Seahawks get their offensive coordinator, Klint Kubiak. Now what of line coach Scott Huff?
The month-long search is over.
The Seahawks announced Sunday night during the NFL’s conference championship games they have hired 37-year-old Klint Kubiak as their new offensive coordinator. So ends the search that began Jan. 6, the day coach Mike Macdonald fired Ryan Grubb after his only season calling Seattle’s plays.
Unlike his predecessor, Kubiak has been an offensive coordinator in the NFL before. He was that for the Minnesota Vikings in 2021, and this past, 2024 season for the New Orleans Saints.
In both of those previous play-calling jobs Kubiak was what he just became again Sunday night: an offensive coordinator for a defense-first head coach.
Kubiak is known for outside zone-read rushing offense. He’s also known for three- and sometimes two-receiver pass plays with maximum protection for quarterbacks, including by running backs blocking.
Kubiak is the son of former NFL head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterback Gary Kubiak. Through his dad, Klint Kubiak is a member of the original Shanahan coaching tree: former Denver Broncos Super Bowl-winning coach Mike Shanahan then his son Kyle, now the San Francisco 49ers head coach.
Kubiak obviously convinced Macdonald he was the man to carry out what the Seahawks’ head man said he wants his offense to be in 2025 and beyond.
“We want our offense to be a physical unit, and dictate terms of the defense,” Macdonald said the day after he fired Grubb. “(We want to) play complementary football and get the ball to our play makers frequently and in space, and let our quarterback play fast.”
Macdonald is the NFL’s youngest head coach. Seattle’s defensive play caller and Kubiak, now the team’s new play caller for quarterback Geno Smith’s offense, are both 37 years old.
The next question for Kubiak, Macdonald and the Seahawks: Will they keep offensive line coach Scott Huff, the former University of Washington line coach who just finished his first season coaching in the NFL?
Macdonald said at the start of the OC search he was going to give the new play caller the authority and latitude to bring his own assistant and position coaches with him to Seattle.
“When you decide to bring in a new coordinator, there’s probably going to be some movement with it,” Macdonald said Jan. 7, two days after Seattle ended the season not qualifying for the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
“We want our new coordinator to feel like they have a lot of influence in their staff, so we might have some movement when that happens and we might not. So we will kind of go through the process and figure it out as we go.”
Klint Kubiak’s resume
Kubiak played college football at Colorado State. He was team captain in 2009.
He began his coaching career the following year, as a quality-control assistant on offense for Texas A&M.
His first NFL job was as a quality-control assistant for the Vikings in 2013 and ‘14. In 2016 he began as an offensive assistant for his dad, Gary Kubiak’s Denver Broncos. The Vikings hired him as their quarterbacks coach in 2019.
Minnesota promoted him two years later to offensive coordinator, under defensive-minded head coach Mike Zimmer. In Kubiak’s 2021 season as play caller the Vikings rushed for 100 yards 11 times in 17 games. That included 242 yards while beating Pittsburgh, and 140 yards rushing in a win over the Seahawks in week three. Kubiak’s Minnesota offense finished that season in the league’s top 12 overall, 11th in passing, 17th in rushing and 14th in scoring.
The Vikings fired Zimmer after that season, so Kubiak needed a new job. He spent 2022 back with the Broncos, as their quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator. He earned play-calling duties late that season. In 2023 he was Kyle Shanahan’s passing-game coordinator for the 49ers. San Francisco rookie quarterback Brock Purdy made the Pro Bowl as the last player taken in that year’s draft. Purdy excelled in Kubiak’s pass game that season with an NFL-best passer rating of 113.0.
This past season Kubiak was the play caller for Dennis Allen, the Saints’ defense-first head man. New Orleans scored more than 40 points in each of its first two games, and Kubiak’s offense was getting hailed in September as the leagues hottest unit. The Saints with lead back Alvin Kamara rushed for at least 117 yards in seven of their 12 games. They romped for 214 yards against Cleveland, 197 against Carolina, 190 against Dallas and 147 against the NFC West-champion Rams.
The Seahawks with Grubb calling their (mostly passing) plays rushed for 107 and 126 yards against the Rams this season.
Kubiak’s 2024 Saints then sank with injuries to starting quarterback Derek Carr, multiple offensive linemen and, eventually, Kamara. New Orleans failed to score more than 19 points in any of its final six games, and lost five of them. The Saints fired Allen. That is why Kubiak was interviewing for a new job.
He was one of three coaches to interview twice for the Seahawks’ OC job in the last week and a half. Detroit Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley and Vikings assistant offensive coordinator Grant Udinski were the others.
The Lions promoted Fraley on Friday to run-game coordinator and gave him a raise to stay in Detroit.
Udinski has gotten interviews with the Seahawks, New England Patriots and, Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for OC jobs.
This story was originally published January 26, 2025 at 9:04 PM.
