Why it took so long to make a coaching change?

[seabowl]

Pete Carroll was undoubtedly the best coach that the Seahawks ever had. The run of consistency that the Hawks displayed during his tenure was incredible. With this said, it was pretty evident from around 2016 on that things were starting to disintegrate. Many of us on this board were calling into question his coaching decisions on and off the field with both play and personnel. I’m just curious why you think it took the organization so long to make a change or at least do something to change the direction of the team?

 

[pittpnthrs]

Jody believed his BS until reality couldn't be ignored. How else can you explain the 5 year extension he got in 2020?

 

[Grahamhawker]

Winning didn't hurt. Even with chinks in the armor evident there wasn't a losing season until the '21 season. 11 wins in '19 and 12 wins in '20 certainly bought Pete some time.

 

[FloridaSeahawk18]

Think there was still hope with coordinator changes Pete could turn it around. Then when Pete replaced the coordinators with lapdogs over and over it became apparent there was no other option.

 

[MORGULON]

Pete Carroll was undoubtedly the best coach that the Seahawks ever had. The run of consistency that the Hawks displayed during his tenure was incredible. With this said, it was pretty evident from around 2016 on that things were starting to disintegrate. Many of us on this board were calling into question his coaching decisions on and off the field with both play and personnel. I’m just curious why you think it took the organization so long to make a change or at least do something to change the direction of the team?

He earned a lot of grace with the SB

 

[Hawknight]

Many of us including myself held on to hope that Pete could duplicate the success he once had. We just held on to that hope a bit too long.

 

[IndyHawk]

Many of us including myself held on to hope that Pete could duplicate the success he once had. We just held on to that hope a bit too long.

Spot on..
I'm guilty of this, hearing "We are almost there" on D with the
results showing otherwise.
That was the end for me and I loved Pete.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

He earned a lot of grace with the SB

You spelled "respect" wrong. People still wanting to cynically treat the SB like it's reached accidentally or luckily in order to justify the hate-boner.
.
And hell, even afterwards, one of the most regular postseason attenders in the league were the Seahawks, year in and year out, roster regardless. You don't get better than that. A lot of that was Wilson, but Wilson also got in the team's way quite a bit. Pete had the ability to create a team of consistent overachievers.

Hell, Pete would still be here if it he hadn't signalled retirement towards the end of the year and then tried to change his mind right at the end.

 

[pittpnthrs]

Many of us including myself held on to hope that Pete could duplicate the success he once had. We just held on to that hope a bit too long.

Many of us did not and got crucified for it.

 

[BASF]

Many of this fan base have become seriously spoiled and justified it with them having "higher standards" than other fans. Carroll made changes a lot more than he is given credit for. Ultimately, his changes are what did him in by promoting and sticking with an incompetent Hurtt and giving Waldron way too much time to figure things out.

 

[jeremiah]

He earned a lot of grace with the SB

He had a great roster Jimmy Johnson, called it perfectly.

Pete had the advantage of having seen kids from HS to College. He knew their strengths and weaknesses. His first few years he had an insiders "feel" for players. Advantage Pete, of course along with Schneider assessing well.

Without his players, Pete would have been run off to retirement or USC.

He got to the point where he thought it was HIM, and not a team effort. The attempt to catch the "lightning in a bottle" with FA Safeties was all the proof that was needed. He was reaching, and doing it in the manner of someone who was grasping on a life raft as he knows he is drowning.

 

[evergreen]

Those two years 2019, 2020, gave us a glimpse into the possible. We were so close in 2019. We were 10-2. If we hadn’t lost our two running backs…

 

[HAWKN'83]

I think it became too apparent to the front office that no matter who Pete hired as his coordinators, the result was going to be the same. No matter who was calling plays, everything just seemed the same. Season after season, same thing. And honestly, it became boring to watch! If it looked like that to fans, imagine how easy that was for other teams to game plan against. Especially younger minded coaches than Pete whom seem to have gotten his number and Pete didn't change his ways to combat that.

 

[chrispy]

1/2 the time new coaches are complete failures. It's too easy to forget that there's huge risk/downside in replacing a head coach. JAllen is smart and made the calculation every year. She thought the chances of improving from good to great with Pete were better than starting over with a coin toss chance to be awful. She made a conscious choice every off-season and anyone that thinks she was swayed by emotion is more emotional than she is.

Pete was given several "last chances", the final one being selling the farm for LWilliams. That was a $#!+-or-get-off-pot moment. Pete consistently believed the team was "almost" over the hump. But then the calculation was made easier by missing the playoffs and another decreasing w record. The declining curve was obvious and Pete's "last chance" moves didn't make a difference...so...

I like Coach Macdonald and think that things fell together advantageously. I wonder who'd be coaching the Seahawks today if '22 had one more loss...???

 

[Seahawks Guy]

It's a tough decision to fire a guy who had been the best coach in franchise history, won a Super Bowl, and only 1 losing season in a 12 year stretch.

 

[Appyhawk]

I'm a Pete fan but I think he peaked. Others learned from him and improved. We stagnated in the spot we were in which is mid pack. That can be seen two ways, failing OR on the cusp of moving up. We did neither. So it was determined to force movement one way or the other.

 

[James in PA]

It's hard to justify firing a head coach when he is almost always in the postseason. Even this year he finished with a winning record. It finally became crystal clear to everybody that he had no idea how to stop modern NFL offenses. He was saying, "we're almost there" but they were actually regressing. Hiring KNJ and Hurtt back-to-back were absolute deaths blows. God, Pete was stubborn.

 

[PateratoWilson]

Pete Carroll was undoubtedly the best coach that the Seahawks ever had. The run of consistency that the Hawks displayed during his tenure was incredible. With this said, it was pretty evident from around 2016 on that things were starting to disintegrate. Many of us on this board were calling into question his coaching decisions on and off the field with both play and personnel. I’m just curious why you think it took the organization so long to make a change or at least do something to change the direction of the team?

I like the post. I’m not sure Pete was our best coach… he did have the most power which, to answer your question, I think took it so long. I think he landed on a couple home runs (Kam and Sherm, as examples) but I think he got overwhelmed when his pom poms didn’t rally the lockerroom around the time you mention. We suffered for a couple years I don’t think we would have had to if Paul was still here. Kudos to Jody for finally pulling the plug and starting over. I’m excited to watch JS with the reigns.

As I’m sure many posts will show, I was never a Pete guy but, to be fair, his results carried us to for a while. Not sure he was the best coach ever, I just don’t feel like arguing about it.

I love the new energy, view points, and attitude. We needed it.

 

[hgwellz12]

Along with everything else said, we can't discount the timing of Paul Allen's death.

 

[94Smith]

Also coaching changes don't work out half the time. Your coach is still unproven. I think he was the best hire of the offseason, but nothing is guaranteed.