Mora out. Carroll in!

[football junkie]

Seattle Seahawks first-year head coach Jim Mora Jr. and his entire staff have been dismissed after a 5-11 season.

Mora was apparently "shocked" by his dismissal. So am I.

The justification is that Mora's team lost the last four games of the season and hence he had to go! I can't help feeling that Mora didn't get a fair shot in Seattle. And certainly didn't receive enough time to build a winning club. He inherited a team full of aging and injured "stars". Mora was in charge for only one draft and he certainly can't be faulted for taking LB Aaron Curry -- a player the team will likely rebuild its defensive unit around.

Everyone knew for what was it, almost two years, that after the 2008 season Mike Holmgren would step aside as head coach and Mora would take the helm. I think that was extremely unfair to both Holmgren and Mora. This always tasted like a recipe for disaster.

Now the Seahawks are without a head coach, coaching staff, general manager and president. Current CEO Tod Leiweke seems to be the person in charge and rumors are plenty that he covets USC's Pete Carroll -- failed in his two previous stints as a NFL head coach.

I think Carroll will flirt with the idea a little. Perhaps he'll even interview if the GM and head coaching positions are dangled in front of him. But I don't think he'll leave USC, that is I hope he has the good sense not to.

I think we all knew that the Seahawks required a top-down redisgn. I thought the people in Seattle thought Mora was the man to do it. I was wrong. I don't think Carroll is the man to do it. I could be wrong again. I hope for the sake of Seahawks fans, I am.

[football junkie]

Twelve hours later and it appears that Pete Carroll is the Seattle Seahawks new head coach.

Seahawk CEO Tod Leiweke will interview Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier at some point today so the team will be in compliance with the Rooney Rule. That same rule also applies to the general manager position. A title that Carroll apparently will not assume, although he will have complete control over personnel, his coaching staff, free agent acquisitions and the draft.

In his past NFL experience Carroll was 33-31 -- certainly not a complete failure. But he certainly didn't have the Superbowl success, however, in New England that his predecessor Bill Parcells or his successor Bill Belichick had.

Now we see how everything turns out. Maybe this is the time Carroll will turn it around.

[Seattle1]

Seattle Seahawks first-year head coach Jim Mora Jr. and his entire staff have been dismissed after a 5-11 season.

Mora was apparently "shocked" by his dismissal. So am I.

The justification is that Mora's team lost the last four games of the season and hence he had to go! I can't help feeling that Mora didn't get a fair shot in Seattle.

I don't think he got a fair shot either. The team was completely decimated by injuries in both 2008 and 2009. If he had another year, a good draft, picked up some key free agents, I am 100% confident we would not see a repeat in 2010 (4-12 or 5-11). Barring another slew of injuries of Biblical proportions of course.

OTOH, I really can't argue too much with his firing. It was the way the Seahawks lost their last four games. Getting killed by the Texans, getting beat by the 1-win Buccaneers at home, getting killed by the Packers, then dropping the last game at home too. I think that's what really did him in. If the Seahawks had at least taken care of business at Qwest against the Bucs & the Titans like they should have, and played the Texans and Packers closer on the road, he might still be coach.

[Seattle1]

..injured "stars".

Why "stars" in quotation marks like that? Are you implying that Pro Bowl players like Walter Jones (best LT in the history of the NFL according to John Madden), Matt Hasselbeck, Lofa Tatupu, Mike Wahl, Marcus Trufant, etc. don't get to be considered "real" stars like players who play for East Coast Media Bias darlings like the Colts, Stealers, Cowboys, and Patriots?

[football junkie]

Why "stars" in quotation marks like that? Are you implying that Pro Bowl players like Walter Jones (best LT in the history of the NFL according to John Madden), Matt Hasselbeck, Lofa Tatupu, Mike Wahl, Marcus Trufant, etc. don't get to be considered "real" stars like players who play for East Coast Media Bias darlings like the Colts, Stealers, Cowboys, and Patriots?

I was referring to the larger league practice of falling in love with a name even when the player attached to that name is well past his prime and or is significantly injured. Some teams just try to hold on to "stars" for too long. That's what happened in Seattle.

And I consider the way the Seahawks are attempting to subvert the Rooney Rule regarding making Carroll the de facto GM to be outright egregious and deplorable.

[KHenry14]

Didn't the NFL Network run one of their Top 10 programs on Coaches who should have stayed in College and Carroll was on the list? Didn't Paul Allen watch that show? If Carroll doesn't work will they hire Bud Wilkenson next?

[football junkie]

Didn't the NFL Network run one of their Top 10 programs on Coaches who should have stayed in College and Carroll was on the list? Didn't Paul Allen watch that show? If Carroll doesn't work will they hire Bud Wilkenson next?

Or maybe he can lure Bobby Petrino away from the U. of Arkansas!

[Seattle1]

Ok it's finally been confirmed. Done deal. I was waiting until it was official before I commented.

http://www.seahawks.com/news/press/article-1/Seahawks-agree-to-terms-with-Pete-Carroll/85e83ef1-266d-42bd-8c11-bd423d6c8a06

I don't know if this is the right move or not. All I can do is hope Carroll succeeds.