Report: Seahawks hiring Ryan Grubb as offensive coordinator

The Seahawks finally have their OC, and it’s the man who guided the Washington Huskies offense to a national championship appearance.

Remember when former Washington Huskies offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb told The Red Elephant Club at Alabama that he was the Crimson Tide’s new offensive coordinator?

Technically, he was correct. Now he’s no longer their OC. He’s back in the Pacific Northwest to be the Seattle Seahawks’ next offensive coordinator. So much for our previous belief that his statement struck him off the list of candidates.

Grubb, who’d initially followed ex-Huskies coach Kalen DeBoer to Alabama, has decided to make the jump to the NFL for the first time.

Sure, Schefter was the one who reported it, but former Field Gulls podcast host Dan Viens was on top of this a week ago, and then we had on-the-ground reporting at Dino’s Pub in Renton.

This isn’t like the EveryoneLovesNudez debacle, folks. This is how you journalism.

Grubb has been joined at the hip with DeBoer for well over a decade. As the Sioux Falls head coach, DeBoer hired Grubb as an offensive line coach/run game coordinator in 2007, and became an offensive coordinator at Sioux Falls in 2010 while DeBoer went to Southern Illinois. They reunited at Eastern Michigan, where they were both assistant coaches for three seasons.

When DeBoer landed the Fresno State job in 2017, Grubb was brought on again as the OL coach/run game coordinator before getting promoted to offensive coordinator in 2019. Once DeBoer took the Washington Huskies head coaching position in 2022, along came Grubb as assistant head coach, quarterbacks coach, and OC. The Huskies offense quickly became one of the best in college football, led by Heisman Trophy runner-up Michael Penix Jr and superstar wide receiver Rome Odunze. Washington made it to the College Football Playoff championship game, losing to the Michigan Wolverines.

In his final season at Washington, the Huskies offense averaged 36 points per game and finished 5th in Bill Connolly’s SP+ efficiency ranking. Heavy use of pre-snap motion is one of the staples of Grubb’s scheme, likewise of his highly effective screen game.

Is that a hint that the Seahawks are interested in drafting quarterback Michael Penix Jr? Maybe, but that would be a substantially less subtle and complicated draft clue than what we were used to getting under Pete Carroll.

With Grubb now in the fold, the Seahawks have all three major coordinator positions filled. Grubb will be the offensive coordinator and play-caller, Aden Durde will be the defensive coordinator (but Mike Macdonald will call the plays), and Jay Harbaugh is in charge of special teams. In other words, first-time NFL head coach, first-time NFL offensive coordinator, first-time NFL defensive coordinator, and first-time NFL special teams coordinator.

There are still plenty of other positions to fill, but figuring out the coordinators was of the greatest importance.

UPDATE: The Seahawks are also expected to bring offensive line coach Scott Huff on board. He was Washington’s OL coach before going to Alabama, and now he’ll be joining Grubb in Seattle.