Coaches

Top 10 Seattle Seahawks Team Coaches History:

The Seahawks have had a total of eight coaches since the franchise was started to date. Of the eight, Mike Holmgren was the longest serving while Pete Carroll has the highest win rate. This article examines the coaches in order of their popularity. Please note that the win rates are based on regular season percentages only because some coaches did not get a chance at playoff games.

1. Pete Carroll: 2010 – Present
Win rate: .625

Pete Carroll
Pete Carroll

Carroll is undoubtedly the most popular Seattle Seahawks coach thanks to his successful run at the franchise. He is the only coach who has made two Super Bowl appearances with the Seahawks and the only one who has ever won a Super Bowl title with the team.
Born September 15, 1951, Carroll started his coaching career as a college coach before joining the New England Patriots as head coach in 1997. He was hired at the Seahawks on January 11, 2010. He overhauled the team roster; a move that paid off as he had a 4–2 start to his debut season. In the 2011, he finished with a 7-9 record and in 2012 it improved to 11-5 record.
2013 was definitely Carroll’s best season at the franchise as he not only finished the regular season with an amazing 13-3 record but also made it to the Super Bowl. He led the team to its first ever Super Bowl win on February 2, 2014. The 2014 regular season ended with a 12-4 record, a win against the Packers in the NFC Championship and a second consecutive Super Bowl appearance (Super Bowl XLIX). The Seahawks lost the title to the New England Patriots.
Apart from a Super Bowl championship (XLVIII), Carroll boasts of other career achievements and awards including 2-time NFC championship in 2013 and 2014.

2 Chuck Knox: 1983 – 1991
Win rate: .559

Chuck Knox
Chuck Knox

Born April 27, 1932, Charles Robert Knox started coaching the Seahawks on January 26, 1983. He earns this spot thanks to his efforts that not only led the Seahawks to its first ever playoff, but also disappointed the Denver Broncos by 31-7 in the wildcard game and beat the Miami Dolphins by 27-20 in the Orange Bowl; all within his first season at the franchise.
Knox’s emphasis on aggressive play was just successful to keep the team competitive but they never reached a conference championship game again when he was coach. However, in 1988, he led the Seattle Seahawks to their first AFC Division title. He left the franchise on December 27, 1991 after nine years of coaching.
Knox is a Seattle Seahawks Ring of Honor inductee (2005) and a 3-time NFL coach of the year.

3. Mike McCormack: 1982
Win rate: .571

Mike McCormack
Mike McCormack

McCormack was born on June 21, 1930 and started coaching the Seahawks in an interim position from the third game of the 1982 season. He is definitely one of the most popular Seahawks coaches because he brought his prowess to the franchise during the 57-day players strike but still managed a 4-3 record. At the end of the season, he was offered a coaching contract but he declined and instead opted to take up a front office job. He became the president and general manager of the franchise until January 1989.
McCormack was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the 1984 class. He died of heart failure on 15th of November, 2013.

4. Mike Holmgren: 1999 – 2008
Win rate: .538

Mike Holmgren:
Mike Holmgren

Holmgren was born on June 15, 1948 and started his career as a quarterbacks’ coach. He served as the Seahawks head coach from 1999 to 2008 and led the team to its first Super Bowl appearance in 2005 after winning the NFC championship. For that reason, he is one of the only two Seahawks coaches to make a Super Bowl appearance (Pete Carroll has made two) and earns his spot among the most popular coaches.
Under his stewardship, the Seahawks became a frequent playoff team. In his debut season, he led the team to its first postseason since 1988 and also won the AFC West Division title. In 2003, he won the NFC Wildcard berth and proceeded to win four consecutive NFC West Division titles in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
In January 2008, Holmgren announced that he would retire and true to his word he did so at the end of the 2008 season. In December of the same year, he received the Steve Largent award and became the first Seahawks coach to attain the accolade.

5. Dennis Erickson: 1995 – 1998
Win rate: .484

Dennis Erickson
Dennis Erickson

Erickson joined the Seahawks in January 1995 after turning down offers from the Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. His biggest contribution is perhaps the signing of John Friesz who guided the team to its second biggest comeback win ever. By the final week of the season, the Seahawks were on an 8–7 record and very close to a playoff berth despite starting the season 2–6.
Erickson recorded his worst performance with the team in 1996 when the Seahawks finished 7-9. In 1997 (under new owner, Paul Allen), the Seahawks finished 8–8 despite having one of the best passing offenses in the league. The 1998 season started with Pete Rodriguez joining Erickson’s coaching team as a special team assistant. The Seahawks started with a 3-game winning streak but then stumbled and lost three consecutive games before playing the New York Jets away. That was arguably the biggest game of the season and the Jets’ controversial win cost the Seahawks the game and Erickson his job.

6. Jack Patera: 1976 – 1982
Win rate: .372

Jack Patera earns his popularity from the fact that he was Seattle Seahawk’s first coach. He is credited for building the first Seahawk team from scratch. In his first game, Patera suffered a 30-24 loss at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals. The losing streak continued to five consecutive games before the team recorded its first win on October 17 at Tampa where they beat the Buccaneers 13-10. The debut season ended in with a 2-12 record.
Under Patera’s stewardship, the team rode on Jim Zorn and Steve Largent’s talent and improved in 1977 to finish with a 5-9 record and then with an amazing 9-7 in his third season. The following year, Sporting News and the Associated Press voted Patera the NFL Coach of the Year. His team finished with a 9-7 again in the 1979 season. Patera left the Seahawks on October 13, 1982 following two consecutive seasons of poor performance and disturbances by player strikes.

7. Jim L. Mora: 2009
Win rate: .313

Mora actually joined the Seahawks on January 21, 2007 as defensive backs coach and assistant head coach to Mike Holmgren. In 2008, Mora was announced as Holmgren’s successor and in 2009 he was officially named Seahawks 7th coach.
In his first season at the franchise, Mora finished with a disappointing 5–11 record, forcing the franchise to terminate his contract prematurely. He was replaced with the incumbent Pete Carroll.

8. Tom Flores: 1992 – 1994
Win rate: .292

Tom Flores is among the least popular Seahawks coaches mainly because of his low winning percentage of 0.292. He joined the franchise as the president and general manager in 1988 and then shifted to coaching in 1992. In his first season as head coach, Flores recorded a winning percentage of 0.125; the lowest in the franchise’s history to date. His second and third ended with 6–10 records. His contract was terminated at the end of the season.

Top 10 Seattle Seahawks Team Coaches History

 

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