Mike Macdonald’s relationship with Xarvia Smith didn’t get off to a great start.
Shortly after Smith was hired as head coach at Centennial High School in Roswell, Georgia, Macdonald, a senior captain on the team, called him and invited him to lunch.
“I laughed at him and said, ‘Mike, you and I will never have lunch together. I’m not your friend, I’m your coach. When you graduate, we’ll have it all. the lunch you wanted,” Smith recalls. “That’s how we started our relationship.”
Two years later, after Macdonald enrolled to study finance at the University of Georgia, he called his former coach, who had been hired at nearby Cedar Shoals High School in Athens. Macdonald wanted a job and Smith hired him as the freshman head coach and a defensive analyst for the varsity team.
It was the beginning of Macdonald’s stormy rise through the coaching profession, which will now see him on the big stage with him coordinating No. Michigannumber 3’s defense Georgia in the semi-finals of the College Football Qualifiers at Capital One Orange Bowl (Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN Apps). As a first-time defensive coordinator, Macdonald, 34, has guided a unit that placed fourth in FBS in defensive scores (16.1 points) and 11th in total defensive points (316, 2 yards) this season.
“I’m not surprised because we laid out the plan for him about 10 years ago,” Smith said. “This is how it’s supposed to be. When he finished college, I said, ‘Here’s what’s going to happen: You’re going to be a coordinator and then a head coach. “
Smith recalls Macdonald laughing about his prediction. “You see,” Smith told him.
In his first season as coach of freshman team Cedar Shoals High, Macdonald’s defense had six shutdowns during the 7-0 campaign in 2008. Two years later, the coordinator Georgia defender at the time Todd Grantham hired Macdonald as a graduate assistant after another GA recommended him.
“He was very dedicated and you could tell right away he was smart,” says Grantham. “He was a business major and was going to be a CPA. I used to joke with him and say, ‘Dude, you need to do that.’ But he wanted to coach football and was my GA for two years and did a great job. He was very detailed and one of those guys that you can tell him something and he there’s no need to come see me if he’s in a situation where he has to figure something out. He’ll figure it out and get the job done.”
Macdonald spent four seasons on the Georgia payroll from 2010 to 2013, the last three seasons working with safety as a defensive quality control coach.
Former Bulldogs coach Mark Richt said: “He’s a sharp man, that’s for sure. “He’s the smartest guy in the room. There’s a lot of smart guys who can’t communicate well. They expect everyone to understand things as quickly as they do. One of the gifts of teaching is creating a something little complicated, simple and made it easier to understand. I always felt that he was really good at it. You can go into the room and make everyone spin or you can be a guy. where people say, ‘That guy taught me something.’ “
Macdonald completed his master’s degree in sports management in Georgia in 2013 and is ready to leave the coaching job. He even signed a contract with a global accounting firm. But with the help of Auburn defensive line coach Rodney Garner, Macdonald instead interned with the Baltimore Ravens in 2014.
“Just great luck,” Macdonald said. “Let’s talk about the luck of the draw. Oh my gosh, I’m so lucky that it happened, [or] otherwise we wouldn’t be sitting here. “
Ravens coach John Harbaugh was impressed when he hired Macdonald as a defensive assistant the following year. He coached the Ravens defensive linebackers in 2017 and quarterbacks from 2018 to 2020. What surprised Smith more than anything was Macdonald’s ability to coach NFL players of his age. so young – and I don’t have much competition experience myself. Macdonald missed his final season of high school with neck and knee injuries and did not compete in college.
“I used to have the same fear as a young coach,” says Richt, “Why are people listening to me? “. “But what you learn is that if you have the knowledge, can teach, and can help a guy get better, then they respect that. They’re looking for that and hoping for it. They’re looking for it. They also want to be respected as a human being. They don’t” they don’t want a certain man to mislead them. They want a guy who can communicate and help a guy get better at what he wants to be great. That’s why such guys quickly gain respect. “
“He’s the smartest guy in the room. There are a lot of smart guys who can’t communicate well. … One of the gifts of teaching is making something a little complicated look simple. simpler and easier to understand. I always felt that he was really good at it.”
Former Georgia coach Mark Richt
Macdonald’s move to Michigan required a leap of faith from the Wolverines coach, John’s younger brother Jim Harbaugh, and himself. The Wolverines are about to do a 2-4 campaign in the abbreviated 2020 season. Harbaugh was in the hot seat after his teams failed to beat rival Ohio State in five tries and failed to win the Big Ten for six seasons, and he was given a pay cut in a full contract extension. encourage. Harbaugh restructuring his staff and hiring Macdonald, who had never been the coordinator, was a gamble.
Macdonald has replaced longtime defensive coordinator Don Brown, who is now head coach at Massachusetts. In Brown’s final season, the defense was 87th in yards per game, 59th in yards per game and last in javelin and passes per game.
“I really don’t think about… the hot chair,” Macdonald said. “Honestly, I really don’t know about it. I know the coach Jim Harbaugh and Michigan and the reputation of this college. I mean, it’s actually pretty simple. And then just the goal. My personal goal, I’ve always wanted to be a defensive coordinator at any level, and this is football of the times. It doesn’t get bigger than this.”
This past spring, Macdonald promised that Werewolves would use multiple appearances to try to confuse offenses, just as the Crows did. Werewolf has play area coverage, man to man, and matching pattern in the subsection.
Sometimes, Michigan’s defense was arranged in a 3-4, sometimes 4-3, and other times, even 6-1 or 6-2. More than anything, Macdonald tried to devise plans that used the skills of his players. In November, Ohio State coach Ryan Day described Michigan’s defense as “more NFL-oriented” than it used to be.
With Macdonald’s help, Harbaugh finally turned the tide at his alma mater. The Wolverines finished 12-1, beating the Buckeyes 42-27 and claiming their first Big Ten title in 17 years.
“I think he brings a new version of the game for us to play”, tackles defense Mazi Smith speak. “I think the way he does all of the things that he’s trying to teach us and make us do, he does it quickly, he does it efficiently. He doesn’t leave I just thought [he uses] his staff to the best of us, he has packages for everyone and he’s trying to get the most out of us, and we want to do that. “
Previously rarely used players, such as linebacker David Ojabo, reverse angle DJ Turner and Smith, have become bright stars in Macdonald’s scheme this season.
“Gosh, he just gave me a chance,” said Turner, who hasn’t had a tackle in his first two seasons before saving two passes and protecting nine others this year. .
Ojabo, a youngster from Scotland, had one tackle in 2020 before bursting into 11 sacks with five forced fumbles this season.
“[Macdonald] Ojabo said.
Now, the Wolverines are reaching the end of their lives and are just one win away from competing in the CFP National Championship.
Smith, who gave Macdonald his first coaching break more than a decade ago, remains in touch with the former player and his assistant.
“I always tell him we need lunch,” Smith said.
