Seahawks in staff reshuffle with Hurtt promoted

Following the climax of another enthralling NFL season that saw the Los Angeles Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals, changes have already begun in earnest for the next campaign.

One side in particular that has wasted no time in the staffing department is the Seattle Seahawks, who have made a number of changes to their coaching team.

Indeed, this all began with the promotion of Clint Hurtt to the role of defensive coordinator, with Karl Scott and Sean Desai both added as further new recruits in this area.

Significant defensive reshuffle

The Seahawks endured a tough season most recently, finishing bottom of the NFC West by some way, with SuperBowl winners, the Rams topping the division, followed by the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers narrowly behind.

Having suffered 10 losses all season, this certainly was not the worst record by any means, though clearly enough to prompt changes to their defensive coaching department. Ken Norton Jr was immediately fired, with Hurtt promoted from defensive line coach.

Desai joins as the associate head coach-defense, moving west from Chicago, where he was defensive coordinator for the Bears, while Scott becomes the Seahawks’ defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach.

Following the appointments, head coach Pete Carroll revealed: “It´s great to get everybody in the building for the first time together with our new staff and the new outlook that we have for the season.

“The fresh start feels exciting, and we´re looking forward to guys stepping up into their roles. The newness with Clint taking over on defense and working together with an old friend of his in Sean Desai gives us a really exciting outlook for the future. Being able to bring in a guy the caliber of Karl Scott to take over the secondary, we´re very fortunate to have landed him as the passing game coordinator.”

 

Tweaks to the offensive department

Meanwhile, the Seahawks will be looking to build on their seven wins last season and have made some changes to their offensive coaching staff. Having released veteran coach, Mike Solari, Andy Dickerson will serve as offensive line coach, having been run game coordinator last season.

Following the departure of Austin Davis as quarterbacks coach, Dave Canales will take his place, while Nate Carroll will step into the role of senior offensive assistant.

Carroll explained following his appointment: “It´ll be great for us to put Andy in the position of coaching the offensive line, maximizing all that (offensive coordinator) Shane (Waldron) has in his background – those guys work together extremely well – and mixing them with Sanjay will give us good new insight and new juice and fire that we´re excited about.

“We´re excited about it every year at this time, but maybe more than ever in that it just seems like it´s new and fresh and ready to get rolling.”