Seahawks expected to hire Mike Macdonald as head coach: Ex-Michigan, Ravens DC to replace Pete Carroll

The 36-year-old defensive guru will be the youngest head coach in the

The Seattle Seahawks are expected to name former Michigan and Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald as their next head coach, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Macdonald, 36, who becomes the NFL’s

youngest head coach, helped guide defense-driven Baltimore to a berth in the AFC Championship Game this season under the direction of John Harbaugh and now gets his first crack as a head coach in the NFL, 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. He returned to Baltimore after one season in Ann Arbor, serving as the Ravens’ DC each of the last two years.

Macdonald began his coaching career at Athens (Ga.) Cedar Shoals High School as the linebackers and running backs coach. He then coached at Georgia as a grad assistant in 2010 before becoming a defensive quality control coach from 2011-13. Macdonald moved on to the Ravens under John Harbaugh as an intern in 2014 before working in a variety of defensive assistant roles from 2015-20.

Macdonald, replacing Don Brown, coached up an elite Michigan defensive unit in 2021 that aided the Wolverines’ run to the Big Ten title and their first College Football Playoff appearance.

Under Macdonald’s guidance, Michigan developed NFL prospects Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo, who were graded as two of the top pass rushers in that season’s draft. Hutchinson was a Heisman Trophy finalist at the end of a dominant season, which included a standout performance in a victory over rival Ohio State.

Jim Harbaugh said a few summers ago at Big Ten Media Days that he expected Macdonald to be a defensive coordinator candidate on his brother’s staff in Baltimore prior to his ultimate hiring ahead of the 2022 season.

“I hadn’t been around Mike a lot, except the times I had gone to Baltimore and visited there and talked some football,” Harbaugh said, via The Michigan Insider. “My brother John was like, ‘Yeah, this is the guy I would hire and probably would be our next defensive coordinator here in Baltimore after [Don ‘Wink’ Martindale]. What he told me, when I asked him what he liked about (Macdonald), he said he’s really smart, he was in on the ground floor of the Ravens when they changed their defense, invented their defense and their scheme. Very detailed and very good teacher.
“This came from John and I even asked him, I said, John, I mean, that’s pretty awesome that you would recommend somebody you think so highly of that’s on your staff. And he said, ‘Well, I really love Michigan football and I really love you, so I want to see you both be successful.'”