Seahawks Promote Clint Hurtt To Defensive Coordinator; Add Sean Desai, Karl Scott & Sanjay Lal To Staff

The Seahawks announced changes to their coaching staff Tuesday.

Feb 15, 2022 at 01:18 PM

John Boyle

Seahawks.com Senior Reporter

The Seahawks promoted Clint Hurtt to defensive coordinator, part of an overhaul of the defensive coaching staff that also included the addition of two new assistants, Sean Desai, who was named associate head coach-defense, and Karl Scott, who was named the defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach.

We have promoted Clint Hurtt to defensive coordinator.

Congrats, Coach! Let’s go to work.
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) February 15, 2022

"It's great to get everybody in the building for the first time together with our new staff and the new outlook that we have for the season," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "The fresh start feels exciting, and we're looking forward to guys stepping up into their roles. The newness with Clint taking over on defense and working together with an old friend of his in Sean Desai gives us a really exciting outlook for the future. Being able to bring in a guy the caliber of Karl Scott to take over the secondary, we're very fortunate to have landed him as the passing game coordinator."

On the other side of the ball, Andy Dickerson was named the team's offensive line coach, taking over that role for Mike Solari, with whom the team parted ways last Friday. With Dickerson taking on the offensive line job, running backs coach Chad Morton adds the title of run game coordinator that was held by Dickerson last season after he came to Seattle from Los Angeles with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.

Additionally, Sanjay Lal is back with the team as the receivers coach and offensive passing game coordinator, his second stint on Carroll's staff after spending 2020 as a senior offensive assistant. Lal spent last season in Jacksonville as the Jaguars' receivers coach, a role he has previously held with the Raiders, Jets, Bills, Colts and Cowboys prior to joining the Seahawks in 2020. Nate Carroll, who previously served as receivers coach, was named senior offensive assistant.

"On the other side of the ball, getting Sanjay Lal to come in, he'll be the passing game coordinator and contribute in really big ways that we're really excited about," Carroll said. "He had a great year with us before and we're really happy to get him back and feel very fortunate he's back on the staff.

"It'll be great for us to put Andy in the position of coaching the offensive line, maximizing all that Shane has in his background—those guys work together extremely well—and mixing them with Sanjay will give us good new insight and new juice and fire that we're excited about. We're excited about it every year at this time, but maybe more than ever in that it just seems like it's new and fresh and ready to get rolling."

Hurtt, 43, takes over Seattle's defense after five seasons as the team's defensive line coach, adding the title of assistant head coach for the past four seasons. He becomes the Seahawks' fifth defensive coordinator under Pete Carroll after Gus Bradley, Dan Quinn, Kris Richard and Ken Norton Jr., and third Seahawks assistant to be promoted to that role along with Quinn and Richard.

Before joining the Seahawks, Hurtt spent two seasons as the Chicago Bears' outside linebackers coach, working under well-respected longtime NFL defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. Desai and Hurtt worked together under Fangio in Chicago in 2015 and 2016, then Desai continued to work with Fangio for two more seasons before Fangio left to become the head coach of the Broncos.

In his five seasons with the Seahawks, Hurtt has overseen a defensive line that sent Michael Bennett to the Pro Bowl after the 2017 season; that saw Jarran Reed become just the third defensive tackle in franchise history, along with Hall of Famers Cortez Kennedy and John Randle to record double digit sacks in a season with 10.5 in 2018; and that last season limited opponents to just 3.8 rushing yards per carry, the second best mark in the NFL.

Hurtt began his coaching career at the University of Miami, where he played for three seasons before his career was cut short due to injury, then later went on to coach at Florida International for a season before returning to Miami as the Hurricanes' defensive line coach and later recruiting coordinator. Hurtt then spent four seasons at Louisville before joining the Bears in 2014.

Desai, 38, was Chicago's defensive coordinator last season, his ninth with the Bears, having previously served as a defensive quality control coach for six seasons before becoming the safeties coach in 2019. Prior to getting into coaching, Desai, who has a master's degree from Columbia University and a doctorate in educational administration from Temple University, worked as an adjunct professor at Temple for two years. Prior to joining the Bears' staff, Desai spent seven seasons in the college ranks, five at Temple, one at Miami and one at Boston College.

Scott, 36, joins the Seahawks after spending last season in Minnesota as the Vikings' defensive backs coach. Prior to that, Scott spent 14 seasons in the college ranks, including three seasons working under Nick Saban at Alabama as the defensive backs coach. Scott helped the Crimson Tide to a national championship in 2020 and helped develop future NFL standouts like Patrick Surtain II and Trevon Diggs.

In other title changes, Dave Canales takes over as quarterbacks coach following the departure of Austin Davis; Aaron Curry has been named the assistant defensive line/defensive ends coach; Brad Idzik, previously a quality control coach on offense, is now the assistant receivers coach; Kerry Joseph, previously the assistant receivers coach, is now the assistant quarterbacks coach; DeShawn Shead was named assistant defensive backs coach; Damione Lewis was named assistant defensive line/defensive tackles coach; and Will Tukuafu was named quality control coach-defense.