Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll was jumping around the sideline late in Monday night’s win over the Philadelphia Eagles like a kid in a candy shop.
For good reason. Led by backup quarterback Drew Lock, Seattle pulled off an improbable late-game comeback at home against the defending NFC champs to stay very much alive in the NFL Playoff race.
For Carroll, this is nothing new. Despite being the oldest head coach in the NFL at 72 years old, he’s always had that youthful spark about him. But don’t let that distract you from the fact that Father Time catches up with us all.
Whether this will lead to Carroll retiring any time soon remains to be seen. At the very least, it seems unlikely that he’ll hang it up after this season.
If that does happen for some reason, there is a favorite to replace Carroll on the Seahawks’ sideline. It comes in the form of former Seahawks assistant coach and current Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.
“Does Pete Carroll retire in Seattle? I don’t think so, but I’ve heard a lot over the last few weeks in these circles, like the people who work in these circles and the coaching carousel circles, that Dan Quinn would be the successor in Seattle if Pete Carroll were to hang it up after this year?”
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To be perfectly clear, there have not been rumors circling in the Pacific Northwest that Carroll is going to retire. Carroll’s advanced age coupled with the fact that he’s been coaching at the college and professional ranks since all the way back in 1973 leads to obvious speculation in this regard.
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Dan Quinn would make sense to replace Pete Carroll for Seattle Seahawks
Quinn, 53, served as the Seattle Seahawks’ defensive line coach in 2009 and 2010 before spending two seasons as the Florida Gators’ defensive coordinator. He returned to Seattle in that very same role under Carroll in 2013 and 2014, leading the famed “Legion of Boom” while helping the ‘Hawks to two consecutive Super Bowl appearances and a Lombardi Trophy.
After a six-year stint as the Atlanta Falcons head coach from 2015-2020, Quinn was hired to coordinate the Dallas Cowboys’ defense ahead of the 2021 season. He’s led an amazing turnaround in that regard.
Quinn turned down the opportunity to interview for head coach opportunities during last year’s cycle, leading to rumors that he could be waiting out Mike McCarthy being on the hot seat in Big D. That no longer seems to be the case with McCarthy potentially in line for an extension.