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Seattle Seahawks head coach and former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald.
The Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks are on top of the world right now, and they’re doing it with a former Baltimore Ravens assistant coach Mike Macdonald as head coach.
Now, Macdonald is getting to take what he wants in terms of filling out his coaching staff, and what he wants is a key member of the Ravens’ coaching staff.
“Sources: Ravens director of football strategy/assistant quarterbacks coach Daniel Stern is leaving Baltimore to accept a job with the Seattle Seahawks, possibly as their pass-game strategist,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter wrote on his official X account on Friday. “But he is off to Seattle.”
Macdonald graduated with honors from Yale and spent the last decade as an assistant to head coach John Harbaugh on the Ravens.
In 2019, Good Morning Football’s Peter Schrager brought Stern to the football world’s attention in a GMF segment.
“Daniel Stern is a 25-year-old graduate from Yale who might be the secret weapon to the Baltimore Ravens’ offense,” Schrager said. “His title is football analyst, but his real title is offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s right hand man … he is a strategy wizard.”
Ravens Left Longing After Seattle’s Super Bowl Win
The Ravens’ biggest fears became reality on February 8 in Super Bowl LX as the Seahawks throttled the New England Patriots, 29-13, and Macdonald took his place among the game’s all-time greatest head coaches in just his second season.
It was a painful watch for a large chunk of Ravens fans who wanted the franchise to jettison former head coach John Harbaugh for Macdonald in 2024.
Harbaugh was fired after an 8-9 season in 2025 after 18 seasons and 1 Super Bowl win for the Ravens and became the head coach of the New York Giants.
The Ravens hired another former assistant, 42-year-old Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, as their new head coach on January 22.
Harbaugh was hired as head coach of the New York Giants.
“Mike Macdonald left the Ravens and won a Super Bowl,” The Ravens Realm wrote on its official X account. “Congratulations Mike, you deserve it all.”
The Ravens opened as one of the favorites to win Super Bowl LXI on Sunday, February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, with 13-1 odds.
“One of the biggest what ifs in Ravens history,” Locked on Ravens’ Kevin Oestricher wrote on X. “What if Mike Macdonald never went to the Seahawks?”
Both Harbaughs Guided Macdonald’s Career
Macdonald spent the decade before he was hired as Seattle’s head coach before the 2024 season working for either current Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh or John Harbaugh.
He was a Ravens assistant from 2014 to 2020, starting as an intern and working his way up to a defensive position coach for defensive backs and linebackers before spending 2021 as the University of Michigan’s defensive coordinator under Jim Harbaugh.
After guiding the Wolverines’ defense to a Big Ten title and the College Football Playoff, Macdonald returned for 2 seasons, including a virtuoso defensive effort in 2023 where the Ravens held opponents to 17 points or less in their final 6 regular season and postseason games, including an AFC Championship Game loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Minter also spent time as an assistant to Jim Harbaugh, winning a national championship as Michigan’s defensive coordinator following the 2023 season.
Tony Adame covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame
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