Ex Seattle Seahawks quarterback floated two ‘outside the box’ local candidates to replace Pete Carroll

admin | January 12, 2024 | Other Clubs | No Comments

The day after Pete Carroll was dismissed by the Seattle Seahawks — excuse me, “amicably agreed” to “evolve” his role with the team — ideas for the team’s future head coach began pouring in.

Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who served in the same capacity on Seattle’s Super Bowl team, appears to be the leader for the job. Former Seahawks and Washington Huskies quarterback Brock Huard, on the other hand, has some different ideas. Kalen DeBoer and Chris Peterson, two coaches from his alma mater.

Could the Seahawks Raid the Washington Huskies?

For the first time since 2010, the Seahawks are looking for a new head coach. Fourteen years ago, the franchise bypassed the then-current generation of NFL coordinators in favor of USC’s Pete Carroll, a successful college coach.

This resulted in the franchise’s first Super Bowl victory and Carroll becoming the Seahawks’ all-time winningest coach. Not too shabby.

So, instead of barking up Carroll’s coaching tree, may the team pursue another successful college coach? Brock Huard believes so.

“I know Kalen DeBoer’s name has been mentioned, and there’s a great fear in Husky nation right now, and probably people throwing something right now at their radios,” Huard remarked on Seattle Sports Radio on Wednesday, Jan. 10. “That would be thinking outside the box.” Another name is Chris Petersen. Would a position in the NFL be something he’d be interested in? Where the field is level, that development methodology counts. When it comes to playing, young people matter. I’d be enthralled. If Chris Petersen requested an interview, I would gladly oblige.

These are out-of-the-box notions from Huard, who has played quarterback for both the Seahawks and the University of Washington and whose job it is now to discuss both on television and radio.

But do either make sense for the Seahawks?

Kalen DeBoer and Chris Peterson’s Resumes Aren’t a Fit

Pete Carroll is without a doubt one of the finest college and professional football coaches of all time. He is one of only three coaches, along with Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer, to have won both a Super Bowl and a national championship.

And the path of college head coaches attempting to coach in the NFL is riddled with failures. Lou Holtz, Steve Spurrier, (the Seahawks’) Dennis Erickson, Chip Kelly, Urban Meyer, Matt Rhule, and many more are all examples of what Carroll accomplished.

Carroll’s experience as an NFL assistant and head coach before returning to the league was one of the factors that contributed to his success in the league. Before coming to USC, he was a defensive backs coach for the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings, a defensive coordinator for the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers, and the head coach of the Jets and New England Patriots.

Neither Kalen DeBoer nor Chris Peterson have any professional coaching experience.

Peterson, who is said to be enjoying his consulting role in the Washington Huskies athletic department and TV commentator work after retiring from coaching, spent his entire coaching career at the university level. He worked as an assistant at his alma institution, UC Davis, as well as at Pittsburgh, Portland State, and Oregon before taking over as head coach at Boise State and Washington, according to GoHuskies.com.

DeBoer also began his coaching career at his alma mater, the University of Sioux Falls, first as an assistant and later as the program’s head coach after graduation. According to the school’s website, he then served as an assistant coach at Southern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State, and Indiana before being selected head coach at Fresno and then UW.

This is not to say that one of these two UW coaches will defy the odds and become a successful Seahawks coach. However, if history is any guide, the chances are set against that happening.