Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald’s high-wire act: Establish a new culture while preserving the past (2024)

RENTON, Wash. — Mike Macdonald was incensed.

The Seattle Seahawks and their new head coach were putting the finishing touches on a “move the ball” period to end a training camp practice when receiver Jake Bobo caught a pass in the red zone near the sideline. As coaches on both sides of the ball began to call their next plays, Macdonald recognized it wasn’t clear whether Bobo was ruled down inbounds and whether the clock was running.

Macdonald briefly halted the drill to bark at the sideline official for not signaling a ruling. The official then gave the ruling, and Macdonald frustratedly accepted it while reminding him of the importance of doing his job in that situation. Staffers within earshot took notice of the message being sent by the head coach: Everyone is to be held accountable.

Equally important to the start of the Macdonald era, which will officially begin against the Denver Broncos on Sunday afternoon at Lumen Field, is the consistency of that messaging, which he demonstrated during their bonus week of practice after cutdown day.

Macdonald was installing a defensive scheme when Devon Witherspoon spotted a flaw in the plan. The second-year cornerback cautioned against that particular approach and explained what the drawback would be. Macdonald disagreed.

When it came time to apply the plan during the walk-through, Witherspoon was right, and the exact conflict he predicted came to fruition.

“He let me know about it,” Macdonald said with a laugh in a post-practice sit-down outside the locker room last week.

The message sent there was perhaps even more powerful than the exchange with the official: Everyone is to be held accountable — even the head coach.

Macdonald views this more through a lens of integrity than accountability, but for purposes of his job, the two go hand in hand. Actions must match words, and that needs to be consistent throughout the building with everyone who plays a role in helping the Seahawks succeed.

“You have to be really vigilant in making sure that you’re sticking to what you said you’re going to do,” Macdonald said. “The players, they’re watching, they’re paying attention. You owe that to them to follow through with how you said you’re going to operate. And it starts with the coaches.

“Players know. They know who the good players are. They know who the good coaches are. They know who’s full of crap. I guess you could say one of my biggest fears is being someone that’s just full of crap, just being a phony, not being a real person. If that was your legacy, that would be tragic. I’d be like, ‘Why are we doing this whole thing?’”

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When Macdonald accepted his first college coaching job as a graduate assistant at Georgia, John Schneider and Pete Carroll were in their first year together with the Seahawks. Macdonald accepted his first head-coaching job in January, as Carroll’s replacement.

During the time in between, Macdonald climbed the coaching ranks, starting as a low-level assistant at his alma mater before moving on to work for the Harbaugh brothers, first with John in Baltimore (2014-2020), then a one-year stint with Jim at Michigan (2021) followed by a return to the Ravens for two seasons as the defensive coordinator.

Last season, Macdonald’s Baltimore defense became the first in league history to lead the league in sacks, turnovers and scoring. In Week 9, Macdonald held Seattle to the least efficient offensive performance of the Carroll era in a 37-3 rout. Between that performance and the buzz Macdonald’s name generated in league circles as a potential head-coaching candidate, Schneider so badly wanted the opportunity to hire Macdonald that he spent the morning of the AFC Championship praying for the Ravens to lose to the Chiefs.

Macdonald wasn’t hired to replace Seattle’s only Super Bowl-winning coach solely because of his defensive mind. Schneider and owner Jody Allen invested in Macdonald because they believe in who he is, what he stands for and the way he communicates his vision and inspires others to buy in, which is why those instances of accountability stand out as he lays the foundation for the team’s future.

“Everybody’s asked me, ‘What would you say about this coach or that coach?’” Schneider said. “With Mike, I would say clarity, and there’s an intent to everything that we’re doing.”

Macdonald inherited different Year 1 expectations than the other seven head coaches hired in the offseason. Seattle fell one game short of the playoffs in 2023 and let go of only one half of the management duo that created the winningest culture in franchise history. In addition to retaining Schneider, who was hired by Carroll in 2010, the Seahawks kept several other franchise fixtures who helped shape the culture.

Director of equipment Erik Kennedy has been with Seattle for 35 years, and his office is basically the team’s water cooler, a popular hangout for players past and present. Kennedy is held in high regard throughout the building, as is Maurice Kelly, the vice president of player affairs who is in his 20th season with the organization. His office is another safe space for players, who use the room year-round to air grievances, unwind and strengthen their relationships. It’s like a barbershop, only instead of haircuts, Kelly lends his ear and gives advice, while serving as a liaison between players and management.

Between people like Kennedy, Kelly, team chef Stu McNabb, the leaders of the player performance department and even research analyst Brian Eayrs — formerly Carroll’s right-hand man, but now one of the voices in Macdonald’s ear on game days — Schneider and Allen largely kept their foundation intact.

All of this makes Macdonald’s job two-pronged: create a culture while preserving parts of the old one.

This requires a balancing act for the league’s youngest head coach. He got a taste of what that entails during the offseason when it was revealed that he removed super-sized pictures of iconic moments from the Carroll era that lined the wall adjacent to the indoor practice facility, took down signage featuring the previous staff’s slogans and got rid of the basketball hoop in the team meeting room.

Those changes became talking points both locally and nationally. Rich Eisen and Pat McAfee debated Macdonald’s decision on their platforms. Schneider referred to it as “Picturegate” during an appearance on KIRO-AM radio. Seahawks legends Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman lamented the picture removal on X. Schneider and Macdonald then playfully trolled Sherman afterward in a draft-night video standing beside a picture of “The Tip.”

Mike and John checking in. 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/cgXp0CFdAL

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) April 25, 2024

Chancellor and Sherman have visited the facility multiple times since, including the final day of training camp, which featured Sherman hugging Macdonald and telling him, “You’ve got a hell of a scheme.” Picturegate is water under the bridge now, but it’s nonetheless an example of the high-wire act that Macdonald is asked to perform.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with players since we’ve done that,” Macdonald said. “Sometimes your intent gets out of whack, but it does mean that you have to be very intentional on some of the things you do and be calculated. If we were to do it all over again, we probably still would’ve done the same thing but maybe give a hootie hoo or a heads up to some of the guys and say, ‘This is why, these are our plans.’”

Part of the plan is already in motion: Outside the indoor practice facility there are several television screens, each showing highlights from a different decade. Atop the staircase that leads to the cafeteria and several meeting rooms is a large screen showing highlights from the previous game. Over time, images from the franchise’s entire history — not just the Carroll era — will be immortalized throughout the building.

“It’s a history that we want to preserve and we’re trying to build on,” Macdonald said. “We’re trying to build the next chapter of the Seahawks. It’s a big charge, but you can’t do that by erasing anything. You can’t go back and start from scratch.”

Macdonald has attempted to build a new culture through rules and philosophies that outline his expectations for the players and coaches. Some of them are Macdonaldisms. Others are borrowed from his staff or previous employers.

“Make it right” preaches accountability and atonement, whether making a splash play to make up for an error or paying a fine for tardiness. “Go through things, not around them” describes the mentality of attacking adverse situations head-on. “Takes no talent,” commonly known as TNT, speaks to making an impact even if you don’t have the ball — being physical, blocking, knowing your assignment, being detailed, giving good effort, etc.

“Staying frosty” is based on the notion that principles are set in stone, but methods are adjustable. Respect, hard work, communication, honesty, integrity, physicality — those are non-negotiable. How they live by those principles and what that looks like on the field can be shaped by what is best for the players and the team.

“The best part about him is obviously he goes by the book, but he’s really, really great at adapting,” veteran receiver Tyler Lockett said of Macdonald. “Sometimes as players, one of the hardest things for us to do is to adapt when things don’t happen the way we want it to happen.”

Macdonald’s most used mantra is “chasing edges.” In a league with razor-thin margins, Macdonald is on a never-ending quest to be ahead of the curve, hoping to squeeze every advantage possible. He feels obligated to help players thrive by doing his homework on them and on the X’s and O’s, so they aren’t out-schemed or outsmarted. Although his expertise is on defense — the side of the ball that is inherently reactionary — Macdonald swears by the power of proactivity.

“You want to be a team that’s out in front, that’s pushing the envelope, or do you want to be chasing other people, copying what other people do?” Macdonald said. “The former sounds a lot better.”

Lately, the Seahawks have been closer to the latter in their division, chasing the Rams and 49ers since Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan were hired in 2017. Since then, McVay and Shanahan have accounted for six of seven NFC West titles and represented the conference in four of the past six Super Bowls. Both swept the Seahawks last season, and Shanahan is on a five-game win streak versus Seattle (playoffs included) with an average margin of victory of 15.2 points.

Their offensive success and ingenuity have led teams to poach coaches from their staffs to be either head coaches or coordinators. The Seahawks even followed the trend, hiring McVay’s former passing game coordinator, Shane Waldron, to be their offensive coordinator in 2021 because of how enamored they were with the Rams’ scheme.

The Seahawks don’t want to be followers anymore. Macdonald was hired to re-establish the Seahawks as the team others want to copy, just as they were when the league aspired to mimic their Cover 3 scheme in the Legion of Boom era. Macdonald’s Ravens scheme was so dominant that the Chargers, Titans and Dolphins hired coaches this offseason to run it.

The Seahawks view Macdonald as the secret sauce that will keep them ahead of the curve. The defensive version of McVay, in essence. McVay has mastered the illusion of complexity, layering multiple play designs on top of one another out of the same personnel grouping and similar alignments. Macdonald’s defense is similarly constructed, one reason so many players feel they’re in for career years in this scheme.

“Mike’s reallygood at doing that,” safety Julian Love said, “trying to layer his calls with other calls.”

Macdonald’s scheme is unique in that way, defensive players say, because every coverage structure looks the same. Seattle’s previous defense had tells based on safety rotations, but now, the disguises are harder to dissect. Players attribute the exceptional deception to Macdonald’s obsession with the details. He is more of a CEO these days, but deep down, he’s still that kid from Georgia who loves sitting in his office designing plays.

“He takes the preparation of the game very serious,” cornerback Tre Brown said. “He takes it to heart. He wants to get better. He’s a competitor as a coach. It shows up a lot. … If it ain’t perfect, we’re going to keep running it back.”

McVay’s Rams played well but lost to Macdonald’s Ravens in Week 14 last season. During an offseason conversation with The Athletic’s Robert Mays, McVay praised Macdonald for displaying many of the traits that McVay is known for as an offensive mind: identity, complexity and intentionality.

“You felt like you were playing against 13 players sometimes,” said McVay, who later added: “They were such a well-coordinated and a well-executed defense from the players to the coaches. I respect the coordinators the most that you can see an intent behind what they’re trying to get done, and I thought that showed up consistently on his tape.”

The next chapter of Seahawks will be defined not only by scheme but also by Macdonald’s ability to build a team in his image. The NFL is cyclical. Schemes change, and players come and go. The Seahawks’ success is tied to Macdonald being pliable while also staying true to himself and getting his players to embody those same traits. Although he’s known for schematic wizardry, Macdonald admits the X’s and O’s are overrated.

“It’s about how you play,” he said. “It’s about how the 11 people on the field can work as one.”

Plastered along the wall that leads from the locker room to the outdoor practice field is the phrase, “A style nobody wants to play,” a reminder that mentality matters more than anything on the play sheet.

“I’ve been around the league for a while, and I’ve got an understanding of what he’s saying: You want to run through somebody’s face, play in and play out,” offensive tackle George Fant said. “That’s the kind of style he wants to bring here. He wants to bring that smashmouth football back to Seattle.”

That mentality is a direct reflection of Macdonald, who maintains a stoic demeanor after big plays, whether for or against his team. He cracks jokes behind the scenes — with the defensive backs more than others — but mostly comes off as stern and serious, which he is. Macdonald’s team meetings are “quick, short and to the point,” outside linebacker Boye Mafe said. That’s because Macdonald prefers to let the on-field product do the talking.

“Mike is a young coach trying to prove himself, and he carries that,” defensive tackle Myles Adams said. “Has that chip on his shoulder and a very aggressive mentality.”

The most compelling part about the dawn of the Macdonald era is whether that mentality translates to the field starting Sunday, and whether it will be maintained through the season. If both boxes get checked, Schneider will have landed the new future of the franchise, the guy to make the Seahawks a championship-caliber football team again, and the new edge everyone else will be chasing.

(Top photos: Rio Giancarlo, Steph Chambers / Getty Images)