Rookie Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald ran into former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll last weekend.
They were both at an NBA preseason game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Portland Trail Blazers at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Macdonald, along with Seahawks/Blazers team owner Jody Allen, saw Carroll, and the crowd gave him a loud cheer when he appeared on the screen.
Here’s what Macdonald said about their unexpected meeting on Wednesday, according to Jon Alfano at Sports Illustrated.
Mike Macdonald on Pete Carroll encounter:
“I’ve never been courtside of any basketball game, even high school, so I thought that was kind of cool. I was surprised. Guys are incredible, the guys are freaks man. Wasn’t anticipating Pete being there.
We saw him, he was sitting courtside, too, and figured it’d be good to go chop it up with him and it was a lot of fun. He got to meet my wife and just kind of compare notes on some things, but yeah, it was a good time.”
Macdonald looked like a genius during the first three games of the season, as his defense played really well against Bo Nix, Jacoby Brissett, and Skylar Thompson, helping the team start 3-0.
However, things have taken a turn since then. A lot of injuries on defense have hurt the team, and they have lost three straight games, with their run defense getting worse each week.
Macdonald will need to change this if his team wants to upset the Atlanta Falcons on the road. While the Falcons don’t have a super clever run game like the San Francisco 49ers, they block well and have two very talented running backs in Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier. If Macdonald can’t find a way to stop them, he could be facing four losses in a row with the Buffalo Bills next on the schedule.
