Last Tuesday, the Seattle Seahawks decided to go in a different direction with the majority of their coaching staff. The Seahawks ended their 2017 season with a 9-7 record, just coming short of making the playoffs.
According to the Seahawks official website, and Seahawks.com reporter John Boyle, a statement was released: “Kris Richard, who served as defensive coordinator the past three seasons, was relieved of his duties, as was linebackers coach/assistant head coach/defense Michael Barrow. The Seahawks relieved previous offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and offensive line coach/assistant head coach Tom Cable of their duties last week.”
In 2010, Richard followed Pete Carroll to the Seahawks, where he became the assistant defensive backs coach and eventually worked his way up to defensive coordinator in 2015. Barrow came to the Seahawks in 2015, where he started off as the linebackers coach, before moving his way up to assistant head coach.
Bevell became the Seahawks offensive coordinators coach in 2011. He would help lead the Seahawks to their first super bowl win in 2013, where he worked with Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.
Angel Cheema is a junior at Seattle University who has been a longtime fan of the Seahawks. “I think the changes made on the offensive staff were a good idea, because in the recent years, the offense has been struggling. And every year would have been the same thing,” he said. “For the defensive coaching staff, I think it should not have been changed. Our defense is good, but we just lost a lot of key factors last year due to injuries and the defense didn’t play well. Plus, the offense wouldn’t stay on the field that long and the defense wouldn’t get any rest—which made the defense tired.”
Cable was the Seahawks assistant head coach as well as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator for six seasons, beginning his position in 2011. After the dismissal of the coaching staff, the Seahawks acted quick as they announced three new faces.
Brian Schottenheimer comes from the Indianapolis Colts as the quarterback coach, where he coached there for one year before now moving his way to Seattle as the new offensive coordinator.
Ken Norton Jr. had previously worked for the Seahawks as the linebacker’s coach from 2010-2014 before parting ways to become the defensive coordinator for the Oakland Raiders in 2015.
Mike Solari is also no stranger to the Seahawks. Solari was the offensive coordinator for the Seahawks from 2008-2009. After this time, he decided to explore other options with other teams before coming back as the offensive line coach.
The pressure is on for the Seahawks as the 2018 season approached. With these three major changes happening, this might be the beginning of a different style of play.
Caylah may be reached at
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