With two assistants from USC following Carroll to Seattle already, it’s refreshing to see a non-USC coach making his way to the Seahawks organization. Although he’s only officially been the head coach for a day or so, this is Carroll’s best decision yet.

Gibbs has a long, illustrious career in the NFL, helping to elevate numerous running attacks and to beef up a number of offensive lines.

His longest stint was an offensive coaching gig in Denver under former head coach Mike Shanahan and Jeremy Bates, the new offensive coordinator in Seattle. He spent three marginally successful years there (1984-1987) before returning to establish one of the league’s most dominant running games (1995-2003).

At Denver, the offensive line set numerous franchise records including most total yards (6,554 in 2000), most first downs (383 in 2000), most rushing yards (2,468 in 1998), and most rushing touchdowns (32 in 1998).

His offensive line also knew how to pass protect. From 1995-2000, Gibbs’ line did not allow more than 35 sacks per season. During that time, center Tom Nalen was chosen for four consecutive Pro Bowls. In 1998, three Broncos’ offensive linemen were nominated to the Pro Bowl; all three had previously attended two consecutive Hawaii berths. They were also commended for blocking for then-NFL MVP Terrell Davis, who rushed for over 2,000 yards.

Gibbs then spent a year coaching in Atlanta before becoming a consultant for the Falcons in 2005 and 2006. In the year he spent coaching, the Falcons led the NFL in rushing for the first time in team history.

They rushed for a team-record 2,672 yards, third highest rushing yards total in the NFL since 1990. During Gibbs’ time in Atlanta, the team also led the NFL in rushing with 8,157 yards.The Falcons were also the only team during that three year span to amass a rushing average that exceeded 5.1.

Gibbs’ zone-blocking scheme has a been a long-respected attack and his influence in Seattle will be strongly felt in the running game. Seattle’s run game has lately been weak, finishing in the bottom half of the league for two consecutive years.

With two early picks in the draft, Seattle will have their options to either beef up their dwindling offensive line or add some size and strength to their running game, or both.

Either way, with Alex Gibbs at the helm of their offensive line, Seattle, in time, should find nothing short of tangible progression.

It’s now come to light, though, that the Seattle organization reached out to Tony Dungy almost a month ago in regards to a position as their team president. Dungy considered the offer, but ultimately turned it down.

John Wooten, chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance responsible for monitoring the minority hiring process in the NFL, spoke of the offer, “They called Tony about three weeks ago to see if he would seriously consider becoming their president…He told them he wanted to pray and sleep on it but the next day he called them back and said he wanted to stick with everything he was doing now.”

Although the team had made a conscious effort to hire a minority in a front office position, Wooten still encouraged the ‘Hawks to actively, or at least publicly, pursue Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier for the head coach position in order to further comply with the Alliance’s guidelines.

Frazier was a candidate largely recommended and supported by Tony Dungy.

Wooten also urged the team to digress from naming Carroll the new team president as that would put him in a biased position in the hiring of any other coaches, namely Frazier. It isn’t clear whether or not the team would have allowed Carroll to carry out both positions but it’s been done before.

Carroll is still considered to have much of the control within the organization, but the team will still make an active search for a new team president and GM while staying within the boundaries of the Rule.

For now, the Seahawks are seriously looking at two minority candidates, the New York Giants director of college scouting Marc Ross for the GM position and Pittsburgh Steelers business and football administration coordinator Omar Khan as a candidate for team president.

It’s clear now that Seattle’s alleged pursuit of Frazier was merely to save face in the public eye, and why their pursuit of Dungy remained under the grid is unclear, but it seems now that the Seahawks have followed the Rule closer than previously assumed.

In a press release, head coach Tony Sparano said, “I want to thank Paul for his services to the team, and I want to wish him the best.”

Pasqualoni is coming off a season in which his defense ranked 22nd in the league. The real kicker was the NFL-high 140 points his crew gave up in the fourth quarter.

It seemed at first that Sparano would be lax in his judgement against the coach, attributing the poor play of the defense to a lack of execution by the players, but the fourth-quarter debacles and the defense’s susceptibility to the big play spurred Sparano to make the decision.

With Pasqualoni gone, the door is wide open for any one of the number of coordinators available in this year’s free agency market. According to several sources, the leading candidates are Romeo Crennel, Bill Sheridan, Al Groh, and Mike Zimmer.

Under normal circumstances, Crennel would be a legitimate contender for the job, but Kansas City and Cleveland are already actively pursuing him. Also, Kansas City’s GM, Scott Pioli, just happens to be Bill Parcells’ son-in-law and the two will not likely butt heads on the matter.

Mike Zimmer is still with the Cincinnati organization, but his contract expires at the end of February. His former coaching relationship with Parcells in Dallas could prove to be a deciding factor in who the Dolphins opt to hire.

Al Groh, the former Virginia coach, also has a coaching history with Parcells. However, Groh is already in serious talks with Georgia Tech about becoming their new defensive coordinator.

Sheridan is a long shot, but his philosophy fits that of the direction the Dolphins would like to pursue. Paqualoni’s “bend-but-don’t-break” zone scheme was no longer applicable to the youth and speed of Miami’s defensive corps.

Miami’s two vacant linebacker coach positions could also be a viable opportunity for Sheridan.