John Schneider, the general manager of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks had barely sat down, and he was already celebrating.
“Welcome to Mike Macdonald Day!” he announced. It was Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. The day before, Schneider signed Macdonald to a six-year contract to be the Seahawks’ new head coach. This was his introduction to local media.
It’s the latest step in a remarkable journey for Macdonald BBA ’10, MS ’13, a Double Dawg and former UGA assistant coach. At the time of his hiring, Macdonald was coming off a two-year stint as defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. Now, at 36, Macdonald is the NFL’s youngest head coach.
“When I hear people tell me I’ve risen really fast, it makes me a little uncomfortable because that’s not really the goal,” Macdonald said. “You’re trying to be in the role that you are to help the team the best you can. And, ultimately, as your roles and responsibilities increase, the ability to do that is greater, you know? That’s the mentality you have to have.”
Macdonald was born in Boston and grew up in Roswell. He played baseball and football at Centennial High School, but his playing career ended because of injuries his senior year.
For four seasons, Mike Macdonald served on Bulldogs coach Mark Richt’s staff–first as a graduate assistant then as a defensive quality control assistant. (Photo by John Kelley)
As an undergraduate at the University of Georgia, Macdonald took his first defensive coordinator job—with the freshman team at Cedar Shoals High School in Athens. The job reunited Macdonald with Xarvia Smith, the Cedar Shoals Jaguars varsity head coach and Macdonald’s former coach at Centennial.
Macdonald took to the role quickly. Over seven games, the Cedar Shoals ninth-graders shut out their opponents six times.
“That’s probably the most fun I’ve had coaching,” Macdonald said during a 2021 interview. The following year, he coached varsity’s linebackers and running backs.
While Macdonald was learning how to mentor players under Smith, the head coach saw something special in his protege.
“You just knew, with his leadership and his desire and his work ethic, what was going to happen,” Smith told Seattle’s KJR radio. The two stay in touch today through texts, and Macdonald maintains relationships with several Cedar Shoals former players as well.
In 2010, mere months after graduating summa cum laude with a finance degree from the Terry College of Business, Macdonald joined then-head coach Mark Richt’s staff as a graduate assistant. After a year, he was promoted to defensive quality control assistant. In 2013, he earned his second UGA degree, a master’s in sport management, with a perfect 4.0 average.
“He was sharp,” Richt says of Macdonald. “Very mature and responsible. He was ready for the role. Anything we gave Mike, he could handle it.”
Macdonald joined the coaching staff of the Baltimore Ravens as an intern and was soon promoted to defensive assistant (2015), then defensive backs coach (2017), and finally to linebackers coach (2018).
In 2020, Jim Harbaugh, brother of the Ravens’ head coach, hired Macdonald as defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan.
In his one year with the Wolverines, Macdonald guided a defense that had ranked 87th nationally in yards allowed per game the previous year and turned them into a top-10 unit. That experience also included the only time Macdonald lined up against the University of Georgia.
The run-up to that matchup in the 2021 College Football Playoff Semifinal in the Orange Bowl gave Macdonald an opportunity to reflect on his time as a Georgia assistant.
“We were doing everything. We were setting up tables for dinner, you name it,” he said at the time. “But, yeah, those are great days. I mean, just learning from Coach Richt, and Coach [Todd] Grantham, and Coach [Mike] Bobo, and really just what makes an organization tick. Being in on the ground floor and doing anything you can to help the team win was really valuable.”
“He was sharp. Very mature and responsible. He was ready for the role. Anything we gave Mike, he could handle it.” — Former UGA head coach Mark Richt, who hired Mike Macdonald as a graduate assistant for the Bulldogs in 2010
Michigan lost that game, a major step in Georgia’s run to its third national title. It also represented, to this point, the last college game Macdonald has coached. In 2022, he returned to the Ravens as their defensive coordinator. The results were record breaking.
The 2023 Ravens were the first team in NFL history to finish first in scoring defense, sacks, and takeaways in the same season. The Ravens made it to the AFC Championship, and the Pro Football Writers of America named Macdonald the 2023 Assistant Coach of the Year.
Macdonald was a hot commodity heading into the offseason. Six teams, including the Seahawks, checked on his availability. And Seattle moved fast, announcing his hiring less than 72 hours after Macdonald’s first interview with the team.
“My plan is to be myself every day,” Macdonald said. “It’s not a facade. It’s all about the best interests of the team, the best interests of the players, and how we can be successful.”
