After accepting an offer to become Alabama’s new offensive coordinator, former Washington OC Ryan Grubb will return to the West Coast to take the same position with the Seattle Seahawks and fill one of the key vacancies in the NFL coaching cycle, according to 247Sports.
Grubb, 47, had been linked to Seattle after the Seahawks lost Shane Waldron for the same position with the Chicago Bears. But the former Washington assistant then appeared to finalize a deal with Alabama to become new head coach Kalen DeBoer, even telling boosters Wednesday at the Crimson Tide’s Bryant-Denny Stadium that he had accepted the job.
Now, days later, Grubb is NFL-bound, according to Matt Zenitz, and will be tasked with running the offense under new Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald.
The move marks a return to Washington State for Grubb, who served as the Huskies’ assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach the past two seasons. Before that, the Iowa native spent five years with Fresno State in a multitude of offensive assistant positions, as well as multi-year stops with Eastern Michigan, Sioux Falls and South Dakota State .
However, Grubb has never held an NFL position, so his role as the Seahawks’ new OC will be his first professional position of any kind.
It’s worth noting that Grubb has close ties to 2024 NFL Draft prospect Michael Penix Jr., who traded to Washington the same year Grubb joined the program. Penix Jr. is widely considered one of the top QB options in this year’s class, and Seattle could be in the market for another signal-caller with 33-year-old Geno Smith a potential salary cap casualty after one season uneven.