Pete Carroll knows that the same qualities that convinced him to keep Gus Bradley a few years ago are going to ultimately cause Carroll to lose Bradley.Carroll replaced Jim Mora as head coach of the Seahawks after the 2009 season and in an unusual move, he decided to retain Bradley, who Mora had brought to Seattle from Tampa as defensive coordinator when he replaced Mike Holmgren as Seahawks head coach one year earlier.In Tampa, Bradley worked closely with famed defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, the architect of the Cover 2 defense. Kiffin and Carroll have known each other for nearly 40 years, going back to their years together at Arkansas in the late 1970s, so when Carroll got the Seattle job, he asked Kiffin about Bradley.I knew great things about Gus before I even arrived, because hed worked with Monte Kiffin, and Monte had recommended him so highly, Carroll said. And because we had the time, I said, Gus, lets hang out, and lets just talk football, and we probably took 10 days or something before we ever made a call on keeping him. I just wanted to get to know him.Those 10 days were all Carroll needed.He kept Bradley as defensive coordinator, and three years later, the Seahawks are the hottest team in the NFL.Theyve won six straight games, including a wild-card win over the Redskins on Sunday, headed into their conference semifinal against the Falcons Sunday in Atlanta.And Bradley, whose defense has allowed just 14.4 points per game this year, has emerged as one of the leading candidates to replace Andy Reid as head coach of the Eagles.Carroll was effusive in his praise of Bradley, whose defense was ranked No. 1 in the NFL this past season.Hes got a tremendous personality, hes got a great work ethic, hes got a brilliant football mind, Carroll said. Hes got a way of reaching people and touching people and getting the best out of them, coaches and players alike.Hes got everything that youre looking for and were fortunate hes had a great three years with us now, and were playing the best football weve played. Its really a great relationship that weve had and were very lucky to have him.The Eagles have not commented on Bradley beyond announcing last week that they had been granted permission from the Seahawks to interview him for their head coach vacancy.Its not even known at this point whether Bradley has already interviewed with the Eagles.Coaches whose teams are still alive in the playoffs were allowed to interview for head coaching jobs this week, but they cant officially be hired until their team is out of the playoffs or after the Super Bowl, if they reach it.Bradley told reporters covering the Seahawks Thursday his focus right now is solely on the Falcons.It's flattering, he said of the Eagles interest. I know people talk about our entire focus is on Atlanta and it really is. I mean it's so important to us. We've worked so hard to get to this point, and our whole message to our team is keep raising the bar and keep getting better and better every week, and they're talking that and we're talking that, so it's easy to stay focused on it.It's flattering, like you've all heard before, but really our whole focus is on Atlanta and trying to do all we can to get one step closer."The Eagles are believed to be the only team thats formally requested permission to meet with Bradley so far. The Bears have been granted permission to interview Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who was on Holmgrens Packers staff with Reid.
The Jaguars, Cards, Bears and Chargers also have openings. The Chiefs, Bills and Browns have already replaced their deposed coaches, the Chiefs with Reid, the Bills with Doug Marrone and the Browns with Rob Chudzinski.Its a real positive for the program when people want to talk to your guys, Carroll said. Ive always thought thats a real cool thing. And theres a time and a place and both our guys are very aware of what were doing and what were in for here, and neither one of them are going to let this distract them or get in the way.Theres very limited opportunities for any of that. Theyre not going to travel and go places and run around and all that. So in comparison with what were after right now, its low on their list. Both these guys feel exactly the same way about it.Theyre both fantastic candidates, theyre equipped, theyve got their act together, theyre going to be head coaches, whether its going to be now or in the near future. So well see how it goes for those guys, but right now I think theyre both in a very good place about it.We have a huge agenda to take care of, and theyre really into. So nobody really needs to worry about them running off and running all around. Theyre not going to do any of that. Therell be very limited opportunity for those guys to be available, and everybody whos contacted them knows that.
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com.