Report: Pete Carroll accepts Seahawks' offer to become head coach

Pete Carroll resigned Sunday at USC to become the Seahawks' head coach, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke was in Los Angeles on Sunday and while indications were the two sides were close to a deal, the team did not announce an agreement on Sunday night.

According to the Los Angeles Times, however, players and coaches at USC were informed of Carroll's departure via a text message from a Trojans assistant.

The imminent announcement of Carroll's hiring in Seattle will conclude a whirlwind week in which Seattle fired Jim Mora after one season and hired Carroll, an overwhelmingly successful college coach who now returns to the league where he was fired twice as head coach in the 1990s.

What title Carroll will hold other than head coach — if any — is not clear, but he is not expected to have final say over football personnel. The Seahawks indicated Saturday he would not have control of all personnel decisions as Mike Holmgren did when he was hired in 1999, and that if Carroll were hired, his authority over personnel would not extend beyond who makes the 53-man roster and how much they play.

Seattle's next order of business will be to hire a general manager, a process that will accelerate this week with four candidates expected to interview. Marc Ross, the Giants' director of college scouting, has been confirmed as a candidate, and ESPN has reported the Seahawks plan to interview Floyd Reese, a former GM with the Oilers and Titans who now serves as senior football adviser in New England; Omar Khan of Pittsburgh; and John Schneider of Green Bay.

Khan, the Steelers' business and football administration coordinator, handles contract negotiations and is considered, along with Ross, an up-and-coming executive in the league. Schneider, the Packers' director of football operations, is well regarded in personnel evaluation and served as Seattle's vice president of player personnel in 2000 under Holmgren.

Final say over personnel was previously characterized as a prerequisite for Carroll to re-enter the NFL, and when news of Seattle's interest in Carroll first surfaced Friday, many expected it would include such authority. The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that Carroll was close to a deal to become Seahawks coach and president, and ESPN reported Saturday that the two sides had reached an agreement in principle on the coach and president roles.

But the Seahawks have stated that Carroll would not be serving as president in addition to coach.

The Seahawks also interviewed Minnesota defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, thereby satisfying the league's hiring protocol that at least one minority candidate be interviewed for a head-coaching vacancy. Frazier is African-American.

In nine seasons at USC, Carroll went 97-19, won seven bowl games and two national championships, and had 14 players chosen in the first round of the NFL draft.

The question there is who will replace Carroll as Trojans coach. The Los Angeles Daily News reported USC had contacted Washington coach Steve Sarkisian to gauge his potential interest, and he said no thanks. Sarkisian, however, said Sunday in an e-mail he had not been contacted.

On Friday, after news of Carroll's potential departure to the Seahawks was reported, Sarkisian said to The Seattle Times he wasn't interested in going elsewhere.

"People don't understand it, but this is my dream job," he said.

Just as it appears the Seahawks are Carroll's desired destination. Carroll previously flirted with returning to the NFL with teams such as Miami, Atlanta and Washington.

Now, he will return as the landscape at USC appears to be shifting. The Trojans won fewer than 11 games in 2009 for the first time since 2001, Carroll's first season in town, and there is the specter of an NCAA investigation looming as well.

Carroll is poised to return to the NFL after a decade-long absence since being fired as Patriots coach after the 1999 season. He has a 33-31 career record in four seasons as an NFL coach, with two playoff appearances and one victory.

He replaces Jim Mora, who had a comparable record of 31-33 in four seasons as an NFL head coach, and became the first coach in Seahawks history to receive less than three seasons at the helm.

Instead of giving Mora a second season, the Seahawks opted to begin anew this season with a new coach to go with a new GM in a new era.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com. Seattle Times reporter Bob Condotta contributed to this report.