SEATTLE — Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald has found his successor for fired offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb — Klint Kubiak.

Putting a capper on what stands as one of Macdonald’s first significant decisions as Seattle’s head coach — the decision to replace Grubb after just one season — the Seahawks announced Kubiak's hiring Sunday.

The 37-year-old Kubiak, who spent last season as the offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints and was also the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings in 2021, was one of seven coaches known to have interviewed for the job and one of three who had second, in-person interviews.

Kubiak had emerged as a favorite when he became the first to get a second and in-person interview on Jan. 17.

He had also interviewed with the Cleveland Browns before they promoted Tommy Rees as OC and it was rumored he would draw interest from the Houston Texans.

But the Seahawks and Kubiak got the deal worked out over the weekend and he will become the third offensive coordinator for Seattle in three seasons.

Kubiak was free to interview for other jobs as New Orleans head coach Dennis Allen was fired after a 2-7 start with Darren Rizzi taking over as the interim coach. The Saints have yet to hire a permanent head coach but are thought to be zeroing in on Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.

Kubiak’s father, Gary, a longtime NFL quarterback and coach who was the head coach of Houston (2006-13) and Denver (2015-16), was the offensive coordinator with the Balltimore Ravens in 2014 when Macdonald began his coaching career there as a defensive coaching intern.

Kubiak’s younger brother, Klay, was recently named the offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, which will make for some interesting matchups in the 2025 season.

Macdonald fired Grubb almost exactly three weeks ago — on Jan. 6, the day after the 2024 season — calling the decision mostly an “alignment and vision thing.”

He hopes now to have found that with Kubiak, a native of Houston who played safety at Colorado State from 2005-09 before beginning his coaching career with three seasons at Texas A&M from 2010-12.

He then moved on two seasons with the Vikings as an offensive quality control coach in 2013-14, a year at Kansas as a receivers coach in 2015, then three years with Denver as an offensive assistant from 2016-18 and then to Minnesota again in 2019 as the quarterbacks coach.

Kubiak worked in Minnesota for three years and was promoted to OC in 2021 before being let go along with the rest of Mike Zimmer’s staff. Kirk Cousins, though, was named to the Pro Bowl that season, throwing for 4,221 yards. Kubiak then spent the 2022 season as the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Russell Wilson with Denver, and then 2023 as the passing game coordinator with the 49ers as San Francisco advanced to the Super Bowl as Brock Purdy led the NFL in passer rating at 113.0

He was then hired as the OC with the Saints and now comes to Seattle.

Grant Udinski, the assistant offensive coordinator and assistant quarterbacks coach for the Vikings, and Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley also had two interviews for the job while Thomas Brown, who ended the 2024 season as the interim coach of the Chicago Bears, former NFL QB and Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and Green Bay offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich also reportedly had one interview each.

ESPN also reported Sunday that the Seahawks interviewed Ravens run game coordinator Travis Switzer over the weekend.

Fraley, though, became out of the picture on Friday when it was revealed he was staying in Detroit with a promotion to run game coordinator.

There could be more moves afoot with Seattle’s offensive staff as Macdonald had said the new OC would be given some leeway to add some coaches as he saw fit. And one possibility is making another hire of a coach who could be a run game coordinator.

Kubiak will be entrusted with reviving an offense that ranked 18th in points per game (22.1) and 14th in yards per game (332) in the first year under Grubb, who was hired last February to significant fanfare following his successful two-year run at the University of Washington.

The most significant task will be improving a running attack that ranked 28th in yards per game at 95.7.

Seattle had the fifth-highest pass-to-run percentage, throwing it on 62.82% of downs in 2024.

Macdonald, who comes from a defensive background and from a Baltimore team that annually leads the NFL in run-play percentage, several times during the season talked of the team’s needs to run it more and better.

“What we’re shooting for as a football team is to just play better complementary ball in all three phases,’’ Macdonald said on the day after Grubb was fired.

While Kubiak has been an OC for two coaches who got fired either during or after the season, he earned raves for the way the Saints started the 2024, particularly in the area that may be most critical to is Seattle success — running the ball.

The Saints gained 180 yards on the ground in a season-opening 47-10 win over the Carolina Panthers and then 190 a week later in a 44-19 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

But New Orleans was then beset by injuries at starting quarterback.

Derek Carr played just 10 games — the Saints went 5-5 in his starts, 0-7 in the others started by Spencer Rattler (0-6) and Jake Haener (0-1).

The Saints finished the year averaging 4.4 yards per carry, 14th in the NFL and 15th in rushing yards per game at 114.9. They were 21st in total yards (320.1) and 24th in points (19.9).

Kubiak’s system is regarded as grounded heavily in some of the basic schemes run by 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan with its mix of play-action and misdirection.

But the running game, he has said, will always be at the forefront of it.

“I think we just want to be grounded and run the football,” Kubiak told WWL Radio ahead of the 2024 NFL draft. “We want to have an identity that we can run the ball versus eight-man fronts. That’s something we’re going to stress to our guys early in the offseason, building our play-actions and moving the pocket off of that and trying to be a really good team on first and second down.”

But Kubiak also said last spring when he took over with the Saints that he doesn’t try to fit in a scheme that won’t work with the players on-hand.

“We have a base system we’ll put in,’’ he said. “We have some strong feelings on how we want to run the ball and how we want to use play-action but at the end of the day it’s going to be getting a good feel for what our guys do well and then carrying that into the game-plan on Sunday.”

While there is an inevitable learning curve for any new OC, Macdonald said during his end-of-season news conference that expectations for what the Seahawks can do with a new OC will be high from the beginning.

“I think this is a heck of a job,’’ Macdonald said. “I mean it starts with the organization. I mean all the reasons why I felt like this is such a great place to, has been backed up tenfold. So that starts there. And then our players are really the next best. I mean, shoot, we’ve got great players. We’ve got a great young core and shoot, I think it’s a heck of a job. I think it’s the best job out there.”

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