CUP OF JOE: So the Ravens Should Have Kept Mike Macdonald?

Since his departure to accept the head coaching job in Seattle, fans in droves have lamented the Ravens loss of former defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald. Most fret Steve Bisciotti’s decision not to replace John Harbaugh with Macdonald following the team’s loss to the Chiefs during the 2023 AFC Championship Game at M&T Bank Stadium.

How can you justify firing a head coach who leads his team to the No. 1 seed in the conference? How do you fire a coach 4 seasons removed from being named Coach of the Year? How do you attract new talent, new coaches to the organization when a successful employee gets canned for a then unproven head coach just because he fell one win short of going to the Super Bowl?

John wasn’t perfect in Baltimore, but he was an effective CEO. He took bullets for the team when Ray Rice was doing his thing and Lamar his. And all along he was as loyal as they come to his players and his coaching staff. How do you take a dump on that level of loyalty by firing him and promoting his defensive coordinator? What would that say to future candidates for employment with the team?

There’s also a group that suggested that Steve Bisciotti should have bumped Harbaugh upstairs to the front office to make way for Macdonald. Bumped upstairs to do what? Get in Eric DeCosta’s way? Shine Ozzie’s shoes? Take over the “Who’s got it better than us?” committee? To those in this camp, you do realize that John Harbaugh makes $17M per year, right? That’s significantly more than anyone in the building not wearing a uniform.

There were others who suggested that the Ravens just pay Macdonald like a head coach and have him sit atop the on-deck circle until John was ready to move on like DeCosta did as a GM-in-waiting under Ozzie Newsome. DeCosta was willing to wait it out as an organizational lifer who is married to someone with deep roots in Baltimore. He wasn’t going anywhere.

But coaching doesn’t work that way. It’s far more transient. Macdonald was coveted by a solid football organization in Seattle. If the Ravens went sideways in succeeding years (as they did in 2025), Macdonald’s star wouldn’t shine so brightly anymore, would it? And maybe the chance for a head coaching job, vanishes like a fart in the wind. He misses out on a chance to change his family’s future for the better.

That’s called opportunity cost!

And it was a cost Macdonald just couldn’t make.

Hindsight on the other hand, is cheap.

As with many decisions in life, timing is key. Had Macdonald’s career opportunity been in Cleveland, or with the Jets, the Raiders or the Cardinals, maybe he listens to overtures by the Ravens and stays. But the Seahawks? Nope!

Old Macdonald took his chance, E-I, E-I, Oh!

And clearly, he made the right decision.

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