The youngest head coach in the NFL is intrigued by one of the younger assistant coaches in pro sports.
Coach Mike Macdonald and the Seahawks have asked the Minnesota Vikings for permission to interview 28-year-old Grant Ubinski about Seattle’s offensive coordinator job. NFL Network reported that Monday night.
It’s part of the league’s trend of seeking young, hot-shot playcallers for top coaching jobs. The 37-year-old Macdonald became Seattle’s first-time head coach and defensive playcaller this time last year as part of that trend.
Ubinski is the Vikings assistant offensive coordinator and assistant quarterbacks coach. Many around the NFL credit him and quarterbacks coach Josh McCown, in just his second year as a coach, for making Sam Darnold a 14-win, 4,300-yard quarterback this Minnesota season. It ended Monday night with the Vikings’ playoff loss at the Los Angeles Rams.
Udinski coaches under head coach Kevin O’Connell’s play calling that had Darnold throwing the ball deeper downfield than any other NFL quarterback in 2024. Darnold led the league in completions and completion rate on throws of 20 or more air yards, to All-Pro wide Justin Jefferson and Minnesota’s wide receivers.
The Seahawks have wide receivers DK Metcalf and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a 100-catch man this past season. Macdonald would like to throw more deep balls to them in 2025.
Udinski’s ties to the Seahawks are indirect. The former college end at Davidson and Towson in the late 2010s was an assistant with the Carolina Panthers in 2021. Scott Fitterer was the Panthers’ general manager then. Fitterer had been a top deputy to Seahawks general manager John Schneider for a decade before he became a first-time GM in Carolina before the 2021 season.
Udinski is the second of the four known candidates for Seattle’s current OC opening with ties to the Panthers. Thomas Brown is scheduled to interview with the Seahawks Saturday. The interim head coach of the Chicago Bears this past season was Carolina’s offensive coordinator for Dave Canales in 2023. Canales, the Panthers head coach, was a Seahawks assistant through the 2021 season.
Udinski’s first season of coaching was in 2019 as a graduate assistant at Baylor for head coach Matt Rhule. He went with Rhule to Carolina then the Panthers made Rhule their head coach before the 2020 season.
The Seahawks were scheduled to interview New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, 37, on Tuesday.
They interviewed Detroit Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley, 47, for Seattle’s OC job last Friday.
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