Sports

Seahawks confirm sweeping staff changes, part of Pete Carroll's vow to improve

Head coach Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks looks on against the Carolina Panthers in the first half during the 2015 NFC Divisional Playoff game at CenturyLink Field on January 10, 2015 in Seattle. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

Pete Carroll’s vow to “compete our butt off to figure out how to get better” has led to the Seahawks finally making official this weekend the most sweeping remake yet of his coaching staff.

How sweeping? It ends at eight assistants fired or otherwise gone, six new coaches hired and two reassigned to other positions on the overhauled staff.

The newest confirmed moves--beyond the team’s previously announced hires of Brian Schottenheimer as new offensive coordinator, Ken Norton Jr. returning from Oakland to be the defensive coordinator and Mike Solari as the offensive line coach--are:

  • Jethro Franklin, a 27-year coaching veteran, as the assistant defensive line coach
  • Former New England Patriot Larry Izzo as assistant special teams coach
  • And Steve Shimko as a first-time NFL offensive assistant

Carroll also moved Carl Smith from quarterbacks coach to a relatively ceremonial title of associate head coach. The 69-year-old Smith was Russell Wilson’s position coach from Wilson’s rookie season through last season, Seattle’s first without a playoff appearance in six years.

Seattle confirmed Dave Canales, the former wide receivers coach, is the new quarterbacks coach. Thirty-year-old Nate Carroll, the head coach’s youngest son, moves to wide receivers coach, after four seasons as the team’s assistant wide receivers coach.

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Franklin was Norton’s defensive-line coach in Oakland from 2015 through last season, Norton’s time as the Raiders’ defensive coordinator. Clint Hurtt returns as the Seahawks’ defensive line coach for 2018, with Franklin assisting.

Izzo, a three-time Super Bowl-winning player with the Patriots, comes to the Seahawks after spending 2016 and ‘17 as the Houston Texans’ special teams coordinator. Brian Schneider remains Seattle’s special teams coordinator.

Shimko worked with Schottenheimer at the University of Georgia in 2015. Shimko spent the last two years as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Garden City Community College in Kansas.

The Seahawks have changed their top four assistant coaches since their 2017 season finale on New Year’s Eve. Last month Carroll fired Darrell Bevell, his offensive coordinator since 2011, and defensive coordinator Kris Richard, who has been on his staff since 2008 at USC.

Bevell was reported to be a candidate for the OC jobs with the Giants and Colts, but New York hired Mike Shula and Indianapolis went with Nick Sirianni as their coordinators instead.

The Dallas Cowboys hired Richard to be their new secondary coach and passing game coordinator.

Carroll, working with Seahawks general manager John Schneider for the ninth consecutive offseason, foreshadowed these staff changes last month.

“John and I have a big job,” Carroll said Jan. 2, two days after Seattle’s alarming, 9-7 season ended. “As I always say at this time of year, there's a lot of huge decisions to be made, and we're faced with big challenges, always. There's a lot of people and families involved, heartfelt friends and loved ones that we're dealing with. We take all that into account to compete our butt off to figure out how to get better, and back on track, the way we want to be.”

Carroll is scheduled to talk for the first time about his new coaches--plus all else about what will continue as Seattle’s eventful offseason--on Thursday at 9 a.m. Pacific Time at the NFL’s scouting combine in Indianapolis.

The league has scheduled Schneider to talk to the media on Friday in Indianapolis at 8 a.m. Pacific Time.

Click here to read the story on the Tacoma News Tribune.