Does NFL have a coordinator problem?

The Seahawks are having a hard time hiring an OC because there aren't many good ones who aren't already employed

This is how the NFL hires head coaches, for the most part:

Find an offensive or defensive coordinator who is highly respected and hire him with the additional title of “head coach”. Running the team has become secondary to finding a coach who can run the offense or the defense.

Team-to-team, this is not an inherent problem. But from the wide angle perspective of the entire league, this has seemed to create a significant shortage:

The NFL doesn’t seem to have a lot of respect for NFL coordinators.

This is currently impacting the Seahawks as they search for a new offensive coordinator (Seattle’s own 2024 OC search resulted in bypassing the pros for a college coach who had zero NFL experience) and they aren’t alone.

The NFL has a coordinator problem because the league as a whole has hired the best-of-the-best as their head coaches. This means that no matter who the Seahawks hire as OC, they will need to either take a leap of faith or go “adequate” over astounding.

First, let’s assess the NFL’s 31 head coaches (minus the Saints), then we’ll cover the clues that reveal how little respect is left for the league’s offensive and defensive coordinators. Finally, we’ll address what this means for the Seahawks moving forward in their OC search.