Seahawks’ John Schneider confirms he has final say on coaches, personnel

RENTON — For the first time anybody could remember, general manager John Schneider was a solo act Tuesday when he ascended the stage of the auditorium at the Seahawks facility.

For the past 14 years when Schneider met the media under the bright lights of the auditorium, he usually was accompanied by coach Pete Carroll, also the organization’s de facto leading man in all football areas since 2010.

But that changed last Wednesday when the Seahawks decided to replace Carroll.

“Not the same size crowd as the other day,” Schneider joked as he began a news conference that represented the first public comments by anyone with the team since Carroll’s goodbye news conference last Wednesday.

“But I get it,” he said with a smile. “I get it.”

The crowd greeting him Tuesday was smaller, but the responsibility that resides on Schneider’s shoulders is bigger than ever.

Schneider is in charge of hiring Carroll’s successor, and he revealed Tuesday that he will have authority over all of the coaching staff and final say on all personnel decisions no matter who is hired as coach. 

Carroll previously had final say and control over both.

“The coaching staff did not fall under my umbrella [before],” Schneider said. “Now it will. And it’s not necessarily a Jody Allen decision or choosing this person or that person. It’s just a contractual situation.”

Though the move to essentially fire Carroll could be viewed as pointing the finger at him and the coaching staff for missing the playoffs this season, Schneider said everyone shared in the blame.

“We are all here today because we underachieved in 2023,” Schneider said. “We all did. And now we are in a situation where we all need to get better, and we understand that the 12s, the fans, the community, Jody, everybody in this building deserves better.

“We had high expectations for 2023. We overachieved in 2022, and quite frankly we underachieved in 2023, and I think everybody recognizes that. But again it’s a time for all of us to look in the mirror in this organization, myself included obviously, and improve, learn and move forward.”

As for what went wrong in 2023, Schneider said he would not get into specifics.

But at one point he mentioned how one of his mentors, former longtime NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer, once told him, “One coach can’t stay in one spot for more than 10 years” and that there can be a danger in getting stagnant.

Asked to elaborate on where felt things might have gotten stagnant, he said that “maybe stagnant isn’t the best word. … It’s more of like a growth. How are we getting better every day?”

The Seahawks didn’t feel that was happening this season with a roster they felt was capable of more.

Asked if he felt the Seahawks were close to being a championship-caliber team this season, Schneider said simply, “I do.”

As for this season, he said: “I think everybody was very disappointed. We had several games that just got out of control a little bit.”

That included four losses of 10 or more points to playoff teams in the Ravens (37-3), 49ers (31-13, 28-16) and Rams (30-13).

That led to the meetings last Monday and Tuesday and in turn to Carroll’s firing.

Schneider said he was “not going to get into the specifics” of the talks between Carroll and the team’s upper management, which included Allen, officially the team’s chair, and vice chair Bert Kolde.

“Those are very confidential, very private,” Schneider said. “I would say that Pete knew how I felt about things and where we needed to improve, and Jody knew my opinions as well.”

That the talks weren’t easy, though, was clear in how Schneider’s voice became briefly halting and choked up when he initially discussed Carroll.

“Just very blessed to have worked with Pete, and all of the positive lessons, the leadership lessons and thoughts and philosophies,” he said. “I can’t even begin to explain to you, pretty emotional news conference the other day.”

How much Allen is involved remains somewhat cloaked in mystery. She has not met with the media since taking over as chair after her brother, Paul, died in October 2018, and she is rarely seen.

But asked Tuesday how much Allen will be involved in hiring a coach, Schneider said: “A lot. She’s our boss.”

Schneider also cited what he called a “clear directive” coming from Allen to find a coach who embodies much of the atmosphere Carroll fostered. 

“We want to keep our positive culture,” Schneider said. “Everything that’s been created here.”

To that end, Schneider said coaches with just about any background could be considered, be it offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators, special-teams coordinators. Schneider also said those from the college ranks could be considered, though the list of eight coaches Seattle has requested for interviews does not include college coaches and Schneider noted there are challenges with timing with college coaches, as well.

“I’m not sure yet,” he said of college coaches. “We haven’t deduced that yet. It’s wide open.”

But if Allen surely has to give a final nod of approval to the hire, the driving force will be Schneider.

On Tuesday, he retold a story of having to rip the pages out of his notebook on how to hire a coach when he came on board as Seattle’s GM a few days after Carroll had been hired.

“I thought I was going to be doing that [in 2010],” Schneider said. “I was preparing for that at that moment. I had 36 pages of coaching material in my big book for [then-team CEO] Tod Leiweke and Mr. [Paul] Allen, and I had to rip the 36 pages out of there because they had hired Pete.”

What’s the difference between then and now?

For one, Schneider mentioned, the rules regarding the search, placing limitations on when candidates can be interviewed among other things.

“Fifteen years ago, it was a totally different setup,” he said. “There’s a lot of boxes that need to be checked, and we need to make sure that we’re staying in step with all of the rules that are put in place. We’ve sent in several consent forms, and we’re hoping to begin interviews [Wednesday].”

Schneider also mentioned the increasing emphasis in recent years on sports science and analytics.

But the goal remains the same — to hire the best coach possible. 

It’s a job Schneider says he has stayed prepared for in recent years due to not knowing if Carroll — who turned 72 in September — would look to move on.

“The last several years, I’ve always been ready if he just decided at one point to — he said to me one day several years ago, ‘Johnny, I’m going to go change the world.’ And I’m like, ‘I get it, you probably could,’ ” Schneider said. “So I’ve always had to be ready, I’ve always had to have a list and try to be in the midst of what the landscape looks like around the National Football League.”

And what will he sell to candidates?

“I think it’s a young, talented team that feels like they’re right on the cusp,” Schneider said. “I think there’s a lot of guys who have a ton of confidence in their abilities. They’re all highly disappointed in what just happened, and I think to a man they would all tell you — and I know this from the exit interviews that I had — that we still should be playing. Everyone was very disappointed.

“But I think it’s a great core. I think we’re a very attractive job because of that. There’s young talent all over the place.”

Schneider also was asked if there was any clarity regarding what Carroll, who remains with the organization as an adviser, might do.

“No there’s not. I think it’s something that we will just keep researching in the future and discussing and seeing how this goes,” Schneider said. “I feel like Jody and Pete got to a great spot, and the organization is very healthy and ready to move forward.”