Pete Carroll's unique legacy and what's next for the Seahawks

KUOW’s Kim Malcolm talked to sportswriter Danny O'Neil about the news this week that coach Pete Carroll won't lead the Seattle Seahawks for a 15th season.

The Seattle Seahawks may not be moving forward with Pete Carroll as head coach, but his influence on the football team is likely to linger, according to sportswriter Danny O'Neil with The Dang Apostrophe.

"He was kind of this Willy Wonka character who always expected the best," O'Neil said, noting that in his early years as the Seahawks head coach, Carroll transformed the team into something not often seen elsewhere in the NFL.

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When the Seahawks announced that Carroll would not be returning as its head coach next season, the organization said that he would move into an advisory role for the team. O'Neil says fans shouldn't get their hopes up that Carroll will be guiding the team's next leaders.

"The advisory role, he will certainly will be someone who contributes, but I don't expect him to be in the building all that much," O'Neil said. "He still has a year remaining on his contract, so he's not going to coach somewhere else, and he may not have the appetite for doing that at this point. But I don't think this signals that he is going to have day-to-day involvement with how the team actually functions."

As for who will be involved with the day-to-day functions of the Seahawks moving forward, that's entirely up to speculation at this point. If O'Neil had to guess, Dan Quinn may be one likely option. Quinn is currently with the Dallas Cowboys, but was previously a coach with the Seahawks during Carroll's early years with the team. O'Neil also argues that Raheem Morris with the LA Rams has a strong chance of coming to Seattle. Both coaches are currently defensive coordinators, and it has been argued that the Seahawks defense has been a weak point in recent seasons.

"I don't think they are going to some military, drill sergeant type coach," O'Neil said. "Pete was unique in that he really coached out of positivity. He did not use fear or threats as a motivating factor. He really embraced unique, individual elements; celebrated how unique his players were in a way that I haven't seen any other coach be able to do. There might be more rules going forward, but I don't think we're going to a military, hardline approach."

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Dyer Oxley contributed to this report.