SEATTLE — The Seattle Seahawks are expected to hire Jay Harbaugh as their special teams coordinator under head coach Mike Macdonald, a source confirmed to ESPN on Monday.
Harbaugh, 34, served in that role for the past five seasons at the University of Michigan under his father, Jim Harbaugh. A report from the Ann Arbor News last week stated that the younger Harbaugh was set to follow his father to Los Angeles to coach on the Chargers’ staff, but he will instead reunite with Macdonald in Seattle.
Macdonald and Jay Harbaugh coached together for two seasons, first on the Baltimore Ravens’ staff in 2014 and then at U-M in 2021, when Macdonald was the Wolverines’ defensive coordinator.
Harbaugh began his coaching career in 2008 with a four-year stint as an undergraduate assistant at Oregon State. He spent three seasons on the Ravens’ staff as an offensive quality control coach from 2012 to ’14 before joining Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, where he also worked with tight ends, running backs and most recently safeties. Jay Harbaugh was the assistant special teams coach from 2015 to ’18 before being promoted to coordinator in 2019.
Last September, Jay Harbaugh served as interim head coach for the first half of Michigan’s win over UNLV while Jim Harbaugh was serving a suspension.
Jay Harbaugh replaces Larry Izzo, who served as Seattle’s special teams coordinator under former coach Pete Carroll for the past four seasons. Harbaugh becomes the first coordinator and second assistant to be hired to Seattle’s staff since Macdonald was introduced as head coach last week. Macdonald has also hired Leslie Frazier as assistant head coach.
Sports Illustrated first reported the Seahawks’ plan to hire Harbaugh.