Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll is building quite the coaching factory in the Pacific Northwest. Shortly after losing his second defensive coordinator in three seasons to a head coaching job when Dan Quinn signed on with the Atlanta Falcons, Carroll has replaced him with an in-house candidate.
Former USC standout Kris Richard was promoted from secondary coach to defensive coordinator on Monday. The 35-year-old Richard started his coaching career with Carroll in Southern California as a graduate assistant in 2008. He then joined Carroll in Seattle where he acted as the team’s secondary coach until his official promotion on Monday.
Seen as a hot young coach around NFL circles, Richard played five seasons in the NFL—most recently with the San Francisco 49ers in 2006.
The interesting dynamic here is that Seattle decided to promote Richard over passing game coordinator Rocky Seto, who had been given most of the credit for the success of the Legion of Boom. It has also been announced that Seto will remain on the staff in an undefined role.
In addition to losing Quinn to Atlanta, former Seahawks linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. just recently accepted the defensive coordinator job with the Oakland Raiders.
Known as a defensive-minded head coach first, Carroll’s strong working relationship with Richard will help overcome the losses on Seattle’s defensive coaching staff.
Photo: USA Today