Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald won’t commit to saying that Geno Smith will start Week 1, even though he’s obviously the best candidate on the roster to do so right now. However, Macdonald has committed to offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who was the most important hire that he made while building up his 23 assistants deep 2024 coaching staff.
Last week when Macdonald was on Sports Radio 93.3 KJR radio, he said he wants to empower Grubb and trusts him to build his scheme, per the team website.
“I want to empower him to build the offense the way he sees it, but one of the reasons I was so excited about hiring him is just the type of person he is, and his track record throughout his entire career, and how he sees the game. I felt like our value system as people and as football coaches align, so I have all the trust in him in the world in how he builds his scheme out and how he empowers our staff. He’s very much in control of what we’re doing.”
Macdonald’s instinct to give Grubb the reins may remind Seahawks fans of their last head coach. One of the things that endeared Pete Carroll to players and assistants was empowering them. Sometimes to his own detriment Carroll let his coordinators call their own shots. (Can you imagine Pete not running the ball at the one-yard line?)
In any case, while we’re happy with Macdonald, keeping Grubb around may be difficult. The impetus behind hiring an offensive head coach is that talented play callers tend to move on to a head coach job after only a year or two max of success. Just how long they Seahawks will be able to retain Grubb if he does live up to the hype could be one of their major challenges in the coming years.
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