Mike Macdonald, new Seattle Seahawks coach, has Washington high school football ties

In between stints as a college-football assistant coach and his current position as seventh-year program coach at North Creek High School, Torrey Myers spent two years in the NFL.

He worked as quality control assistant on offense (assistant running backs coach) with the Baltimore Ravens from 2015-16.

His defensive counterpart?

It was Mike Macdonald, who, at age 36, was hired to be the youngest coach in the NFL on Wednesday by the Seattle Seahawks.

"Highly intelligent," said Myers on Wednesday, when asked to describe Macdonald.

And inquisitive.

"He waned to know every little detail about the game," Myers said. "I was so impressed with how much football he knew, even though he was so much younger."

Even though their work cubicles were down the hall from each other at the Under Armour Performance Center - the Ravens' practice facility - Myers said they did not have much interaction during the season.

But when it came to being assigned offseason "research projects" - studying the best trick plays in college football, or understanding the ins and outs of the top five red-zone teams in the NFL, for example - that is when Myers and Macdonald would talk most often.

"He was in his 20s, but you would not know he was a 20-year-old guy with the Ravens," Myers said. "That is not how he acted."

Myers left to become the first coach at North Creek High School when it opened in 2017 at the same time when Macdonald was promoted by the Ravens to become a defensive backs coach (2017), then a linebackers coach (2018-2020).

Macdonald left for one season (2021) to become the defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan under Jim Harbaugh - John's brother - but returned a year later as Wink Martindale's replacement as Baltimore's defensive coordinator.

"I just remember him being a humble guy," Myers said.