First Pete Carroll, now Kalen DeBoer

Pete Carroll is no longer the Seahawks head coach, and now Kalen DeBoer is taking his talents to the SEC.

Strange week for the relationship between Seattle football teams and its head coaches.

In the aftermath of a week that saw Bill Belichick, Nick Saban and Seattle’s own Pete Carroll leave their positions, University of Washington’s Kalen DeBoer has also left town for Alabama.

What a week for the city of Seattle; for the state of Washington football.

This is tangentially relevant to the Seahawks for a few reasons. First, DeBoer had been a long – long – odds name to be considered for their own head coaching position.

It’s also of interest because of how many elite players the Washington Huskies had this season, and with a large number of them headed to the NFL Draft his year, it’s impossible to forget the Jermaine Kearse and Will Disslys of the world that have made their way down the street to play for the ‘Hawks.

It’s not often the two programs overlap news all that much. Bob Condotta recounts 1998 as another time both head coaches vanished in the same season.

But most importantly, this is likely the biggest upheaval of high-level football that the state of Washington has experienced in this era. Four changes.

1. The departure of Pete Carroll, which looms above them all after 14 years of success and relevance.
2. The departure of the Huskies head coach after just two years and a National Championship appearance.
3. The conference realignments of the Pac-12, as Washington heads to the Big 10 and Washington State blazes its own trail.
4. The USFL / XFL merger involves the dismemberment (fun word) of the Seattle Sea Dragons.

It’s hard to be a head coach. Scratch one of the least likely names of the list for the Seahawks, and all eyes will be on the future successors of two very successful coaches in the Seattle area.