Brady Henderson, ESPN January 16, 2024, 5:19 p.m. ET
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- Brady Henderson is a reporter for NFL Nation at ESPN. Henderson covers the Seattle Seahawks. He joined ESPN in 2017 and covered the Seattle Sports 710-AM team. You can follow him on Twitter @BradyHenderson.
RENTON, Wash. – Following the loss of Pete Carroll, general manager John Schneider's new role with the Seattle Seahawks includes control of the personnel and oversight of the coaching staff.
But as Schneider leads the first head coaching search in his 14-year tenure with the Seahawks, owner Jody Allen has given him a direction.
“It’s clear, it’s concise,” said Schneider. “We want to maintain our positive culture, everything that has been created here… There are so many special people in this building. It's amazing to be on the phone with all these agents and the people who are interested in this position and can explain to them, 'Hey, there's an incredible foundation here.'”
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Schneider spoke to reporters Tuesday for the first time since Allen announced last Wednesday that she was moving Carroll to an advisory role with the organization. Schneider confirmed what Carroll had implied in his farewell press conference – that the GM will have final say on personnel matters regardless of which coach is hired to replace him. That's a change from the previous power structure, in which Carroll had final say and reported directly to the owner.
“Our roster used to be… the coaching staff didn't fall under my umbrella, and now it will,” said Schneider, who will be signed via the 2027 draft following a contract extension in January 2021. “It’s not necessarily a Jody Allen decision or this person’s choice or that person’s choice, it’s just a contractual situation.”
With administrative duties completed, the search for Carroll's successor began in earnest this week. The list of reported interview requests included eight names as of Tuesday afternoon.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, two of them are Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris and New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka. Carolina Panthers DC Ejiro Evero will interview with Seattle on Wednesday, a source tells ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.
The Seahawks have also requested interviews with Dallas Cowboys D-coordinator Dan Quinn, a source told ESPN's Todd Archer, and Houston Texans O-coordinator Bobby Slowik, a source told ESPN's Dan Graziano reported. Additionally, according to NFL Network, the team has requested interviews with Las Vegas Raiders D-coordinator Patrick Graham, Detroit Lions O-coordinator Ben Johnson and Miami Dolphins O-coordinator Frank Smith.
Since all eight candidates are under contract with another NFL team, these interviews can only be conducted virtually this week. In-person interviews will be available starting next Monday, provided the candidate's team is not preparing for a conference championship game.
Schneider said there aren't too many candidates and that the turn-over-everything approach the Seahawks took with free agency and the draft will also apply to their coaching search. They still have to decide whether to consider college coaches.
“It’s still wide open,” he said. “There’s already so much movement in college football.”
Schneider said he had to be prepared to hire a head coach for several years, knowing that the 72-year-old Carroll could leave at any time. As Schneider leads the search for Carroll's replacement, he said Allen — who took over as manager of the team after the death of her brother Paul Allen in 2018 — will have “a lot” of influence on the hiring.
Schneider said there is no longer any clarity about what Carroll's advisory role will entail. His ouster as head coach was followed by a 9-8 finish that saw the Seahawks miss the playoffs for the second time in three seasons. In Schneider's words, they “underperformed” in 2023 after “overachieving” the year before, when they also went 9-8 but made the playoffs as a wild-card team after trading quarterback Russell Wilson.
Carroll made it clear that he was arguing with Allen to keep his job. When asked about his discussions with Allen about Carroll's status, Schneider declined to discuss specifics.
“It’s very confidential and very private,” he said. “I would say that Pete knew what I thought about things and where we needed to improve, and Jody knew my opinion too.”
Carroll and Schneider were signed together in 2010 and led the Seahawks through the most successful stretch in franchise history, which included ten playoff appearances, the organization's only Super Bowl championship and one other Super Bowl appearance.
During his opening statement Tuesday, Schneider became emotional as he talked about working with Carroll over the past 14 years.
“I am very, very blessed to have worked with Pete and all of the positive lessons, leadership lessons, thoughts and philosophies,” Schneider said. “Pretty emotional press conference the other day. When I say your emotions are all over the place, it's about the evolution of a very, very historic partnership and an amazing, incredible level of success and achievement that Pete and I are extremely proud of. I'm looking forward to being able to call and text Pete. He's been texting me like crazy all the time: “Hey Johnny, what's up with this and that?”
Then Schneider paused to collect himself.
“Yes, it was a great experience,” he said. “Here we go.”