'Welcome to Mike Macdonald Day': Meet the Seahawks' new head coach

The Seattle Seahawks have found their man to replace longtime head coach Pete Carroll.

Mike Macdonald comes to Seattle football from the Baltimore Ravens, where he was the defensive coordinator from 2022 to 2023 and was on the coaching staff from 2014 to 2020. He left for a brief time to join the coaching staff at the University of Michigan before returning to the Ravens for his final season in Baltimore.

With this latest move, the 36-year-old Macdonald is now the youngest active head coach in the National Football League. Pete Carroll, at 72, was the oldest active head coach before losing his job last month.

"Welcome to Mike Macdonald Day," Seahawks General Manager John Schneider said, as he opened a press conference Thursday to introduce the coach — "a special dude" as Schneider called him — with much ado about how this was a chance to move the team forward.

"This is a humbling feeling," Macdonald said. "It feels like we're in this thing together."

The Ravens finished with the NFL’s best record this season before losing in the AFC Championship to the Kansas City Chiefs.

For those of you who are more stat-inclined, the Seahawks broke down some of the key numbers in a press release:

• The Ravens led the NFL in scoring defense, allowing 16.5 points per game.
• They also led sacks, with 60 for the season.
• And the Ravens finished the 2023 season tied for first in takeaways, with 31.
• Plus, they ranked sixth in yards allowed, at just about 301 per game.

The Ravens' standing reportedly helped make Macdonald one of the most coveted potential hires this offseason. He reportedly interviewed with six teams, including Seattle.

"It is a leap of faith," Macdonald said. "But this is a special city. This is a great football city, and we got the best fans in the world. ... This feels like home already."

Macdonald will have time to settle in. He signed up for six seasons with the Seahawks.

"I'm just juiced to go do it," he said.

And the Seahawks, not to mention their fans, are "juiced" for a chance to right this past season's wrongs.

John Schneider referenced a pair of bruising defeats the Seahawks suffered this year, including a 37-3 loss to Macdonald's Ravens in November.

"We will never look like that again," Schneider said.

Then, there was the Seahawks' loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in December, a critical point in the season that effectively sealed Seattle's post-season fate. It was the bummer turning point in what was otherwise a vaguely promising season.

The 30-23 loss left the Seahawks' post-season in the hands of several other teams vying for a spot in the playoffs. Spoiler alert: Seattle did not make the playoffs, thanks to a Green Bay Packers victory over the Chicago Bears.

Now, Macdonald will have to try to use his rising star to propel a team that has struggled to reach the post season and that hasn't won a Super Bowl since 2014.

"When I hear people tell me 'you've risen really fast,' it makes me really uncomfortable," Macdonald said in response to a reporter's question Thursday. "There's no way it can be just you. ... The whole goal is about empowering [the team] and trying to bring the best out of them."

Seahawks fans will just have to wait to see whether Macdonald really is the man to do that.

Watch the full press conference introducing Macdonald here.