Happy Super Bowl Sunday! 🏈

In today’s edition…

One story in two different formats.

He never played college football.

He had zero legacy connections.

And he worked his way up the hard way – from volunteer grad assistant, to intern, to one of the NFL’s youngest head coaches.

Here’s my deep dive on a man who will be very tough to root against tonight.

Let’s dive in 👇

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Mike Macdonald tore his ACL in his final season of high school football.

It happened on the last play of a scrimmage leading up to what would have been his last varsity game.

For a kid who was obsessed with football – so obsessed that he’d watch NFL Network documentaries on the bus ride to school – it was heartbreaking.

In that moment, the 18-year-old never could’ve imagined where he’d be two decades later:

One game away from the Lombardi Trophy.

But it came extremely close to never happening.

Until one phone call changed everything.

Mike’s playing career was littered with injuries, and by most accounts, he’d hit his ceiling on the field.

Regardless of his health, college ball probably wasn’t in the cards.

“They told me pretty early that I needed to stop playing football,” Mike said on a podcast.  “I kind of knew it by myself, too.”

After graduation, he went off to the University of Georgia.  Not as a student-athlete, but as a regular old student studying finance.

Then, somewhere along the way, he got the itch again.  The football itch.

So he picked up the phone and dialed his high school head coach, Xarvia Smith. As it turned out, Smith had just taken a coaching job at Cedar Shoals in Athens, just a few miles from UGA.

Mike had dabbled in coaching the JV team when he was still a player, especially after he got hurt.  But it didn’t become a serious consideration until he asked about an entry-level coaching gig.

“He probably did not want to be a coach, and I know his dad did not want him to be a coach,” Smith told The Athletic in 2021.

Mike showed up in a suit and tie for his interview.

“He looked at me like I was an idiot when I showed up,” he said. “But I just felt like if I’m going to do this, I’m going to do this the right way.’’

There was no interview.  The coach couldn’t turn down a former player, and he found a job for Mike coaching the freshman team and helping out the varsity squad on game nights.

The quick drive made it easy for Mike to make it to every practice and Friday night game between his college classes.

“At the time, I didn’t know what I was doing,” Mike said.  “I didn’t know that I’m, like, searching to be connecting with kids, or connecting with players, or really what coaching was about.”

“I didn’t really know how to work hard.  My work ethic wasn’t really good…and Coach Smith taught me that. How to cherish relationships, and learn from people, and put in an honest day’s work.”

He worked seven days a week, dissecting film and crafting game plans.  And it paid off.

His freshman squad had six shutouts in nine games.  The varsity team finished as the 2nd-best defense in the state, giving up just six points per game.

Mike earned the staff’s Coach of the Year award in his first season.

But a year later, he had a decision to make.

He graduated from Georgia's business school with honors.  He had a long, lucrative career ahead of him in the corporate world – if he wanted it.

Mike sat down with his father and broke the news: “I want to be a football coach.”

His dad pushed back immediately.

"My background is business. I looked at the life of a coach versus the life of someone in corporate America," Hugh MacDonald said.

"Coaching is a tough, tough world. I encouraged him to go into business at that point. I was really not initially for it."

Mike was an analytical guy.  Numbers and probabilities were his thing.  This decision was the polar opposite.

He had no connections beyond the high school level.  

No accolades as a college player.  

He’d have to start from the bottom and fight his way up each step of the ladder.

What were the chances of turning this high school assistant coaching job into a sustainable career?

"I toiled over it for a little bit," Mike said.

"But I ended up just being like, 'What are you doing? This is where your heart is at. If you're 40 years old and you didn't give it a shot, you're not going to be able to live with yourself.'"

So he threw himself into the fire.  He stayed at Georgia to pursue a master's degree in sport management while working as a grad assistant for the Bulldogs.

Landing a GA job is no small feat.  Especially for a guy with no college football experience.  And especially at a big-time SEC program like Georgia.

“[Grad assistant roles are] not that easy to get, quite frankly,” said then-head coach Mark Richt.

Mike pounded the pavement to get that job ever since he was an undergrad.  He hung around the UGA football office as often as he could, talking to different coaches and asking for an opportunity.

“I was a pain in the ass in their office,” Mike said.  “Basically, just didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer for like two and a half years.”

He landed as a volunteer coach under defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.  And he did it all: helping with recruiting visits, studying film, managing the scout team, and anything else the full-time coaches asked him to do.

“You’re so early in your career…you don’t need much food.  I didn’t need much money.  I was sleeping in the office the majority of the time.  And you wanna do a great job, and you wanna make a name for yourself.”

Mike was determined to become the go-to guy on all things Georgia football.

He ended up spending three seasons with the Bulldogs, moving up from volunteer coach to defensive quality control assistant.

“[Coach Grantham] had really high expectations and a really high standard about doing things, and I just happened to be the touchpoint on those tough conversations,” Mike remembered.

“We did a lot.  And it was a blessing in disguise.  My life sucked for three years, but I learned a ton of football.”

Toward the end of his time at Georgia, Mike was feeling burned out.  All the long hours and late nights didn’t feel like they were paying off.

He’d just gotten passed over for a coaching job under Grantham, who’d taken over at Louisville (and hired his brother instead).  On top of that, his GA status was set to expire.

It was a new low point.  And he started questioning whether the grind was even worth it.

Why not take a job that required less work for more money?

So he did.

After interviewing with KPMG, he got the offer and signed the contract.

“I was gonna make $55,000 a year as a 27-year-old, first year out of college.  I thought that was like a million bucks.  I was juiced.”

It didn’t feel right, but he couldn’t see a clear path forward in coaching.  All around him, he saw two types of people:

Just as his doubts almost threw him off course, his phone rang.

A year earlier, Mike had interviewed for a scouting position with the Baltimore Ravens.  But during the interview, he made the mistake of telling the director of scouting that he really wanted to be a coach.

Needless to say, he didn’t get the job.

But he’d made an impression, and his name stayed on their list in case a role opened up in the future.

A year later, it did.  And the timing couldn’t have been better.

The Ravens were looking for a coaching intern, and they called Mike.

When he answered the call, he heard the voice of special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg.

“At [that] point in my life, it was just like a call from God,” Mike said.

With two competing offers, it was an easy decision.  Consulting jobs are a dime a dozen.  This was the National Football League.

So two weeks after signing the offer letter at KPMG, he told the recruiter “thanks, but no thanks,” hopped in his car, and drove up to Baltimore.

It was a one-year internship.  He started at the ground level as the lowest guy on the totem pole.  He shared an office with two other coaching interns.

“I think they were trying to figure out what that role looked like over time, so we were just looking for stuff. [We'd say], 'Hey, what can we do? Let's take that off your hands. Let's take this off this guy's hands.'”

His first day on the job, he spotted then-GM Ozzie Newsome in the hallway.

“Hey, Mike,” said Newsome as he walked by.

He was speechless.  That set the tone for everything that came next.

This was it.  The opportunity of a lifetime.

Just like at Georgia, he became a key point of contact at the office.  And at the end of his internship, the Ravens hired Mike as a defensive assistant.

After two seasons, John Harbaugh promoted him to defensive backs coach. Then in 2018, he moved to linebackers coach, where he spent the next three seasons.

In 2021, he went to work for John’s brother, Jim Harbaugh, as Michigan’s defensive coordinator. That’s where he first started thinking he might want to be a head coach someday.

A year later, he went back to Baltimore to lead their defense.  At 34 years old, he was an NFL defensive coordinator.

In 2023, his unit allowed the fewest points in the league.

Then, on January 31st, 2024, he was named head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.  At the time, he was the youngest head coach in the NFL.

Think about that.

The NFL has been called an “old boys' club” for decades.  It’s notoriously difficult to break in unless you know someone or have the right last name.

Even then, it’s hard to stick around.

Mike Macdonald didn’t check any of those boxes. By all accounts, he breaks every rule of what an NFL head coach typically looks like.

Never played past high school.  No father or grandfather who coached.  No legacy connections in college or the NFL.

If he listened to his college professors – or his own father – and just followed the percentages and probabilities, he probably would’ve quit somewhere along the way.

But he didn’t.

He stayed committed and believed in himself.  He stayed dedicated to his craft over a long period of time, climbed every step the hard way, and look where he is now.

Leading his team to the Super Bowl in only his second season as a head coach. Just two years removed from being the youngest head coach ever hired in the league’s storied history.

The mindset that got him here can be traced all the way back to the senior quote he shared in his high school yearbook.

“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way.  If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”

🐶

Today’s story was written by yours truly.

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Who are you rooting for tonight?

Hit reply and let me know.

Til next time,
Tyler

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