“We’re gonna be here for a long time, and we’re gonna win a lot of football games.” — Mike Macdonald to execs and staff welcoming him at VMAC

When it came down to conference title game weekend, John Schneider was pretty much guaranteed of getting one of his top two options to become the Seahawks’ next coach.

When Ben Johnson decided to stay in Detroit, Baltimore defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald immediately became the favorite – even though he had yet to speak with Schneider. It happened fast: Two interviews in two days yielded a six-year contract to become the eighth full-time coach in Seahawks history.

Macdonald is coming to one of the NFL’s premier organizations, a franchise that is third in wins in the NFC over the past 25 years. He will be trying to beat the standards set by Mike Holmgren (86 wins in 10 seasons, four playoff wins, 0-1 in Super Bowl) and Pete Carroll (137 wins in 14 seasons, 10 playoff wins, 1-1 in the Super Bowl).

The Hawks go from the oldest coach in the NFL to the youngest; Macdonald, 36, is half Carroll’s age. And Schneider, a Gen Xer, goes from working with a baby boomer to a millennial.

Macdonald brings a defensive pedigree that is as good as it gets. His Baltimore defense in 2023 became the first unit in NFL history to lead the league in scoring defense (16.5), sacks (60) and takeaways (tied for first at 31). In his two years as DC, the Ravens were No. 2 in scoring defense (17.5) and sixth in yards allowed (312.8).

Macdonald’s influence is everywhere. He also put together the Michigan defense that beat Washington in the recent national title game. Macdonald was the DC on Jim Harbaugh’s staff in 2021 and the Wolverines still use the scheme Macdonald installed.

Macdonald’s primary task in Seattle will be fixing a defense that has languished at the bottom of the league for the past couple of years and really has been middling or worse ever since the Legion of Boom was disbanded after the 2017 season.

We will see what kind of staff he puts together on both sides of the ball, but more intriguing on the defensive side will be how he views the talent there.

Some moves surely are preordained by Schneider, such as moving on from Jamal Adams and trying to re-sign big trade acquisition Leonard Williams. Others are a bit more nebulous.

Will Macdonald favor re-signing Jordyn Brooks? Keeping Quandre Diggs? What will he think of Riq Woolen’s chances of bouncing back from a terrible 2023? Does Darrell Taylor fit this defense?

What will Macdonald think of the defensive front? Will Jarran Reed, Dre’Mont Jones and possibly Williams fit what he wants to do? Or will he require a stout nose tackle like he had in Michael Pierce in Baltimore? And then where would the Seahawks find one?

What will he do at linebacker? The Seahawks have none to speak of under contract. Some fans connect the dots on Baltimore free agent Patrick Queen possibly coming to Seattle. But he figures to command a few million more than Brooks. Does Brooks fit in Macdonald’s scheme?

One thing Macdonald excels at is getting the most out of his players – see Jadeveon Clowney, Geno Stone and most of the rest of the 2023 Baltimore unit. So that surely is something that made him attractive to Schneider.

Amid the personnel questions, the Seahawks certainly have some talent for Macdonald to mold: Pro Bowl rookie corner Devon Witherspoon, Pro Bowl safety Julian Love, pass rushers Uchenna Nwosu and Boye Mafe, Reed and Jones.

As Macdonald explained it when he became Baltimore’s DC: “You want it to be flexible and adaptive, but it needs to be complementary as well, and it needs to be light enough where you can adjust certain things, and it’s simple for the players, so they can go play the way you expect them to go play.”

At the Pro Bowl, Baltimore safety Kyle Hamilton said Macdonald will challenge every defender: “It’s a challenging system. It makes you grow up really fast. He puts a lot on your plate. It’s up to you to do everything that he puts within the defense. It makes you a great player if you can get a grasp of everything. … That’s why guys have been so productive on our defense all year. … He challenges us, but you’ll be better for it in the end.”

Macdonald will reveal more about what he expects and plans at his intro presser, but the good news is the Seahawks now have a coach who offers great hope that the defense can return to glory and help the team do the same.

As Hamilton said, “They’re getting a great leader, a relatable guy, somebody that is very smart, calculated and cool in everything he does. Very intentional. He’s going to be a great coach.”

It was pretty easy to believe Macdonald when he told staff and execs who welcomed him and his wife to VMAC, “We’re gonna be here for a long time, and we’re gonna win a lot of football games.”