Macdonald set to become NFL’s youngest head coach at 36 as Seahawks swoop
According to multiple reports, the Seattle Seahawks have hired Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald as their new head coach.
Macdonald, 36, will become the youngest current head coach in the league and is half the age of the man he replaces: Pete Carroll, who moved into an advisory role with the organization after 14 seasons in charge in Seattle.
Macdonald has led Baltimore’s defense the past two years, including last season when the Ravens finished with the NFL’s best regular-season record and reached the AFC Championship Game before losing to Kansas City. Baltimore held Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to 17 points in the AFC title game, giving up zero points in the second half and stopping KC on six straight drives.
This will be Macdonald’s first head coaching position at any level. But he was surrounded by successful coaches as he rose through the ranks, starting with an extended stint on John Harbaugh’s staff in Baltimore before spending a season on now-Chargers’ coach Jim Harbaugh’s staff in college at Michigan.
Macdonald was responsible for overhauling Harbaugh’s Michigan defense and built a group that led Michigan to their first-place finish in the 2021 College Football Playoff. He had previously worked as a linebackers coach for Harbaugh’s brother John in Baltimore before moving on to college football.
Macdonald returned to baltimore before the 2022 season and installed the progressive defense that he had pioneered with Michigan. It quickly turned Baltimore’s defense into one of the best units in the league, with the Ravens finishing second in the league in EPA per game in 2023, a measure of end-to-end efficiency. They also led the league in sacks, takeaways and points allowed.
Seattle made it clear that Macdonald was one of their top candidates when they didn’t move forward with a loan deal early for the conference championship games. Dan Quinn seemed like a clear frontrunner due to his past connections leading Seattle’s Legion of Boom defense, but the longer the Seahawks went without making progress with Quinn, the more clear it became that other options were being considered.
Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was the other finalist for the job, with Seattle conducting a final interview with both candidates before making a decision.
ESPN reports Macdonald will receive a six-year contract.