Mike Macdonald, 36, who becomes the NFL’s youngest head coach, is expected to be named the next head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, replacing longtime coach Pete Carroll. Macdonald previously spent seven seasons on Harbaugh’s staff in Baltimore from 2014–20, serving as a defensive assistant, defensive backs coach, and linebackers coach. He left the team after the 2020 season to join Jim Harbaugh at Michigan as the Wolverines’ defensive coordinator. After one season in Ann Arbor, Macdonald returned to Baltimore. His role as defensive coordinator at Michigan is expected to be confirmed by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
At Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, Georgia, Macdonald started off as the running backs and linebackers coach. After that, he worked as a graduate assistant coach at Georgia from 2010 to 2011, when he was hired as the defensive quality control coach. After serving as an intern for the Ravens under John Harbaugh in 2014, Macdonald took on a number of defensive assistant positions there from 2015 to 2020.
After Don Brown was replaced, McDonald led an outstanding Michigan defense team in 2021, helping the Wolverines win the Big Ten and make their first-ever College Football Playoff trip.
Two of the best pass rushers selected in that season’s draft, Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo, were developed by Michigan under Macdonald’s tutelage and became NFL prospects. Heisman Trophy winner Hutchinson
Before Macdonald is finally hired ahead of the 2022 season, Jim Harbaugh stated at Big Ten Media Days a few summers ago that he anticipated Macdonald to be a defensive coordinator candidate on his brother’s staff in Baltimore.
According to The Michigan Insider, Harbaugh stated, “I hadn’t been around Mike a lot, aside from the times I had gone to Baltimore and visited there and talked some football.” “Yes, this is the guy I would hire and most likely would be our next defensive coordinator here in Baltimore after [Don ‘Wink’ Martindale,” said my brother John. When I asked him what he liked about (Macdonald), he told me that he was in on the Ravens when they were just starting out and that he is incredibly clever.
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