5 coaches who could replace Pete Carroll and keep the Seahawks' string of 'pretty good'-ness alive

In the most surprising move of the 2024 NFL offseason so far, Pete Carroll is no longer head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.

The man who’d held the title as the league’s oldest coach is now available for new challenges after 14 years in the Pacific Northwest. Carroll was prolific in Seattle, bringing a blue chip college football pedigree north from USC en route to 11 winning seasons, 10 playoff berths and one Super Bowl title. That’s a hard act to follow but those expectations are tempered, at least slightly, by the Seahawks’ 25-26 record over the last three seasons.

Whomever takes Carroll’s place will inherit an exciting lineup of skill players (DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Kenneth Walker, Zach Charbonnet), arguably the league’s most impressive young tackle duo (Abe Lucas and Charles Cross), a 33-year-old starting quarterback (Geno Smith) and the league’s 30th-ranked defense.

There’s work to be done to get back to the 2010s heights to which Carroll elevated the franchise. The good news is there’s plenty of strong candidates to patch the holes the veteran head coach couldn’t and get this team in line for its first NFC West title since 2020. Here are five candidates who make sense as successors, listed in no particular order.