Mike Macdonald- Meet the Candidate- Part 11 of 12

[ProcessBlue2]

Macdonald was originally going to be one of my honorable mention candidates but after climbing up to 2^nd on the betting odds for the next Panthers HC, I pushed him into main 12.

Mike Macdonald, DC- Baltimore Ravens

                At 36 years old, Macdonald is the youngest candidate in this group of 12 (Bobby Slowik is a whopping 2 weeks older). He was born in Boston, MA but attended High School in Roswell, GA where he played football and baseball. He attended the University of Georgia and obtained a degree in finance and graduated summa cum laude. While in college, he coached football at Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, GA during his Junior and Senior year at Georgia.

                In 2010, he was a Graduate assistant for the University of Georgia (Mark Richt’s tenure) and would later serve as a Defensive quality control assistant from 2011-2013. In 2014, he was hired by the Baltimore Ravens as a coaching intern. In 2015-2016 Macdonald was promoted to a Defensive assistant role. He would earn his first position coach role in 2017 taking over as Defensive Backs coach for that season. During this season the Ravens’ secondary would finish 2^nd in the NFL in best Defensive Passer Rating and finished with 22 interceptions.

             In 2018, Wink Martindale was promoted to Defensive Coordinator and the Linebackers Position coach role was given to Macdonald. Macdonald stayed in this role until 2021 when Jim Harbaugh (John’s brother for those that never put that together) offered Macdonald the Defensive Coordinator role at the University of Michigan. During this season Michigan’s defense became the nation’s 8^th best scoring defense, it finished 20^th in ypg- allowed, and 11^th in redzone efficiency. (Before you scoff, remember there are a lot more than 32 teams in the NCAA). The group finished with a National Ranking of 3^rd in total defense.

                In 2022, Martindale and John Harbaugh “mutually” agreed to part ways after the Ravens finished 25^th in total defense and Martindale joined Daboll as DC for the New York Giants. Macdonald was brought back to the Ravens as DC for the 2022 season. In 2022, the Ravens finished 10^th in total defense, ranking 26^th against the pass and 3^rd against the run. Currently in 2023 the Ravens rank 12^th in total defense, ranking 6^th against the pass and 12^th against the run.

               All together I think Macdonald will be hired this cycle. I am unsure why Macdonald has shot to the top of the Panthers betting odds, not because he isn’t a good coach or something but because he is a young defensive coordinator with not many offensive connections. The Panthers have a pretty decent defensive coordinator on staff now that could be a head coach, so I don’t know why they would go this direction. To be fair, Evero’s defense is concealed well behind a stat curtain. While it ranks 5^th in the NFL that is mostly due to the success against the pass. Evero’s defense ranks 21^st against the run, 32^nd (last) in sacks, 32^nd (last) in takeaways, and 30^th in points allowed. So perhaps the Panthers aren’t as afraid of losing Evero as originally thought.

             I have a hard time seeing a scenario where the Panthers hire Macdonald. The only way I see it happening is if Tepper is being guided to do so by a consultant or advisor and it is a move for a full-blown culture reset. Harbaugh has had one of the most consistently successful teams in the NFL for the last 16 years so it would make sense to bring somebody in who has been there for majority of it. I don’t really know what the plan for the offense would be in this scenario unless it was to keep Caldwell/Brown out of the sake of familiarity with Bryce or attempt to scoop up a Kellen Moore type who likely will fall through the HC search cracks. Perhaps they would be able to convince a coordinator who is not a play caller to join the staff or grab Bienemy from Rivera’s dispersed staff. (Although he has been quite unimpressive away from Reid this season).

                I don’t think Macdonald to Carolina would be a terrible hire, but a head scratcher for sure. We have seen weirder things like oh I don’t know- camping out in a Big 12 coach’s driveway and hiring him while Mike McCarthy has interviewed twice. Or you know that one time an interim coach brought you one game away from the playoffs after you fired your coach mid-season and you replaced him with a coach that just got fired mid-season. So on second thought, maybe this is possible.

[4Corners]

[FuFuLamePoo]

Him and Ben Johnson are the guys. I'll be turning backflips with either of them

[thunderraiden]

I'm telling you, if he gets an interview he is gonna be invited to a thruple with Nicole and Tepp, that finance degree conversation is gonna go MILES if Rhule's line cook connection got him the job.

[ProcessBlue2]

13 minutes ago, thunderraiden said:

I'm telling you, if he gets an interview he is gonna be invited to a thruple with Nicole and Tepp, that finance degree conversation is gonna go MILES if Rhule's line cook connection got him the job.

He also has a Masters in Sports Management 

[thunderraiden]

I also forgot, the way he has handled the Lions and the 49ers this year is impressive too, especially if he puts the cherry on top with the Dolphins next week.

[methodtoll]

Look, I have said from the beginning that I want an young offensive minded coach to take the helm. A guy like Ben Johnson will be awesome buuuuuuut I would not hate MacDonald as our coach because he reminds me a little of John Harbaugh, which is pretty ironic considering that he coaches under him.

Not to mention that he has connections with John's brother, who many want as the HC on this board. It would be totally plausible for MacDonald to come in and bring someone from the Michigan staff as OC. 

Again, I would be ok with this guy as HC

[Panthercougar68]

This is who I want. 

[ProcessBlue2]

46 minutes ago, methodtoll said:

Look, I have said from the beginning that I want an young offensive minded coach to take the helm. A guy like Ben Johnson will be awesome buuuuuuut I would not hate MacDonald as our coach because he reminds me a little of John Harbaugh, which is pretty ironic considering that he coaches under him.

Not to mention that he has connections with John's brother, who many want as the HC on this board. It would be totally plausible for MacDonald to come in and bring someone from the Michigan staff as OC. 

Again, I would be ok with this guy as HC

I think he would bring in Greg Roman. Roman "stepped down" after last year and has taken this year off. He was Jim's OC in San Francisco from 2011-2014 and John's from 2019-2022 and was on the staff in 2017 and 2018 as well. 

He was also Carolina's Asst. OL coach from 95-01.

[SOJA]

If we hire a defensive guy he's the best of the bunch and I honestly think Evero is second 

[thunderraiden]

God having the kind of Ravens defense in the NFC conference for the Lions, 49ers, Cowboys, and Eagles, everyone else in the NFC South goes without saying. I'm sure he wouldn't need much in the off-season to get production out of the defense.

And I think he would be able to handle Tepper in a language Tepper understands.

Edited December 28, 2023 by thunderraiden

[csx]

I Keep Forgettin' about this guy.

[frankw]

Intriguing candidate for sure. I look at him and consider how DeMeco Ryans has done and assembled his staff in Houston.

As much as I like Evero there are things to acknowledge about our defense this year. Burns is a ghost. Chinn is an afterthought. Our run defense is 21st in the league we are 30th in scoring defense and 31st in redzone defense. All things to ponder without rose colored glasses on.

[mrcompletely11]

20 minutes ago, frankw said:

Intriguing candidate for sure. I look at him and consider how DeMeco Ryans has done and assembled his staff in Houston.

As much as I like Evero there are things to acknowledge about our defense this year. Burns is a ghost. Chinn is an afterthought. Our run defense is 21st in the league we are 30th in scoring defense and 31st in redzone defense. All things to ponder without rose colored glasses on.

they told me a 3-4 is where Burns is going to shine, Burns was going to show us how he was a top 5 lineman