Seahawks assistant coach Rocky Seto, who for the past two seasons has been the assistant head coach for defense, has left the team to enter the ministry, the team has confirmed.
Seto has worked as an assistant for head coach Pete Carroll since Carroll's first year at USC in 2001.
Seto held five different defensive coaching roles at USC from 2001-09 before coming to Seattle along with Carroll in 2010. With the Seahawks he has been quality control coach/defense (2010), assistant defensive backs coach (2011) and defensive passing game coordinator (2012-14) before taking over as assistant head coach for defense in 2015.
His official role the past two years was to work with defensive coordinator Kris Richard to help devise weekly game plans, a promotion he received when Richard was picked as defensive coordinator following the departure of Dan Quinn to Atlanta. Quinn had been Seattle's defensive coordinator in 2013-14 before becoming head coach of the Falcons, who will play in Sunday's Super Bowl.
Seto has not been replaced in his specific role, though last week the Seahawks hired Clint Hurtt as a defensive line coach, keeping the number of defensive assistants the same.
Seto, 42, and his wife Sharla, who is a graduate of Newport High, have four children.
A source said the decision to leave was solely that of Seto's as he has long had a desire to enter the ministry.
The Seahawks have had no other changes to their coaching staff since the end of the 2016 season.
Having worked primarily with the defensive backs during his time with the Seahawks, Seto received significant credit for helping groom the Legion of Boom.
Among Seto's duties with the Seahawks was producing a weekly video emphasizing the importance of turnovers.
