Seahawks leave Mora out in the cold; Carroll on his way?
10:15 pm – The Los Angeles Times is reporting that a deal between Carroll and the Seahawks is not yet complete, but is imminently close to being finished, and could potentially pay him $35 million over five seasons.
5:15 pm – The Carroll story has exploded over the past hour, with reports coming in from all sorts of sources, indicating a deal is close between the two sides.
According to Yahoo! Sports’ Charles Robinson (via Twitter), the USC football program could face severe penalties for their role in the Reggie Bush scandal and several other transgressions. That could be the springboard that Carroll needs to head back to the NFL, as any sanctions issued could cause major problems for future Trojan squads.
Seattle’s front office brass, including owner Paul Allen, already interviewed Carroll in Los Angeles last week, and are reported to be dangling an “exhorbitant amount of money” to get Carroll in the fold.
At this point, it’s looking likely that Carroll will be taking charge fairly soon, but the potential is still there for another candidate to sweep in for the job so we’ll keep our eyes and ears open for the time being.
4:18 pm – According to ESPN, the Seahawks are making a major push to bring USC head coach Pete Carroll back to the NFL after an extended stay in the collegiate game.
Carroll is among college football’s elite coaches and after having his USC program at or near the top of the polls almost every year, his stock is likely at an all time high.
Carroll reportedly would prefer to bring his offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates with him to Seattle, rather than having him leave to take a job in Chicago, but it’s more probable that he would hire a coordinator with NFL experience if he does make the leap back to the NFL.
2:05 pm – Seattle officially joined the ranks of teams in search of new head coach this morning, firing Jim Mora after just one season at the helm. Mora replaced former head coach Mike Holmgren upon his retirement at the end of the 2008 campaign, taking over at the beginning of what looks to be a long overhaul project.
The Mora led Seahawks could only muster five wins this season, and for now that seems to be the root cause of his surprising demise. Mora was expected by most to have at least one more season to put together a winning program, but apparently Seattle’s management felt otherwise.
The Seahawks will now set their sights on bringing in a fresh face to complete their move away from the Holmgren era, and as of now the frontrunner seems to be Minnesota defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier .
Frazier is highly regarded and is in line to take charge of a team in the near future. A Seattle squad that has talent but poor direction could a solid fit, but there certainly will be other suitors as well.
As always we’ll keep you posted.
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