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PROVO — One potential candidate to be the next head football coach at BYU was taken off the list Wednesday when Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said current offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell was "going to run" with Seattle.
Carroll confirmed he has spoken to BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe about Bevell, an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who has no professional ties to BYU or the state of Utah, but the current Seattle offensive coordinator is no longer considered a candidate to replace outgoing BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall.
"We've got a long season going on. They've got to do their job and get ahead and get their decisions made, so Tommy's going to keep working at it," Carroll told Seattle-area media at a press event Wednesday. "Darrell would be an awesome choice for them, but he's not available. He's going to run with us and do what we're doing.
"They've got recruiting and all kinds of stuff, so just the timing isn't going to fit for them."
Carroll put timing as the main reason Bevell's name was no longer considered as a viable option for the current offensive coordinator. The 41-year-old native of Yuma, Arizona, would be unable to leave during the NFL season, putting BYU's efforts on the recruiting trail in jeopardy as they try to sort through a new coaching staff, as well.
Bevell, an active Mormon who has coached in the NFL with Minnesota and Green Bay, in addition to the Seahawks, played college football at Wisconsin after serving a two-year LDS Church mission after graduating from high school in Scottsdale, Arizona.
But his wife's parents currently live in the Provo area, and his name was immediately linked to the open position as soon as Mendenhall took the head coaching spot at the University of Virginia last week.
Bevell said he was open to going into the college coach game, but that he would be "selective" about any potential job openings that came along.
"I want to be a head coach. That's definitely true," Bevell said. "But there's no good time for us right now.
"We're doing things that have really been unprecedented (in Seattle) with obviously going to two Super Bowls, and we're going to make a push to continue to do that. I want to be a part of it, I want to be here, and I'm focused on what we're doing."
Holmoe told assembled media during a press conference last Friday that he would be in charge of making the final hire, and he would not consult a search firm. His list of candidates has been clear, he added, with BYU's requirement that the head coach of each sport be an active Mormon.
Holmoe said that list brought the number of viable candidates to about 40-50, with coaching experience and the ability to recruit the right type of student-athlete to BYU being among the critical factors in the search.
Other candidates for the position include (but are not limited to) Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham and Oregon State defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake. The latter two are both former BYU football players with relevant experience in the Utah sports market.
