After General Manager Tim Ruskell was released from the Seattle organization in December, it was clear the Seahawks were headed for a makeover.

The first major change was the firing of first-year coach Jim Mora. Apparently the front office didn’t feel a 5-11 record warranted a second chance.

In a surprise move, the team landed Pete Carroll, the long-time USC wheel-man, as a successor.

The move wasn’t met with overwhelming approval by fans and media personnel, alike. Carroll’s departure came after allegations of recruiting violations and a mediocre season. Some believe his flight to Seattle was a cop-out from the consequences that awaited USC in the off-season.

There was also speculation that Seattle violated the Rooney Rule, a preventative measure that holds each team responsible for interviewing a minority candidate for the head coach position and any similar front-office position. However, it was later discovered that the team had extended an offer to Tony Dungy to become the new team president, an offer to which Dungy declined

Carroll’s credentials at the professional level were also questionable. He served a one-year stint as the head coach for the New York Jets in ’94 but a fruitless season prevented a return for a second season.

Carroll took a break from the NFL and gave it another go in ’97 where he coached the New England Patriots for three years. He was marginal at best, earning a 48-27 record and a playoff berth.

Carroll always claimed he was dealt an unfair hand by both organizations. Any coach will tell you a year is never long enough to truly make a difference (cue Jim Mora), but in Carroll’s case, that’s all the Jets needed to see.

In New England, Carroll’s influence on personnel changes and overall control of the team was limited, prohibiting him from making the necessary adjustments needed to take the team in the right direction.

Now, Carroll is headed to Seattle for one more chance and this time he will have no excuses. The team is currently without a GM and Carroll will most likely have a direct influence on who the organization chooses to hire and you can bet it will be someone who will allow Carroll to make the final decisions regarding personnel.

The team also stands in a good position to make an impact with the draft. They own the sixth and the fourteenth picks in a class dominated by physical defenders and explosive play-makers on the offensive side.

Owner Paul Allen isn’t afraid to spend money, either, and in an uncapped year without restrictions on the ‘Hawks’ player transactions, the team stands to vastly improve their current squad.

With a new coach comes a new staff, most of them being former assistants of Carroll when he was at USC. The first to follow was Jeremy Bates, the quarterback coach at USC and former Denver Broncos offensive coordinator

Bates was strongly pursued by a number of teams, namely the Chicago Bears, but ultimately felt he had more job security playing under his old coach in Seattle. He was instrumental in bringing in and bringing up former Denver quarterback Jay Cutler, and then later had similar success at USC with Matt Leinart and, more recently, Matt Barkely.

Whoever ends up taking snaps for Seattle next year will have one of the best coordinators calling his plays.

Next to follow was Alex Gibbs, the illustrious offensive line coach who spent a considerable amount of time playing under Mike Shanahan in Denver.

He spent a short time there in the mid-80s but truly blossomed as a coach there from 1995-2003. During that time, Gibbs’ offensive line set a number of franchise records including total yards (6,554 in 2000), most first downs (383 in 2000), most rushing yards (2,468 in 1998), and most rushing touchdowns (32 in1998).

His offensive line also flourished in pass protection. From 1995-2000, the line didn’t allow more than 35 sacks per season. His line was also instrumental in blocking for NFL MVP Terrell Davis, who rushed for over 2,000 yards in ’98.

After two mediocre years in Houston, Gibbs is set to continue his legacy and establish a successful zone-blocking scheme in Seattle.

Ken Norton Jr., the USC linebacker coach, has also opted to follow Carroll to Seattle. Norton is relatively new to coaching in the NFL, but he has experienced great success at the collegiate level, delivering great linebackers like Clay Matthews Jr. and Brian Cushing to the NFL.

There will be more new faces to come in the next few weeks, but for now, the Seattle coaching staff is looking like it has the capabilities to fill the big shoes of ex-coach Mike Holmgren, one of the most popular Seahawks coaches, ever.

I don’t think anyone has dreams of Seattle making the playoffs in the coming year, but I think it’s clear they’re in a position to exhibit tangible progression. If the team can acquire some consistency at the offensive line, Matt Hasselback could easily return to starting quarterback status

One of the controversies last year facing the team was the absence of running back Justin Forsett. He received limited snaps behind ineffective starter Julius Jones.

The arrival of Carroll and Bates and their high-octane offense should give Forsett a chance to shine.

The Seahawks possess a young, quick, and physical defensive squad with miles of potential. If their strengths can be utilized to fit the new system, I believe Seattle has a chance to seriously contend in a weak NFC West within at least two years.

A new General Manager is expected soon and with him will come further changes.

Lately, there have been talks that Seattle may attempt to steal wide receiver Brandon Marshall from an inevitable Denver tender and/or transition tag. They have the draft picks and the money to make such an acquisition but it’s unclear if Denver is willing to let that happen.

The pieces in Seattle seem to be moving in the right direction. It will inevitably rest on Carroll’s shoulders whether or not the team finds success as execution always holds precedence over planning.

Kiffin is coming off a one-year stint in Tennessee where a prosaic season and allegations of recruiting violations forced Kiffin to face the music or abandon ship. Kiffin’s strong personality never really assimilated to the SEC as several coaches found themselves butting heads with the Volunteer head man more than once in 2009.

Kiffin’s switch is not only surprising to Tennessee fans, but also to those close to the USC organization. It was only mildly believed that the organization would extend an offer to Kiffin or that he would actually accept it.

Before the announcement, it was widely reported that the top contenders were Steve Mariucci, formerly the head coach in Detroit and San Francisco, and Chris Peterson of Boise State as well as a few other minor candidates.

Kiffin spent six years as a coach in various capacities at USC, but it was generally understood that controversies that arose there would prevent or at least deter his return. Two unsuccessful years in Oakland propelled Kiffin to Tennessee and now, after another disappointment, he finds himself back in Los Angeles.

The announcement of Kiffin landing in USC comes as more than just a shock; it’s a slap in the face to every Tennessee recruit who planned to play as a Volunteer under Kiffin. There are already new student recruits who have arrived at the school as early as last week after graduating early from high school.

Mike and Mike in the Morning discussed that Kiffin’s scouting assistant sent out emails to all Tennessee recruits imploring them that, if they planned to follow the coach to USC, to not attend classes this week as that would make it easier for them to make the transfer.

Kiffin’s offensive mind will bring a different light to the post-Carroll era at USC. It’s less likely now that the school’s verbal commitments will back out two weeks from signing day, but his brashness may be met with opposition at first now that he is the head man.

USC nation is most apprehensive that newly-anointed quarterback Matt Barkley and Lane Kiffin will eventually build a healthy player-coach relationship.

Kiffin did a decent job with Crompton in Tennessee, but the USC program holds higher regard for a team that has largely dominated the PAC-10 for a decade and expects that trend to continue.

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 an interview with ESPN reporters, Bates expressed that he felt he had more security in Seattle than in Chicago due to his former coaching relationship with Pete Carroll.

It was believed that Bates might go to the Bears in order to be reunited with Jay Cutler, a former player of his when he was the offensive coordinator in Denver.

When Bates was hired at USC, Cutler had this to say of his former coach: “Jeremy is one of the best offensive minds in football. He was extremely innovative with our offense and took our playbook to the next level with some of the things he did, keeping defenses off balance and changing our look but at the same time keeping it simple for us players.”

It’s clear that Cutler would have loved to have his old coach in the Windy City, but for now, the Bears are still searching for an offensive coordinator. The more popular prospects remaining are Mike Martz, Jedd Fisch, and Bill Musgrave.

While it’s purely speculation for now, the presence of both Carroll and Bates in Seattle could mean a new quarterback in a ‘Hawks jersey before the start of the 2010 season.

The obvious guess would have to be Matt Leinart, a former USC star who lit up the field under Carroll and staff. Another guess might be that, with two first round picks, Seattle might have enough firepower to acquire Cutler from a struggling Bears team that may be looking to reestablish their offense under a different passer.

There are a number of possibilities with an uncapped year approaching, though. After a short and unsuccessful run in this year’s playoffs, both the Bengals and the Eagles consider trading their longtime superstars.

Either way, Seattle stands in a good position to retake control of the NFC West and make a run for the playoffs in 2010.