RENTON, Wash. — John Schneider pled for help from a higher power.
That’s how badly the Seattle Seahawks general manager wanted to meet with Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald about the team’s head coach vacancy. So on Jan. 28, as Macdonald’s Ravens were preparing to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, Schneider spent some time at mass praying for a Ravens loss.
A Ravens defeat was the only way the Seahawks could interview Macdonald because of the NFL’s rules about coaching hires during the playoffs.
“This is heathen s—,” Schneider said with a laugh during a recent sit-down with The Athletic.
But Schneider’s prayers were answered, as the Ravens fell to the Chiefs, and the Seahawks interviewed Macdonald on Tuesday in Baltimore.
They hired him a day later.
“He absolutely crushed his interview,” Schneider said. “The first part of it, two hours felt like 20 minutes. It was just a really clear, purposeful, great plan. He nailed it.”
Schneider had undergone weeks of prep work on Macdonald, and the coach came as advertised. For Macdonald, the hiring was the culmination of a years-long journey that was nearly sidetracked multiple times. In fact, his coaching career had nearly ended before it ever truly got started. But Macdonald kept pushing.
Now, the 37-year-old — the youngest head coach in the NFL — is leading the Seahawks in the post-Pete Carroll era. And for Macdonald, who once took out a $20,000 loan just to scrape by to pursue his dreams, the man who bet on himself has hit the jackpot.
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The best kind of mistake
While attending the University of Georgia as a finance major, Macdonald’s high school coach, Xarvia Smith, was hired by Cedar Shoals High in Athens. Smith lobbied Macdonald to jump on board and coach the defense for the ninth-grade team.
“Six games, five shutouts,” Macdonald beamed last week from the Seahawks indoor practice facility.
Macdonald loved every part of it — the pride nights before games, mopping the floors, taking care of the field, holding out helmets in traffic asking for donations to cover the team’s expenses. He discovered in himself a true love of the game as he went from class to practice, guiding his team to another defensive masterpiece before returning to campus to brag to his friends.
Macdonald was on his way to graduating summa cum laude and was well on his way to a lucrative business career. But football pulled at the heartstrings as Macdonald weighed his career path.
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“It was like, hey, you know what, if I’m 40 years old one day, and I didn’t pursue this thing, I’d be kicking myself,” Macdonald said. “And if I do it, I’ve got an education I can fall back on if this doesn’t work out, but this is something I feel really strongly about.”
Macdonald said he “weaseled” his way onto the Georgia football team’s coaching staff, routinely hanging around the facility and trying to take advantage of being on campus with one of the most prominent programs in the country.
Eventually, then-coach Mark Richt allowed Macdonald to join the team as a volunteer graduate assistant in 2010. That’s when, much to the chagrin of his worried father, Macdonald took out the $20,000 loan — money he would use to cover basic life expenses.
But the loan proved to be a prudent investment.
A few years later, the Ravens invited Macdonald to interview for then-general manager Ozzie Newsome’s 20-20-20 Club. It was a scouting internship program for 20-somethings who’d make $20,000 per year working “20”-hour days.
Macdonald made a strong impression while interviewing with a loaded staff that included current Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta, Los Angeles Chargers GM Joe Hortiz and Chicago Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham. But he didn’t get the job.
He later pinpointed an obvious interview mistake that likely doomed his candidacy.
“I told Hortiz I still wanted to coach,” Macdonald said, “and that wasn’t the right thing to say in a scouting interview. He politely told me, ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’”
In hindsight?
“The best thing that ever happened to me,” Macdonald acknowledged.
Instead, Macdonald returned to Georgia in 2013 for his final year as a grad assistant. As it was coming to an end, Macdonald didn’t see a realistic avenue to remain in coaching, so he interviewed with the accounting firm KPMG for a job in their consulting wing.
It was good money, and he could work his way out of debt. Macdonald signed the offer letter, but then Ravens coach John Harbaugh called. He was starting his own internship program on the coaching side.
“I had to call our KPMG recruiter and tell them to go pound sand,” Macdonald laughed.
Macdonald seized his opportunity. After one year as an intern, he was promoted to defensive assistant on coordinator Dean Pees’ staff and began his quick ascent. He served as the Ravens defensive backs coach in 2017, then the linebackers coach from 2018 to 2020 (under new DC Wink Martindale) as he continued to hone his craft.
“It was a fun process,” Macdonald said. “You’ve been sitting on all this football you’ve been learning for four years (at Georgia), and finally someone was like, ‘Hey, what do you know? What have you learned?’ It was really cool. They’re actually interested in my development. That’s something we’re trying to build here (with the Seahawks), trying to grow our young coaches into roles, and those are going to be our guys for years to come.”
Macdonald left for Michigan in 2021 as Jim Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator before returning to the Ravens as their defensive coordinator from 2022-23. Last season, the Ravens became the first team in history to lead the NFL in points allowed, sacks and takeaways. Macdonald had rocketed his way into the head coaching conversation, and that outcome felt like a mere formality when they completely stifled the Houston Texans and quarterback C.J. Stroud in the divisional round.
But every showcase performance kept Schneider and the Seahawks in limbo.
No looking back
The Seahawks’ search was delayed because they had to be deliberate before deciding on Carroll, so they missed the early window to interview Macdonald.
Macdonald, though, interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers and Tennessee Titans. The Falcons and Raheem Morris were a perfect match for a reunion, while the Panthers (Dave Canales) and Titans (Brian Callahan) wanted an offensive-minded head coach.
Macdonald was on the Seahawks’ short list from the jump, so they did the background work as they waited. Schneider’s friends with the Falcons, Panthers and Titans raved about Macdonald, and Panthers general manager Dan Morgan — who worked for Schneider in Seattle from 2010-17 — said Schneider and Macdonald would be perfect for each other.
Along with the Ravens’ defensive rise under Macdonald’s stewardship, the Seahawks respected the way Michigan’s players improved during his season in Ann Arbor. The Ravens also thumped the Seahawks, 37-3, in Week 9, so they had a firsthand look at Macdonald.
When they finally got their meeting, they knew they had their man.
“There will be a time for (reflection). I just don’t know when that’s going to happen,” Macdonald said. “But I definitely just feel very fortunate and very blessed. To do this job the right way, you’ve got to serve your team. You’ve got to be thinking about how you can help those people. That’s what has helped create these opportunities, being able to affect the people around you in a positive way. People realize that over time, and that’s when those opportunities are created.”
Macdonald could have played it safe and pursued a career in business. He could have avoided the risk of the loan. He could have veered off the path, broken character and gone into scouting. He could have stuck with KPMG.
But Macdonald, remember, didn’t want to turn 40 and wonder what could have been.
That’s a burden Macdonald will never have to bear.
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(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
