IIRC, Pete Carroll, as a part of his contract, interviewed several candidates and hired JS as general manager. Paul Allen gave PC -FULL- control and last word on all decisions and that fact should be at least mentioned in this article. JS is indeed deserving of a bunch of credit and should have been GM of the year last year and should be this year.
I can't understand why people (in California especially) don't understand the real reason Pete left USC. The unique opportunity to have FULL control of an NFL team, a 5 year contract for millions would seem to be a coaches dream, what coach wouldn't have left USC (or anywhere else) for that? How's that "sneaking out of town in the middle of the night, even when he was cleared by the NCAA"? Pete Carroll deserve a whole lot more respect than he currently gets. JS also, they make a great team and the future is bright.