The Seattle Seahawks’ coaching staff continued to get a facelift Thursday, when Mike Solari was hired to replace Bill Laveroni as offensive line coach.
Solari, 53, spent the past 11 seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, where he developed a reputation as one of the better offensive line coaches in football before getting promoted to offensive coordinator in 2006. He was fired on Jan. 1, along with three other Chiefs assistants, after a 4-12 regular season.
Laveroni was not retained after Seattle’s run game struggled for most of the 2007 regular season.
Seahawks quarterback coach Jim Zorn spent Wednesday interviewing with the Washington Redskins for their offensive coordinator job. Zorn was at team owner Daniel Snyder’s home explaining how he would reconfigure the offense and work with young quarterback Jason Campbell, and a multiyear deal was discussed, the Washington Post reported.
But Zorn left Washington without agreeing to a contract to meet Seattle officials at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., and the Seahawks have a strong interest in retaining his services, league sources told the Post.
The Post reported former Redskins coach Joe Gibbs called his former assistants Thursday to inform them that the search for his replacement is likely to take several more weeks, a day after management’s attempts to put together a staff for Jim Fassel, a head-coaching candidate, collapsed.
Fassel had anticipated an offer from the Redskins on Wednesday, the Post reported, and earlier in the week discussed the framework of a contract with Snyder, something no other candidate has done.
Snyder and Vinny Cerrato, the team’s executive vice president for football operations, spent Monday and Tuesday attempting to contact and interview assistant coaches Fassel wanted — including Baltimore’s Rex Ryan, Zorn and San Diego’s John Ramsdell — league sources said — but contractual stipulations precluded all but Zorn from interviewing, according to the Post.
Public sentiment about Fassel was decidedly negative once his involvement was disclosed, and, after huddling with Cerrato, Snyder called Fassel on Wednesday night to tell him the team would extend the search until after the Super Bowl on Feb. 3, the Post reported.
Fassel, who was on the cusp of getting this position in 2004 before Gibbs was lured out of retirement, feels “used,” according to a source close to him, the Post reported.
Meanwhile, Snyder has not spoken to Williams, leader of his defense the past four seasons, in a week, league sources said, and Williams believes he is no longer a serious candidate, according to the Post.
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