On the same day the Seattle Seahawks surprisingly dumped coach Jim Mora, word has emerged that the Seahawks are plotting a run at USC coach Pete Carroll.
Per Chris Mortensen of ESPN, Carroll is the primary target. And Carroll reportedly is interested.
With no coach and no G.M., Carroll would likely be given full control of the football operations. Many believe that one of his first orders of business would be to hire Pat Kirwan of Sirius NFL Radio and CBS to handle contract negotiations and player evaluations.
Mort also reports that Carroll would bring with him to Seattle his current offensive coordinator, Jeremy Bates. The former Broncos quarterbacks coach has been contacted by the Bears, given that Bates worked well with quarterback Jay Cutler in Denver.
The fact that word has trickled out is somewhat shocking, given that Carroll’s recruiting efforts will be dramatically undermined unless and until he makes it clear that he’s not going to be the Alabama coach.
Alternatively, Carroll needs to leave quickly — and the Seahawks will be required to interview a minority candidate for the coaching job before hiring Carroll, unless they’ve interviewed internal candidates for the job before firing Mora, Redskins-style.
If they haven’t pre-complied with the Rooney Rule, they might have trouble finding someone to sit for the job. Mort reports that Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier already has declined an opportunity to interview for the job, citing the possibility that the session would merely represent an attempt to satisfy the rule that one minority candidate be interviewed.