Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald took over the organization in 2024; by the end of the following season, he was a Super Bowl champion.
He put faith first in his quest to win a Super Bowl and reflected on how messages from his pastor from high school, Darren Youngstrom, help ground him before games.
“He sends me like an expedited message from what he gave his people that day, and it’s about two to three minutes, and so like, that kind of grounds me before each game,” Macdonald said on the “Sports Spectrum” podcast. “I write reminders from the message on my call sheet that I can reference throughout the game to keep me grounded.”
As Macdonald prepared for the Super Bowl, he was anxious and was trying to stick to his routine as much as he could.
“If you saw in our parade, John Schneider had the small Jesus figurines that he was throwing out to the crowd, which I thought was awesome,” he continued. “He had one, and I think you might have seen it on my face, some stress or whatever, and so he just stuck it right there on my desk, and when I came back in, it’s just sitting there, like Jesus is just standing there staring at me.
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“So as I went through my process again and prayed and listened to Darren’s message, and thinking about the game, it was just like a lightness that I felt, like a clarity of, like, it’s not in your control,” the head coach reflected. “You’ve done all the things you need to do. Have faith in the process. Like, win or lose, it’s part of His vision for you. [It] is what you’re really praying for, is like, ‘Let your vision come to life. Let’s glorify your vision about how you want this to go.'”
After the Seahawks won the Super Bowl earlier this year, Macdonald shared how big of a role God played in his journey.
“I believe God called me to be a coach, and I listened to Him, and I thank Him,” Macdonald said on Sunday after the victory. “We are incredibly blessed to be Seahawks, to be 12s, and now we’re world champions.”
“One of the great things about our team is we grow together, and that’s part of my life that’s been a journey,” he said later in the post-game press conference. “My faith hasn’t always been strong. You have doubts; it’s kind of a roller coaster ride, and over the last few years, it’s been really strengthened. You see what our players do and what [team chaplain] Jonathan Rainey does every day and brings people together. It’s a journey that we’re in together. It’s empowering and it’s inspiring to pursue that part of your life that’s so important.”
As the Seahawks prepare to defend their Super Bowl trophy, Macdonald is focused on keeping Christ at the center of his coaching.
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