The Seahawks are in uncharted waters, working through the 2024 offseason with a new head coach for the first time since 2010.
Having spent the last month and a half settling into his role amid the chaos of free agency and draft preparation, new Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald has taken his task of leading the transition into a new era of Seahawks football in stride, even if it’s been new territory for him.
“I think it’s going well. Obviously there’s no manual for this type of responsibility,” he said in an interview with NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero at the Annual League Meeting on Saturday. “… We have a plan in place, but you’re just trying to do your best day by day and stack days, and now we look back five or six weeks, I feel like we’ve made a lot of progress. But there’s just so much work still to do.”
With change naturally comes comparison to the “before,” and Macdonald has spoken at length about following Pete Carroll, who helmed the Seahawks for 14 years and won a Super Bowl in Seattle before parting ways with the organization after the 2023 season.
Knowing that he’s taking over for a coach that had such success is just another motivation for Macdonald, though, as he said that he recognizes the importance forging his own path as a leader, finding what defines his teams and how to produce sustained success as a franchise.
“(Carroll’s) such an integral part of building this foundation, of who the Seahawks are, and that’s one of the reasons why it was so appealing for this opportunity. So it’s hard to separate those things,” Macdonald said. “However, like I said in my press conference, the only person that’s unique to me is me, so that’s the person I’m going to be. I have my way of seeing things and what I believe in, and a lot of that is aligned with what he believes in, from what I understand. However, this team needs to take on its own identity, just like any team, any year, and I’m the one to lead that charge. So it’ll be in our vision, and we’ll move forward.”
