As of Sunday night, Pete Carroll still wasn’t officially the Seahawks head coach, but signs point to a deal happening soon.
Carroll met with Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke in Los Angeles Sunday, but a team spokesman said that evening a deal was not yet done.
The Los Angeles Daily News, however, reported that Carroll submitted his resignation to USC, an indication that Carroll is confident he has his next job lined up. Later Sunday the Los Angeles Times reported that Carroll has accepted the Seattle job. According to the Times, USC players and coaches learned the news from a text message from an assistant coach.
ESPN is reporting that USC offensive coodinator Jeremy Bates and linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. are both coming to Seattle with Carroll.
Carroll, 58, would be returning to the NFL after leading the Trojans to seven Pac-10 titles, two national championships and a 97-19 record in nine seasons. Prior to that Carroll spent three years coaching the New England Patriots from 1997-1999, and in 1994 he spent one season as the head coach of the New York Jets. Overall Carroll is 33-31 as an NFL head coach and 1-2 in playoff games. He also spent 12 seasons as an assistant coach or defensive coordinator in the NFL.
What Carroll’s title will be is still unknown. Initial reports indicated Carroll would be the team president as well as head coach, but according to the Fritz Pollard Alliance, an organization that promotes diversity and equality in NFL coaching and front office jobs, the Seahawks said they will not give Carroll full control of personnel decisions if he is hired.
The Fritz Pollard Alliance was involved in the process because they helped facilitate the Seahawks interview with Minnesota defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. By interviewing Frazier, who is African American, the Seahawks satisfied the league’s Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview a minority candidate for head coaching jobs. NFL commissioner Rodger Goodell told reporters before Saturday’s playoff game in Cincinnati that the Seahawks were in compliance with the Rooney Rule.
While the hiring of Carroll as the replacement for Jim Mora, who was fired Friday after one season, seems a forgone conclusion at this point, the team still has more work to do in order to find its next general manager. ESPN reported Sunday that the Seahawks are lining up an interview for this week with Floyd Reese, New England’s senior football advisor. Prior to joining the Patriots front office last offseason, Reese spent 13 years as the general manager of the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans franchise.
The Seahawks reportedly have already interviewed Marc Ross, the New York Giants director of college scouting, and will interview Omar Khan, Pittsburgh’s business and football administration coordinator, and John Schneider, Green Bay’s director of football operations.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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