Ugly loss to Ravens helped lead Seahawks down path to Mike Macdonald’s hiring

RENTON, Wash. – Standing on the sideline at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Nov. 5 as the clock wound down on one of the worst Seahawks losses in years, a 37-3 rout by the Ravens that might not have been as close as the score indicated, Seattle General Manager John Schneider knew something had to change.

It was the same feeling, he recalled Thursday, he had during the Seahawks’ second game of the 2011 season, a 24-0 loss at Pittsburgh.

That Pittsburgh loss led the Seahawks to further commit to a rushing attack based around Marshawn Lynch – who had been acquired the year before – and to the young players on defense. Linebacker Aaron Curry would be traded, and cornerback Richard Sherman moved into the starting lineup a few weeks later as the Legion of Boom defense began to fully take shape.

They were commitments that helped lead the Seahawks to a Super Bowl victory two years later.

The Baltimore game, Schneider said, helped lead the Seahawks to what happened Thursday, when they introduced Mike Macdonald as their coach. The Ravens’ 36-year-old former defensive coordinator replaced the 72-year-old Pete Carroll.

“I’ve had two really strong feelings (in his career),” Schneider said. “Leaving Pittsburgh several years ago, like we will never, ever look like that again. It was not cool. And leaving Baltimore this year. That was not cool.”

Schneider didn’t know then while watching a game in which the Ravens held the Seahawks to a season-low 151 yards and gained 515 that he was looking at the Seahawks’ future coach on the other sideline.

But that desultory defeat, and a season in which the Seahawks finished 9-8 and out of the playoffs for the second time in the past three years, led to the decision to dismiss Carroll on Jan. 10. That started a three-week search that ended Wednesday with the naming of Macdonald as the ninth coach in franchise history.

Schneider hinted that the process might have unwittingly begun that November day in Baltimore.

“There’s a feeling that we all were there and felt it,” Schneider said. “But in talking to the players, several of the offensive players were like, ‘What was that? What just happened?’ I tried to pick the players’ brains here and there throughout the season, and that totally stood out. I forget which player it was, but they were like, ‘What was that, who is that? … Who was the coordinator over there, who was that all about.’ ”

The Seahawks, though, had to wait. First, for the season to end, then the decision to commit to moving on from Carroll (which put Schneider in control of personnel for the first time since arriving in 2010) and the coaching search – Schneider’s first as a GM.

Then, to get their chance to talk with Macdonald.

Because the Ravens had a first-round playoff bye, Seattle according to NFL rules had to conduct a virtual interview with Macdonald during the bye week or wait until after Baltimore’s season was done to talk to him.

Schneider said in the chaos of the Carroll announcement and all else that needed to be done that week, setting up an interview with Macdonald fell through the cracks.

That helped turn the initial focus of Seattle’s search to other coaches. The Seahawks held at least one interview with eight other coaches, and two interviews with five before they were able to interview Macdonald.

But Schneider said Macdonald was always on Seattle’s radar.

And when Baltimore lost in the AFC title game Sunday, the Seahawks struck. Detroit also lost in the NFC title game, and once those twin occurrences unfolded, Schneider and other members of Seattle’s front office traveled first to Detroit to interview Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and then to Baltimore to interview Macdonald.

Schneider joked that he went to church Sunday morning and prayed as hard as he could.

“I wanted the Ravens to lose, and I wanted the Lions to lose,” he said.

When both happened, Seattle could interview Johnson and Macdonald in person.

“We flew to Detroit on Monday afternoon, flew to Baltimore Monday night, had our interview with Mike at 9 on Tuesday morning, and he crushed it,” Schneider said.

At that point, Schneider said, “We flew back here, and it was on.”

Macdonald’s first interview went so well that plans were immediately made for him to fly to Seattle for a second interview Wednesday, one that essentially began Tuesday night.

“Traci (Schneider’s wife) and I picked (Macdonald’s wife) Steph and Mike up at the airport and had a great evening,” he said. “… We chopped it up a little bit and hung out for a while, and it was just natural, easy, clear.”

Macdonald, who was also a serious contender for the Washington Commanders’ vacancy, felt similarly.

“Our mentality going in was, ‘Let’s go in with an open mind,’ and if there’s an opportunity with a great partnership that feels like it’s the right thing, then that would be something you’re willing to pursue,” Macdonald said. “We had some great conversations throughout the process. When we started talking about vision and how we wanted to play and the direction that we felt like (and) that I felt like how I’d like to take the team and how that paralleled what they saw, it just became very clear that that was the thing you were looking for. It made sense at that point.”

Along the way, Macdonald said he got a similarly good feeling from team chair Jody Allen.

“Her investment in this city and how much she cares about this team became very obvious to me,” Macdonald said. “And that was very appealing.”

By then, Johnson had pulled himself out of the running for the Washington and Seattle jobs, appearing to leave both teams choosing from Macdonald or Dan Quinn, Dallas’ defensive coordinator. Quinn was Seattle’s DC in 2013 and 2014 and considered an early front-runner to succeed Carroll.

Schneider, though, said Macdonald checked all the boxes of what the team wanted in a coach. That wasn’t necessarily for the X’s and O’s behind a Baltimore defense that this season was the NFL’s first to allow the fewest points while creating the most sacks and turnovers.

“Yeah, we weren’t talking schematics and moving, shifting – how coaches do coach-speak,” Schneider said. “We didn’t get into that. It was communication, leadership, clarity. I think that jumps off with Mike. I talked to several people that interviewed him already, and they’re like, ‘Wait until you look in this guy’s eyes, man. He’s there. He’s present. He’s on it.’ He was.”

If Macdonald had any hesitation, a reported six-year contract worth $9 million annually – figures not confirmed by the team but reported by the NFL Network – likely helped seal the deal. The sides reached agreement Wednesday morning, and the Seahawks made the announcement that afternoon.

Macdonald also revealed that he is far more familiar with the Seattle area than his résumé may have let on.

He was born in Boston but grew up in Roswell, Ga., and attended Georgia (where he did not play football, having stopped after high school), before beginning his coaching career at Georgia.

He continued it with the Ravens and coach John Harbaugh in 2014, memorably accepting a job as a defensive intern after he had already accepted a job outside football with the accounting firm KPMG before getting a full-time spot in 2015. He’s been there since, other than a one-year stint in 2021 as the defensive coordinator at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh, leaving there to become the DC with the Ravens.

Macdonald noted that one of his two older sisters, Kate, lived for a while in the Ballard area. He recalled visiting her a few times and taking in a few Mariners games, a Sounders game and even attending the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay.

“I think the first thing that really popped to me was the parallels of the organization that I’ve been working for 10 years and where I’ve really grown into the person and the man and the coach that I am today,” he said. “That was extremely appealing to me. … It is a leap of faith, but this is a special city. This is a great football city, man.”

It’s a leap of faith for the Seahawks, too.

Macdonald is not only the NFL’s youngest coach but only the second coach Seattle has hired with no head-coaching experience. The other was the team’s initial hire in 1976, Jack Patera. And Macdonald’s overall resume isn’t overly broad – he spent the past 10 years working under one of the Harbaugh brothers.

But Schneider said he went in looking for someone who could “change the marketplace,” and added that Macdonald can do just that, calling him at one point “a disrupter” and at another saying, “This is the future right here. This is where it’s going.”

“When you’re hiring somebody, you look at the background,” Schneider said. “That means a lot. You’re talking about a great organization. You’re talking about the Ravens and John Harbaugh, the Harbaughs, and then Jim and Michigan. I mean, fantastic.”

And Macdonald levied about as strong a promise as he can that the leap of faith will be rewarded.

“I can guarantee you this: You will get everything out of myself and our coaching staff every day,” Macdonald said, looking out not only at assembled media but also many team staffers at the team’s facility. “We will not stop until we get to where we want to get. I hope that’s very clear to you.”