Mike Macdonald may not have won Coach of the Year at NFL Honors during Super Bowl week, but he did win the Lombardi Trophy, which is a little bit more important in terms of career achievements.
At the Seahawks’ Super Bowl celebration on Wednesday, Mike Macdonald was introduced by former Seahawk and longtime radio play-by-play voice Steve Raible as someone who “should’ve been recognized as NFL Coach of the Year.” As Coach Macdonald approached the podium, the fourth-youngest head coach to ever win a Super Bowl provided a mic drop before he could even get into his speech.
“I think I’ll take this trophy instead,” Macdonald said.
Of course, the Coach of the Year award went to New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, while Assistant Coach of the Year went to Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. Macdonald finished third in the voting behind Vrabel and Liam Coen of the Jacksonville Jaguars. While the Patriots and Jaguars went from 4-13 disasters to division champions, the Seahawks were clearly the NFL’s best team and that has been reason in the past to award Coach of the Year. Evidently Seattle exceeding its own low preseason expectations wasn’t enough in the eyes of voters.
The last time a Seahawks coach won Coach of the Year was Chuck Knox in 1984, when Seattle built off of its surprise AFC Championship run in 1983 by finishing 12-4 the following year. Unfortunately, they were eliminated in the Divisional Round. Mike Holmgren, Pete Carroll, and now Mike Macdonald have all led the Seahawks to a Super Bowl appearance and yet none came away with an extra AP NFL award.
“We love the 12s. You guys are the best in the world, and now we’re the best football team in the world. World champs!” Macdonald added.
He’s Coach of the Year in our hearts. And he’s a Super Bowl champion, too.