Pete Carroll Is A Smart Hire For Seattle

There are rumors out there that USC's head coach, Pete Carroll, is rumored to be the #1 guy on the list for the Seattle Seahawks head coaching job. It would be a smart move by Seattle and for Carroll, in fact, it could be the perfect situation for both sides. If he takes the job, would it be a sign that USC will be hammered by the NCAA for their multiple infractions?

Pete Carroll isn't new to the NFL, he used to coach the New England Patriots and New York Jets, so you couldn't compare his hire with Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, or Bobby Petrino. Carroll is a known commodity, even though he didn't have a lot of success in the NFL. If Carroll is the next head coach of the Seahawks, I believe that they will be the favorite in the NFC West for years to come. He will probably have general manager duties along with being the head coach, thus he will get to pick his guys. If you ask any player who played for Carroll at USC, they will say that they loved playing for him. He will give the best players a shot to start and will give rookies more of an instant start, if he proves himself in the preseason. Think about all of the great USC players that went to the NFL over the last decade. Don't you think that they might want to play for him again, so Seattle would have an edge in the free agent period. Who knows, maybe they would take less money to play for their former coach.

If Carroll takes the Seattle job, what does that say about the NCAA investigation results for USC? I think it would mean that the NCAA will be laying the hammer down on them. It won't be as bad as the SMU action many years ago, but I would assume that they will vacate wins and more. Also, Joe McKnight declared for the NFL draft today, so bad news keep coming for USC fans.

Seattle Fires Jim Mora

This past Monday was traditionally called "Black Monday," but last Monday was more like a shade of gray. There weren't many firings and many coaches that were in trouble of losing their jobs, held onto them. A coach that flew under the radar this season was Seattle's Jim Mora. He didn't have a good season and today Seattle fired Mora. Did Seattle fire Mora to try and go after Bill Cowher or another big name or was it time for a change?

Seattle Seahawks CEO, Tod Leiweke, announced today that they will fire Jim Mora, even though Leiweke openly endorsed him six weeks ago. The team's general manager, Tim Ruskell, stepped down mid-season so they will be looking to fill both positions. Mora took over the head coach duties once Mike Holmgren stepped down, but he was the "head coach in waiting" for two seasons before taking over as head coach. Seattle has went 9-23 over the last two seasons and it was time for an overhal in Seattle. Although the timing is quite coincidental since Bill Cowher is rumored to be looking to coach in 2010, but with Buffalo being his only option, it was unlikely that he would take the Bills job. The Seattle job seems more likely, since he would have total control. The one reason why it would be unlikely is because of the geographical location of Seattle. Cowher stepped down as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers because he wanted to be closer to his family, who reside in the Carolina region.

It's is unknown who Seattle will target since they could be looking to upgrade every position on the field. They had a long stretch of success with Matt Hasselbeck as the quarterback, but with two injury-plagued seasons, a change at head coach could mean the end of his reign as the starting quarterback. A youth movement needs to happen on offense since the wide receiving corps is getting "long in the tooth" and the offensive line has holes. They do have Justin Forsett and Deon Butler on offense, but they still need grooming. The defense had issues in 2009 stopping the run and doing the little things on the football field. Seattle's offense didn't give their defense very good field position, so the blame falls on both sides of the ball for Seattle.

Jim Mora is a solid secondary coach and he should latch onto a coaching staff very soon. He had a rough go in Seattle with the Michael Vick saga taking place on his watch. Mora didn't inherit a very good team when he took over in Seattle, I don't blame Mora, I blame the former GM Tim Ruskell and Mike Holmgren for leaving him with a bad team.