Dave Boling: Coach Mike Macdonald has set high standard in first year with Seahawks, needed foundation for a winner

The most encouraging part of the Seahawks finishing with a 10-7 record?

Coach Mike Macdonald isn’t happy about it.

Evidence: Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb was let go Monday morning. Who knows who’s next?

Grubb can’t be held responsible for the Hawks being underpowered on the offensive line all season, but maybe somebody will walk the plank for that, tomorrow.

Macdonald’s vision of the team is rooted in physicality and running the ball. It came up short this season. Adios, Ryan.

No time to waste. The Seahawks have a lot of places to improve. And it’s starting to look suspiciously as if Macdonald could be the guy to lead them there.

Fans of the team are likely to see 10 wins as at least a slim improvement over the 9-8 record that got Pete Carroll fired this time last season. Vegas pinned the win-total for Macdonald’s maiden voyage at 7½, so 10 could have returned a nice dividend to anyone so inclined.

And when the totals were added, the Hawks matched the Rams’ 10-7 division-winning mark, with the Rams ousting them due to the playoff’s fifth tie-breaker.

So, 10 wins opened some eyes.

Macdonald might unleash a dubious squint, though, knowing the division was weak, and the Hawks defeated only one team above .500.

It’s hard to speculate on whether the hair-trigger on the pink slips is the work of GM John Schneider or Macdonald. Probably a collaborative effort.

This was the most recent in several key moments of note this season, actions that start to fill in the sketch of Macdonald that’s emerge.

The first big one came at midway, when an almost congenital weakness in the Seahawks’ defense became apparent. Schneider and Macdonald abruptly replaced the starting linebackers by trading for Ernest Jones IV and elevating rookie Tyrice Knight.

Booting your starting linebackers at midseason is drastic. But fully deserved. The season was at a tipping point and the tackling was atrocious. They’d given up an average of 36 points in a three-game span.

And, it worked.

With Jones and Knight aggressively filling gaps, the Hawks went from 23rd in total defense in Week 10 to 14th – top half of the league – by the end of the season. And that was up from 30th in Carroll’s last season.

Surely, seeing empty cubicles sprout in the locker room got everybody’s attention.

Same thing with some kick returners who grew lax with ball security. Adios.

Another vivid reflection on Macdonald arose in the last week, once the Hawks were confronted with the reality that some inexplicably bad losses cost them what should have been a pretty easy path to the playoffs.

Macdonald was asked if he would try to sit veterans to learn more about his younger players in a so-called meaningless game.

Macdonald seemed to have trouble wrapping his mind around the question.

“We’ve got a standard here of what we’re trying to build,” Macdonald said. “You can’t let outside forces affect how we play and our mentality. It’s just not how we’re going to operate. That’s soft, frankly, and that’s not how we’re going to be.”

And even in the context of playing against a Rams team relying on a lot of JV players, the Seahawks played hard and well and tough, and came away with a win in one of their better performances.

After the game, Macdonald congratulated them in the locker room, knowing how hard it was to fight through that “meaningless” mentality of a game like that. The guys, he said, never complained or felt sorry for themselves.

“We just went back to work,” he said.

The Seahawks have a huge amount to be done.

They need to figure out what to do with quarterback Geno Smith. Can they win games with him? Yes. Absolutely.

But can they win games with him drawing a salary that would allow other areas of the roster to be strengthened? Maybe not.

The best way to improve Smith’s productivity would be to pay more people who know how to protect him. Although there’s enough time for half a dozen of my columns bemoaning the traditional absence of proper investment in Seahawk offensive-line manpower.

Macdonald seems to be earning trust as he talks about the foundation they’re building. Establishing a level of expectations everybody in the building understands.

By the end of the season, the defense had worked its way into the top half of the league. They now have several stars and young stars-in-the-making.

The offense will require most of the attention this offseason

And, of course, there could be some more staff positions to fill before long.

Just a heads-up, getting the team to 10-7 may not be enough to make the head coach happy.