| 18 May 2010
Well, the NFL and Seahawks are moving at a very slow pace right now and there's not much new to report on. I figured it was a good time for me to write another book length post that you can read on for the next two or three days and I decided to touch on what factors made me go from the "Oh hell no!" reaction when it was announced the Seahawks were negotiating with Pete Carroll to be our next head coach and the subsequent guzzling of gallons of Pete Carroll kool aid which is still going on this very minute after the deed was done.
I've been laying back lately and just taking it all in. The Seahawks are being remade before our very eyes and being transformed from their very attitude to their off-season conditioning regime and from the newly acquired players and front office personnel to the brand new schemes and new ways of looking at and going about the business of building a successful NFL franchise. Here's why I think the new deal has a pretty good chance of being successful over the long term.
You could just sum it up in two words. Pete Carroll. I'll use a few more words though and tell you why after studying the subject to death, I think Pete's going to score with his return to the NFL.
At the first mention of Pete Carroll becoming our new head coach, a lot of us, myself included, had a knee jerk reaction from remembering the specter of another college coach with a great collegiate record named Dennis Erickson coming in and trying his hand at the professional game here in Seattle. There are numerous examples of that same scenario having been played out throughout the league and it's history and most of them have just flat out failed. There have been a few notable exceptions like Jimmy Johnson in Dallas but by and large, it doesn't work out. There are just too many differences between team dynamics and the way the college game is played and the professional game and they were all pretty much re-hashed in this blog as well as others right after the Carroll hiring. You can find lots of discussions of those differences and why college coaches don't fare well in the NFL by reviewing Seahawk Addicts and other Seahawk blogs from right after Carroll was hired.
I was only interested in how well Carroll was going to fare with the Seahawks and as I said, I had serious misgivings initially. Once I had a chance to consider all the pros and cons though, coupled with having a chance to view the initial stages of the new regime in action both leading up to and during the draft, and now the way the first OTA's have been handled, I've come to believe that Carroll stands an excellent chance of beating those odds. Here's why. Read more.......First of all, people said his style of relating to college aged players with his exuberant demeanor and the rah rah pep talks and continually keeping his players at a high level of excitement and competitiveness especially at practice wouldn't fly with the pros. Many said they felt the professional player wouldn't respond to being treated like a college kid rather than a mature adult millionaire and that Pete would alienate pro players or at the very least, not be able to earn their respect. However, I see just the opposite happening. First of all, Carroll is trying to get younger in all areas of the team and has brought in new players many who have had some level of exposure to him either playing for him or against him in college and even some from back when he coached in the NFL like Lawyer Milloy who played for him in New England. Most of the interviews I've heard with Seahawk players especially savvy veterans like Matt Hasselbeck have included the question of what they thought of their new head coach and his style. Now I'm not so naive to think that anyone would be stupid enough to rag on their new boss in public and on the air but I think I know when I'm listening to genuine admiration and respect and that's what I felt I was hearing from them. You can tell when someones heart isn't into what they're preaching and these guys seem to love the new deal and what's being established here in Seattle. You also have to take into account the fact that unlike a lot of other college coaches who have given it a shot in the pros, Carroll coached at the pro level before his recent highly successful ten year college career and he does know how that part of the game works. He's not a new comer to the difference between pro and college ball.
Matt Hasselbeck compared his first exposure to Carroll as reminiscent of his first relations with Holmgren saying that both men have a charisma about them as well as a resume that demands respect. Both men have had very successful careers coaching football players and both men are confident in their ability to teach their system and get results. Both men have won championships. I don't think there's any doubt that Carroll has his players full attention and they are ready and willing to do it his way. That pretty well puts the notion that Carroll can't gain an NFL player's respect and/or maintain control of an NFL team to sleep. Carroll has already demonstrated he has the respect of his team and they are already on board with his plan if the initial OTA's are any indicator. They are in the midst of the highest player turnout in Seahawk history for their off-season strength and conditioning programs as well as the optional OTA's. The first thing Carroll is teaching them is to compete hard and that they have to believe in themselves that they are winners. That brings on more echoes of the past when Holmgren arrived and made one of his first tasks to instill confidence in the team and to cultivate a winning attitude. Great minds do think alike.
Carroll was also accused of being a players coach who might become too friendly with his players and have a hard time maintaining discipline within the professional ranks. Pete said right off the bat that he knew his system forwards and backwards and additionally, he knew what kind of players it took to make it work. He said that he demands a total buy in to his program and his way of doing things. In his very first interview he announced that if a player didn't fully buy in or didn't fit the scheme, he would find players who did. He's since made good on that proclamation by getting rid of players who seemed to many fans as if they might still have value to the team for whichever of those reasons applied. Now I don't know the full reasons behind all of the players who were traded, released, or not resigned by the Seahawks recently like Tapp, Sims, Burleson, and Redding to name a few but either not fully buying into Carroll's program or not being the right fit probably factors into most of them. Carroll certainly seems to have an iron grip on the team and like Holmgren, it's abundantly clear you don't cross him and when he says jump, you immediately launch yourself into the air and then ask how high he wants you to go. Holmgren is well known as a players coach but you wouldn't want to try and take advantage of him if you value your job. I see the same thing in Pete Carroll.
Carroll said he wanted fierce competition at every position with the best player playing. Now that's a players coach talking and music to the ears of any NFL player who wants to be able to earn his spot on a team based on his performance on the field not how high a draft choice he was or how big his contract is or any other non-competative means of determining who makes the cut and who doesn't. Competition also makes everyone play harder and therefore everyone gets better faster. Carroll has also made good on that philosoply by bringing in multiple players at every position and has made an impression on me as a coach who means what he says and demands the best effort at all times from his players. Another trait he shares with my favorite all time Seahawk coach Mike Holmgren.
Another problem initially thought to be a factor was that Carroll would be bringing the college game he ran at USC with him to the pros and like most other college schemes that have been tried at the pro level, it would fizzle and pop and be quickly diagnosed and countered by sophisticated NFL defenses. Carroll proved to be too smart for that one too and right away. He quickly hired Jeremy Bates as his offensive coordinator and decided to leave Gus Bradley in place as the defensive coordinator (more on him later). Both have NFL experience and will be running proven schemes that have had success elsewhere in professional football. This isn't your old story of the college coach who comes in and brings his staff with him and they try to import what they know how to run into the NFL and make it work there. Carroll was smart enough to hire an NFL experienced coaching staff and even when he did hire from his successful college program, it was former NFL player's like linebacker's coach Ken Norton Jr. who had an outstanding career in the NFL before coaching for Carroll at USC. Guys like Jerry Gray and Alex Gibbs are almost NFL legends as long-time coaches who have had successful careers coaching professional football players and make up most of the rest of the high level coaching positions for Carroll's Seahawks. Carroll has surrounded himself with NFL experienced and highly respected coaches. It should be noted that another measure of the amount of respect Carroll has earned is that these highly sought after coaches decided to come and work for Pete Carroll in a big time re-building project rather than seeking employment on a contending team.
Jeremy Bates rose quickly through the ranks after starting his pro career as an offensive quality control coach in 2002 with Tampa Bay. Incidentally, they won the Super Bowl that year. He coached quarterbacks for the Buccaneers, Jets, and Broncos also coaching wide receivers and the offensive line for Denver. In 2008, he called the offensive plays for Denver and helped Jay Cutler become a Pro Bowler from his position as quarterbacks coach. The Broncos had the NFL's second most productive offense that year (1st in the AFC). A talented coach, Bates is up to speed with the current NFL trends and tendencies. During his success in Denver, he worked closely with Alex Gibbs, our offensive line coach emeritus, who brings Denver's vaunted zone blocking system and running game to the Seahawks. Bates is one of those coaches we've talked about acquiring for years in this blog. Bates can be described as a young coach who rose through the NFL coaching ranks quickly because of his obvious talent and who when given the shot at running an NFL offense, proved up big time. Now, when he appears to be on the eve of breaking out and becoming one of the very good head coaches in the NFL, he's here in Seattle working with an energetic new regime who wants to bust out with him and appears to be acquiring the talent to get it done. It looks to be a powerful combination with a better than even chance of success to say the least.
Now, more about Gus Bradley. Bradley coached for a number of years in the college ranks then was given a shot at the pros working for Monte Kiffin in Tampa Bay starting in 2005. Like Bates, he started as a quality control coach except for the defense and like Bates, he was quickly promoted becoming the linebackers coach. Both Bradley and Carroll himself come from the Monte Kiffin tree as far as defensive philosophy goes and they both hold Kiffin in high regard as a mentor. In fact, it was Kiffin who recommended Bradley for the Seahawks DC job to Jim Mora. Bradley was hired largely based on that recommendation. He was part of an overall poor first coaching effort from Jim Mora's staff last year which caused the whole organization to be disbanded and a major re-build begun. However, Bradley's defense did show promise at times last season and parts of it functioned well notably the run defense. Carroll decided to retain Bradley since they share the same mentor and are philosophically reconciled on how the defense should run. Carroll will most likely oversee the defense but some of what we saw last year will carry forward to this year plus new wrinkles Carroll adds such as the "Leo" defender in lieu of one of the defensive ends. Bradley could also be described as a young up and comer in the NFL as a defensive coordinator. Having the pedigree of coming from the Kiffin tree, he's been through a baptismal year in the league in which he fought through adversity to show enough promise to be the only retained coach from Mora's staff along with his defensive line coach Dan Quinn. Bradley's a guy I would say has the motivation to work with Carroll and coach this defense into what the talent has always said it should be.
That pretty well puts that perceived problem to sleep too. Carroll has definitely assembled a respectable NFL quality coaching staff who are eager to put their stamp on this football team. They will be running proven NFL schemes not college hybrid stuff as was feared and as I've pointed out previously, Carroll is no newcomer to the NFL himself. There are no newbies here who are being exposed to the NFL for the first time and I see nothing but a potential top shelf NFL coaching staff in place who should be able to mold this team into a contending team once they have a chance to see where their weaknesses lie and are given the chance to correct those deficiencies.
Carroll first impressed me when he stated how well he knew his defense and how sure he was that he could identify players who would flourish in his system and conversely those who couldn't. Following that was a crystal clear message that if those players weren't on the team yet, he would find them and bring them into the fold while eliminating those who didn't fit. Carroll does remind me a lot of Holmgren. He does love and respect his players but he demands obedience and following his rules to the letter. He knows what he wants out of his players and he demands that they give it up. I don't think it was an accident that he left the college game as one of the absolute top coaches to have ever coached at that level both in the results he obtained and the respect he garnered. Pete Carroll is also considered a very good judge of football talent. That will serve him well at the NFL level too and his recent draft illustrated that ability. He was able to look at the Seahawks mostly on tape and figure out where the holes were and then put a priority on the most critically needed players. On draft day, he filled most of those needs one way or another but he did have help and that brings me to the last piece of the puzzle.
Carroll was at first thought to be seeking total control like Holmgren was given when he first hired on. GM, head coach, and every title in-between. Once again, either because Paul Allen was too smart to make that mistake twice or because Carroll himself understood the pitfalls of having too much responsibility, the decision was made to bring in a separate general manager to handle the business side of the football team and direct player/personnel efforts. In a bit of an odd arrangement, Carroll is said to have retained final say on personnel and football related matters but he insists that it's a partnership. In fact, with Carroll being hired first, the GM, who turned out to be John Schneider, was hired with Pete's input into the hiring process. It's not very often you get to have a say in hiring your own boss but Carroll managed it. Schneider is another young up and comer who made his reputation with the Green Bay Packers. After being introduced as the Packers head of player personnel, they make the playoffs 5 out of 8 years. Building through the draft and only occasionally dipping into free agency, Schneider believes in doing his homework and making good choices on draft day all the way down the line. Carroll and Schneider have forged a close working relationship in the short time they've worked together and were said to have been loose and totally on the same page during the just concluded draft often joking with one another like old friends. The true success of that draft won't really be known for a couple of years but right now on paper, it looks as if it could be the best the Seahawks have ever executed. Of course, having a couple of first round picks doesn't hurt your chances but there have been a lot of examples throughout the NFL of how to be stupid even with that much ammunition. Schneider put the cherry on top of the pie as far as the way the club has been rebuilt at the front office level as far as I'm concerned. It appears that the whole organization from the top man on down is now in harmony and that has to be a good thing considering where this franchise has been the last few years. It's another point in favor of having built an organization that will be able to function at the highest levels of efficiency within the NFL in the future.
Carroll knows that his forte is developing players and coaching. He's smart enough to know that he needs someone like Schneider to run the business side of things and maintain scouting efforts throughout the college year while he focuses on team development and the main task at hand which is to win a championship. In the off-season, he'll take a much more active role in the scouting side of things leading up to the draft and the evaluation of players which is another of his numerous talents. I feel that if Holmgren had been so smart when he arrived in 1999, he might have had his Super Bowl run a couple of years earlier. After having it all shake out, I think that's the deciding factor between my wishing for Holmgren to be back or to have Carroll now that he's much better defined in terms of what he stands for and how he conducts himself. Holmgren still wanted total control and for everything to start and end with him. Carroll is much better at delegating and one who knows what he does best and can let someone else handle other tasks without feeling he has to be at the heart of every decision. I think that will make a big difference in how his regime progresses when compared to Holmgren's tenure starting in 1999 where it then took him 6 years to get to the big show. Now there is something to be said for the fact that Holmgren did eventually make it there and Carroll still has to prove that he can but as Timbuk3 once sang, the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.
From my initial thoughts of Carroll as another college coach who would probably struggle to manage professional players while bringing in college schemes that would be easy to prepare for and defeat as well as not really understanding the nuances of the professional game, I have totally done a one-eighty. What actually emerged was a coach who has the respect of younger players and veterans alike. Carroll is much more of a disciplinarian than I at first imagined him to be too. I was impressed with what Hass had to say about the comparisons between him and Holmgren and I found more and more favorable ways to compare those two as I continued researching. There probably isn't another coach around except for maybe Parcels who would have had the charisma to replace Holmgren in Seattle as the icon of the Seattle sports scene than Carroll. He certainly has the flair to handle the media and will make a great face for the franchise once again like Holmgren did. Of course that won't win many games in itself but it can go a long ways in making the franchise successful and that will translate into wins as we attract better free agents and make the Seahawks a desired place to play. What will translate directly into wins is the coaching staff Pete has assembled and the GM he has aligned himself with. It appears that the strife within the front office is a thing of the past and that the whole Seahawk organization is finally on the same page.
When you start with an owner with deep pockets and a willingness to spend to win then add a charismatic head coach who not only has the respect of players, coaches, and the front office, but seems able to walk the walk laid out when he talked the talk, you've laid the foundation for a potentially successful venture. Next adding players who believe in your program especially young talent who can grow together while weeding out the ones who don't fit lays structure on top of that foundation. Finally, building an experienced but young coaching staff of up and comers who are hungry to make their mark in the pros, you add the glue that will bind it all together and make it a solid franchise.
The only concern I have at this point is how long Alex Gibbs will be able to keep functioning at his advanced age. He's supposed to be a one of a kind offensive line coach who can make diamonds out of lumps of coal as well as find those lumps in the later rounds of the draft. The rough spot may be if he's not able to complete his teaching of the ZBS to Seattle's offensive linemen before he has to bow out of the game and he doesn't leave a protege in place who understands the ZBS well enough to continue to finding the right players in the draft and keep them coming up behind the current starters like Denver did when Gibbs was with them as a younger man. That begs the question of whether Seattle would have to abandon the ZBS in favor of another system that can be more readily taught and better kept supplied with linemen coming out of the draft. That one will just have to play out however it is fated to happen but it wouldn't surprise me to know that Pete Carroll has considered the problem and has a plan to handle that situation when it arrives.
As most of you Addicts have done, I've certainly drank my share of the kool aid by now and I'm just biding my time waiting for training camp to arrive to see what on paper looks like a promising start to the new deal in Seattle take the field in the flesh and show us what's under the hood. From where I sit, it looks like we may have the next great era of Seattle football about to begin. I have those same expectations and jittery feelings I had when Holmgren took over 11 years ago.
Now you know why I think Carroll will succeed. Agree or disagree. Buy in now or remain on the outside looking in until you've seen more and have become truly inspired or totally turned off. Just don't be indifferent. This team is pulling out all the stops right now and every player, coach, scout, and administrator is pushing hard to see just how far they can take this thing they've collectively started down the track. We, as fanatics, want to see the same things.
Let the games begin!
Hasta,
BillT
P.S. That should hold you guys for awhile. .
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