The Seattle Seahawks are anticipated to include Jay Harbaugh, son of Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, in their coaching staff as the special teams coordinator, according to a source confirmed by FOX 13 Seattle. The initial report of this addition came from Albert Breer of The MMQB.
Jay Harbaugh and Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald have a shared coaching history, having spent two seasons together with the Baltimore Ravens and later at the University of Michigan. Harbaugh initially served as an offensive quality control coach for three seasons under his uncle, John Harbaugh, with the Ravens before transitioning to his father’s staff at Michigan in 2015. Mike Macdonald joined the Ravens as a coaching intern in 2014 and later became the defensive coordinator at Michigan in 2021 under Jim Harbaugh. After a season at Michigan, Macdonald returned to Baltimore to serve as the defensive coordinator for John Harbaugh.
Over the past five years, Jay Harbaugh has been responsible for overseeing the special teams units at the University of Michigan. Additionally, he held a dual role and contributed to coaching running backs, tight ends, and safeties. Notably, Harbaugh worked closely with Seahawks running back Zach Charbonnet during Charbonnet’s time at Michigan before transferring to UCLA. Harbaugh’s coaching journey includes serving as an undergraduate assistant under head coach Mike Riley at Oregon State University from 2008 to 2011. His entire professional coaching experience has been under the guidance of either his father or his uncle. Joining the Seahawks’ staff represents Harbaugh’s opportunity to embark on an independent coaching path.
Larry Izzo served as the special teams coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks under head coach Pete Carroll. Izzo initially joined the team in 2018 as an assistant special teams coordinator and assumed the full-time role when Brian Schneider took a leave of absence early in the 2020 season. During Izzo’s tenure, Seattle’s special teams consistently ranked among the top six in the league according to Rick Gosselin’s rankings. Since 2020, the Seahawks secured rankings of second, third, second, and sixth on special teams. Jay Harbaugh’s responsibility will be to maintain the unit’s high performance level under the leadership of head coach Mike Macdonald. Harbaugh and assistant head coach Leslie Frazier are the first two publicly known additions to Macdonald’s coaching staff.
