Just In: Seahawks In Strong Controversy Over Coach Selection, As Three Strong Names Have Surfaced Already. What Are Your Thoughts?

The Seattle Seahawks are reportedly considering a seemingly unending list of candidates for their coaching position, but some are emerging more frequently.

Huard: The unconventional pick for next Seahawks coach

The three guys who have already served as head coaches in the NFL—former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel, current Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, and University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh—are arguably the most noteworthy.

Albert Breer, senior NFL reporter for The MMQB, spoke with Brock and Salk of Seattle Sports on Tuesday and discussed a wide range of topics, including in-depth analyses of Vrabel, Quinn, and Harbaugh, among other potential Seahawks coaches.

Let’s take a look at what Breer said about them.

Prospective head coaches of the Seattle Seahawks

       Mike Vrabel

Despite spending six seasons with the Titans, Vrabel was let go by Tennessee last week, but since the end of the season, seven clubs have replaced their head coach, making him one of the more sought-after names available.

Breer compares 48-year-old Vrabel, an NFL linebacker from 1997 to 2010, to a number of other successful coaches who have had success recently after playing in the game, and he seems like he would be a great addition to Seattle.

“ I consider Vrabel to be more akin to head coaches DeMeco Ryans of the Texans, Dan Campbell of the Lions, and Kevin O’Connell of the Vikings, who I believe will be the new head coach Jerod Mayo of the Patriots. One of the most intriguing things about Vrabel, in my opinion, is that you can be sure that player engagement will occur immediately. Furthermore, given the way that children are raised these days, obtaining it is more difficult than it has ever been. You have to go after and secure that engagement, and Vrabel does so as soon as he opens the door thanks to the skins he has hanging on the wall. And then, I believe, Vrabel presents to you a number of aspects of what New England was (as a player), including his ability to coach all three phases of the game, his situational awareness, his ability to weaponize your players and teach them how to use the rules during play, and his ability to draw in top coaches. That’s kind of what you are buying into if you look at what DeMeco accomplished in Houston, what Vrabel accomplished during his first few years in Tennessee, and what Dan Campbell accomplished in Detroit“.

      Dan Quinn

Quinn has a proven track record; after leading the Falcons to a Super Bowl as head coach, he served as defensive coordinator for the Seahawks during their consecutive Super Bowl appearances. Despite the positive reviews Quinn has received during his time in Dallas, the Cowboys defense was humiliated by Green Bay in a playoff loss on Sunday, which can’t be good for Quinn’s reputation.

Given Quinn’s relationship to Pete Carroll, the coach the Seahawks are firing, it would be simple to view him as a safe or even boring pick. Quinn’s name has been associated with the Hawks for a long, according to Breer, because some have questioned if he could succeed retiring Carroll. However, because Carroll was Carroll was removed from the head coach role.

Breer weighed the pros and cons of Quinn for Seattle.

“ I mean, the obvious one is Dan Quinn, and I feel like I’ve been writing this for two months now. … Through that whole thought process of people out there saying, ‘Yeah, there’s a possibility that the Seahawks have a new coach in 2024,’ regardless of how it happens, Dan Quinn was the No. 1 name, and I think it’ll continue to be the No. 1 name. I just think DQ is sort of waiting for the right opportunity. He’s had chances over the last couple of years to leave, and he just hasn’t thought this shot or that shot was right. I think Seattle lines up as sort of perfect for him, and I think in a lot of ways he’s perfect for what Seattle needs right now. Now, I know a lot of people will be focused on the fact that he doesn’t coach offense, he hasn’t coached quarterbacks and that’s something we can get to, but I think in a lot of other ways he is exactly what the Seahawks will be looking for.

… The strength I think is the ability to unify people and create a culture and get the most out of every player who plays for him. I talked to (Cowboys linebacker) Micah Parsons a few times about playing for him, and remember, the defense that DQ ran in Seattle was the traditional Pete Carroll cover-3. And Micah is the sort of player where if you use him in just a single way, you’re not going to get the most out of him, right? He’s such a unicorn in that he can play off-ball linebacker, he can play on the line, he can rush, he can blitz, he can cover, he can do everything you want him to do. So using a player like that just one way is sort of wasting him, and so in a lot of ways when Dan got his hands on Micah, it on paper didn’t look like the greatest fit in the world, and Dan’s defense changed and he adjusted. They’re doing things a lot differently there now than he did in Seattle all those years ago. So I think it’s a great example of getting the most out of somebody, and Micah would tell you himself how much he loves playing for DQ. And then you see the ascension of other players there, right? Like what (cornerback) Trevon Diggs has become under under Dan Quinn. What (cornerback) Daron Bland did this year under Dan Quinn after Diggs got hurt. (Cornerback) Stephon Gilmore’s career had a little bit of a renaissance this year with Dan Quinn as his defensive coordinator. I mean, right on down the line he maximizes players, and I think that’s as great a compliment as you can give a coach. The weakness of course would be obviously quarterback’s gonna be a big topic of conversation in Seattle over the next year or two and that’s not his area of expertise. But he’s so well connected in the coaching community that I do think he’d find good people to take care of that part of it for him“.

     Jim Harbaugh

The man who recently guided Michigan to an unbeaten season and a national championship victory over the UW Huskies is arguably the most sought-after coach in the NFL right now. Though rumors that Harbaugh might make a comeback to the major leagues for the first time since leaving the San Francisco 49ers following the 2014 season seem to surface almost every summer, this time it appears more likely than ever.

Given the animosity that Harbaugh and his Niners teams had with the Hawks overall, as well as the one he had with Carroll specifically, Seattle would be a very interesting venue for him to make his NFL comeback. However, Mike Salk of Seattle Sports has stated that he thinks Harbaugh would be the best pick for the Seahawks, so let’s consider this idea for a moment.

Brock Huard referred to John Schneider, the general manager of the Seattle Seahawks, as the “most outrageous” possibility when Breer was asked if he thought Harbaugh would be interviewed. Breer chuckled and then stated this:

“ Yes, I make the call if I’m the Seahawks. And, you know, it’s kind of interesting because, well, he was a major opponent there; he and Pete had disagreements throughout college and the professionals. However, I believe Jim offers something really special of his own because, well, he looks the same everywhere he goes. Stanford appeared similar to how the Niners and Michigan did, don’t they? It’s a different approach to developing it in this day and age, but I believe it has been successful in many instances everywhere. It reminds me a lot of Bill Parcells. He is the one who can enter your program, shake it up, and provide results straight away.

He will extract the maximum performance from your staff, and within three or four years, he will most likely have burned everyone out. Therefore, it’s unlikely that you’ll commit to ten years of the guy. However, I would examine it and follow the procedure if I were the Seahawks. The Seahawks haven’t accomplished this in fourteen years, anyway. I believe it would be a fantastic way for the Seahawks to gather information. I believe that one aspect of going through something like this is having the capacity to obtain information from different programs related to the sport. And if I were general manager John Schneider and chair of the Seattle Seahawks Jody Allen, the opportunity to sort of look under the hood a little bit in how Jim Harbaugh does things wouldn’t be a bad experience“.