sad news: Georgia head coach found…
Named head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, former assistant at Georgia
Mike Macdonald, a UGA alumnusus and former Georgia football assistant, took the Seattle Seahawks head coaching position on Wednesday. Pete Carrol, who led the Seahawks for 14 seasons, is replaced by Macdonald.
Macdonald has had an incredible ascent to fame in the NFL. He has only played in six NFL seasons, the last two of which he spent as the Baltimore Ravens’ defensive coordinator. At age 36, Macdonald is now the youngest head coach in the NFL.
Prior to enrolling at the University of Georgia, the Boston native completed his education at Centennial High School in Roswell, Georgia. Macdonald coached Cedar Shoals High School when he was a student at UGA. After joining the Bulldogs in 2008 as a graduate assistant, he worked as Georgia’s staff member for the following six seasons.
Macdonald became a member of John Harbaugh’s Baltimore staff.
NFL head coach named is a UGA graduate who started his coaching career in a high school in Athens.
On Wednesday, Mike Macdonald, who served as Mark Richt’s graduate assistant for Georgia football and as an assistant coach at Cedar Shoals High School in 2008, was hired head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.
Macdonald becomes the latest in a select group of Georgia alums to be selected head coach of an NFL team, which also includes former Bulldogs players John Rauch and Marion Campbell.
Despite not playing football at UGA, Macdonald received his degree from the institution and worked for Richt’s program from 2010 until 2013, when he was hired by the Baltimore Ravens to take advantage of his first NFL chance. Macdonald was the defensive coordinator for the ninth grade at Cedar Shoals, a school on the east side of Athens, before working at his alma mater.
In 2021, Macdonald told the Banner-Herald, “That was probably the most fun I’ve had coaching probably up to this year.” That really was awesome. Hey, I recall mop nights on Wednesdays. Sometimes you never knew who would show up for practice.
Context: Mike Macdonald’s ascent from “mop night” at Cedar Shoals High to Michigan Wolverines DC
Macdonald had been with the Ravens since 2014, aside from a one-year stint at the college level in Michigan for the 2021 season. He was the Ravens defensive coordinator prior to being hired by the Seahawks.
As of Wednesday, Macdonald, 36, is the youngest active NFL head coach.
“What an honor,” Macdonald said at the Seahawks’ facility Wednesday. “We are super excited to be here. Just getting to know John and the rest of the folks, the reputation of this place, what drew us here was the people. That’s why we’re here, to bring a championship back to Seattle and the 12s.
