlanta; they were known for Kyle Shanahan’s offense, which helped them build a super team in 2016. Quinn has made some great defenses in Dallas, and that seems to be his strength – calling plays and installing a system, not running an entire team. If Quinn wants to be DC and assistant head coach, I’m all for it, but I’m not sure he should be head of the team.
This team can absolutely go back to the well on defense, and maybe they should. But they should take a hard look at Reich for head coach. Reich has worked with several QBs and used to be one himself. He does great things with athletic QBs like Geno Smith, but he has also proven he can win with extremely immobile guys. His best work was with Luck, who was a great passer and an underrated runner. Sound like anyone you know? He also proved he can quickly develop talented passers, so if Seattle wants to draft a young QB (which they should), we know Reich can help them convert their game to the pro level.
With Shane Waldron going to Chicago, this team has no offense in place. They have a lot of veterans wanting to win now and a good amount of young players ready to take over the league. To get this team on the same page and competing for a championship, you need someone who knows how to speak rookie and veteran. You need someone who played in the ’90s but has a 2020s mindset.
You need a guy like Frank Reich, and Seattle should make sure they take a good look at him.
