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The Seattle Seahawks are hiring Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald as their new head coach, a person briefed on the decision told The Associated Press.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the Seahawks have not announced the hiring.
Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald speaks to the media during an NFL football media availability, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, in Owings Mills, Md. (AP Photo/Nick Wass).
Nick Wass/AP
Macdonald, 36, will become the league’s youngest head coach and will be half the age of the man he replaces: Pete Carroll, who was fired after 14 seasons in charge in Seattle.
Macdonald spent the last two years running Baltimore’s defense, 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.
This will be the first head coaching position at any level for Macdonald. But he has been surrounded by successful coaches as he rose through the ranks, beginning 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. Michigan.
Seattle made it clear that Macdonald was one of its top candidates when it did not move forward with the hiring before the conference championship games. Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn seemed like a clear favorite because of his past connections with Seattle. But the longer the Seahawks went without moving forward with Quinn, the more obvious it became that other options were being considered.
Macdonald and Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson were the last two interviewed by the Seahawks before the final decision was made.
One of the unknowns will be how Macdonald integrates with an organization that was formed around Carroll’s philosophy for more than a decade. Seattle general manager John Schneider said one of owner and president Jody Allen’s mandates was to maintain a Carroll level of culture. How Macdonald accomplishes that will be one of the questions.
Macdonald, a Georgia graduate who began his coaching career there from 2011-2013, broke into the NFL with the Ravens as an internal coach in 2014. He rose to defensive assistant, defensive backs coach and linebackers coach until 2020 before going to Michigan for Leads Jim Harbaugh’s defense.
After returning to Baltimore, Macdonald had one of the league’s highest-scoring defenses over the past two seasons. Last season, the Ravens ranked sixth in total defense and played an aggressive style that should please Seahawks fans.
Macdonald’s task in Seattle will be to revive a franchise that had stagnated. Carroll was the most successful coach in franchise history and gave Seattle its only Super Bowl title 10 years ago. But the final stages of his tenure in Seattle fizzled out.
The Seahawks missed the playoffs for the second time in three seasons in 2023 and finished 9-8 for the second straight year. Seattle hasn’t won a playoff game since 2019 and hasn’t advanced beyond the divisional round since the 2014 playoffs.
Last season was when Seattle hoped to close the gap on San Francisco in the NFC West, but instead saw the 49ers continue to dominate the division while the Rams quickly rebuilt themselves into a playoff team.
Having Macdonald in charge should help improve a defense that regressed greatly as last season progressed and ranked near the bottom of the NFL in most defensive categories. But just as important will be identifying a creative offensive coordinator who can make more of what Seattle already has in quarterback Geno Smith, wide receivers DK Metcalf and Jaxon Smith-Njigba and running backs Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker III.
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AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi contributed.
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