Tales from Cedar Shoals show early potential of Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald
In 2008, Mike Macdonald walked into former Cedar Shoals coach Xarvia Smith’s office eyeing a job that was likely his to lose. That didn’t stop him from showing up in style.
Macdonald, a business major at the University of Georgia at the time, came dressed in a full blue suit and tie. It was a sign of his professionalism from an early age, but at the time, it was something fellow Cedar Shoals coaches playfully teased him for.
“We kind of ragged him about it later when he got in and got comfortable,” former Cedar Shoals offensive coordinator and current athletic director L’Dreco Thomas said. “We were just like, ‘Mike showed up in a full suit and tie, man.’
“He was dressed to impress, but if that’s his approach to everything he does, it kind of lets you know how he got where he is.”
Macdonald’s approach has carried him from coaching linebackers at Cedar Shoals to leading Seattle to the Super Bowl — where he will battle New England for his first title Sunday night — as a second-year head coach.
A remarkable feat to the rest of the country was barely surprising to Smith, who saw the coach in Macdonald before he even was one.
Macdonald was a linebacker for Smith during his senior season at Centennial. However, Macdonald suffered injuries to his neck and knee that prevented him from playing in his last season of high school football.
Smith, then a first-year coach, asked the senior to help him install his defense at Centennial. Macdonald learned and taught the defense he would soon be coaching at Cedar Shoals.
Macdonald and Smith arrived in Athens around the same time, the former as a college student and the latter as Cedar Shoals’ new head coach. Macdonald asked Smith if he could join the coaching staff, and one blue-suited interview later, he was the defensive coordinator for the ninth grade team.
Macdonald flourished. Smith said Cedar Shoals’ ninth grade team had six shutouts that season, and it wasn’t long before he was also coaching linebackers for the varsity team.
“He was pretty much a defensive coordinator, because he really knew what he was doing and Xarvia trusted him,” Thomas said.
Macdonald earned the team’s trust, too, which also impressed Smith. He said the Roswell product quickly adjusted to the different culture and environment at Cedar Shoals.
“I think he had to learn how to deal with the kids and deal with the different social economics,” Smith said. “Coming from Centennial, he was coming from a place where everyone was pretty much wealthy, and now you’re coming to Cedar Shoals, where at that point at that time, there was a lot of disadvantaged kids, and at Cedar Shoals, it was totally different for him.”
Cedar Shoals’ defense allowed just 10 points per game in Macdonald’s first season.
Macdonald also impressed Thomas and other coaches off the field with his intelligence beyond football. Cedar Shoals coaches would often compete in trivia nights at Locos Grill & Pub in Athens, and Macdonald was key to victory.
Thomas recalled one trivia night when the coaches were tied for first place at the game’s final question.
“It was going to be one question, head to head, one person from our group and one person from the other team,” Thomas said. “I ended up being the guy. I was trying to push Mike, but I ended up being the guy.”
The game came down to one question: Which city hosted the most recent Super Bowl?
“I just froze, and he’s looking at me like, ‘Come on, Drec, you got this, I know you know this,’” Thomas said. “He knew it right off the bat, and of course, the other guy ended up getting it, and I was like, ‘Dang, I should’ve let Mike go.’”
Macdonald gained more trust and respect entering his second and final season at Cedar Shoals in 2009. He earned a bigger role in developing the team’s defensive game plans during the week.
Thomas specifically recalled Macdonald’s game plan for cross-town rival Clarke Central. The 22-year-old’s attention to detail was on full display.
“He had them broken down to down-and-distance, hash, yard line, and he was able to pull out big-time tendencies and percentages, and just say, ‘When they get here, they’re going to run this for this down and this distance,’” Thomas said. “He had already shown me signs that he was going to be really good in this, but it was that week where it was just like, ‘Wow, he had them scouted so well.’”
Cedar Shoals held Clarke Central, the eventual state runner-up that year, to 14 points.
Thomas said Macdonald learned that attention to detail from one of football’s greatest defensive minds, Bill Belichick. Both massive NFL fans, Thomas and Macdonald used to obsess over the NFL Films “America’s Game” documentaries, which profiled every Super Bowl champion in league history.
Macdonald, as fate would have it, was obsessed with the documentary on the 2003 New England Patriots.
“He loved New England,” Thomas said. “He was always talking about Bill Belichick and his attention to detail and just the way he approached the game.”
Also on that team was linebacker Mike Vrabel, who will oppose Macdonald as New England’s head coach Sunday night.
“He’s about to play for an NFL championship, a chance to have his own ‘America’s Game,’” Thomas said.
Macdonald has kept in touch with Thomas and Smith throughout his career, which continued as a graduate assistant under Mark Richt at UGA before a decade of climbing the coaching ladder at Baltimore and the University of Michigan. When Seattle hired him at 36 years old, he immediately gave recognition to the first program that entrusted him with an opportunity.
“I said congratulations, and he texted me back and said, ‘Hey, Drec, I just want you to know I shouted Cedar Shoals out in the presser,’” Thomas said. “I went back to watch the presser, and sure enough, he started talking about days back at Cedar Shoals.”
Smith remembered Macdonald reaching out after his first playoff win. The Seahawks beat rival San Francisco 41-6 on Jan. 17, one of the most lopsided wins in franchise playoff history.
The day couldn’t have been much better for Macdonald, but the Seahawks lost running back Zach Charbonnet to a season-ending ACL injury.
And that was the first thing Smith heard about after the game.
“Mike texted me after the first playoff game, and he didn’t say, ‘Man, look, we won,’” Smith recalled. “He didn’t say, ‘Look at me,’ he didn’t say, ‘Man, I got my first playoff victory.’”
“His first part of the text was, ‘Will you pray for Zach Charbonnet?’”
Over the course of nearly two decades Macdonald has traded his blue suit for navy and neon polyester, but his businesslike approach has only sharpened. Smith said he just hopes his former assistant takes a moment to soak it all in.
“You’re always going to the next thing instead of relaxing and enjoying it and holding this for a moment,” Smith said. “That was the thing I told him. I think several people may have told him that, because he’s mentioned it in his interviews this week about just enjoying the moment for a minute.
“And I hope that he’s going to reflect, because this is not normal. His path is not normal.”
About the Author
Jack Leo is a sports writer and reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Jack worked for the AJC throughout his four years studying journalism and sports media at Georgia State University and the University of Georgia. He's now focused on telling stories in the grassroots: bringing comprehensive coverage of high school sports for AJC Varsity.
