Seattle Stars in Misplayed Offseason, the Sequel: Tampering With Dungy

Remember last weekend, when we all concluded that the Seattle Seahawks had managed to make a mockery of the Rooney Rule by interviewing Leslie Frazier of the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday, a day after news leaked that Pete Carroll was essentially a Leslie Frazier interview away from becoming the Seahawks’ next head coach? Well, the Seahawks had to interview candidates for their vacant president position, too, and reached out to Tony Dungy to either fill the spot or satisfy the Rooney Rule or both.They did that part of the process right. But they managed to forget that tampering is an even more serious offense, according to the Indianapolis Star.

⇥⇥Although Dungy retired Jan. 12, 2009, after seven seasons as the Colts coach, his contract doesn’t expire until next month. Basically, he’s still property of the Colts. Any team interested in hiring him must first seek permission, which wasn’t the case.⇥⇥⇥⇥The Colts will not file tampering charges with the NFL, according to a high-ranking team official who requested his name not be used.⇥⇥

⇥⇥⇥⇥⇥But they were on solid ground to do so.⇥⇥

⇥⇥⇥⇥⇥The team, the source said, has the Seahawks “dead in the water for tampering for offering Tony the president’s job. It’s clear tampering.”⇥⇥

The Colts not filing charges means Seattle gets away with only a ton of egg on their face. They got lucky. But if you were wondering about the competence of the power structure in place around Carroll, stop doing so: It’s clear that Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke, who has been calling the shots of late, is more than a few steps removed from the highly competent Mike Holmgren-Tim Ruskell partnership that churned out NFC West titles and a Super Bowl appearance. (How hard is it to have a lawyer look at Dungy’s contract?)If Carroll is to be successful in his return to the NFL, it seems it will be in spite of his front office, not because of it.

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