Mike Macdonald gives Georgia high school football its second Super Bowl-winning coach

Mike Macdonald led the Seattle Seahawks to a masterful performance in Super Bowl 60. The NFC champions dominated the New England Patriots for the first three quarters before closing with a 29-13 victory. The convincing win makes Macdonald the third-youngest Super Bowl-winning coach, behind Sean McVay and Mike Tomlin.

In addition to the Seahawks earning their second world championship, Macdonald also became the second head coach with Georgia high school football roots to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Four years earlier, Marist High School alum McVay led the Los Angeles Rams to victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl 56.

Macdonald, 38, played linebacker and fullback for Centennial High School before attending the University of Georgia. Macdonald also played high school basketball for the Knights before starting his finance degree at Athens. He also started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Cedar Shoals High School while attending college.

High school football roots of other Super Bowl-winning head coaches

Mike Macdonald defeated Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, who played at Walsh Jesuit Warriors. Vrabel could have joined three coaches with Ohio high school football roots who have won the Super Bowl. Don McCafferty was the first from the Buckeye State, winning Super Bowl 5 with the Baltimore Colts. Don Shula won back-to-back titles with the Miami Dolphins, while Chuck Noll had four with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Meanwhile, California high school football leads the way with nine Super Bowl-winning coaches: John Madden, Tom Flores, Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, George Seifert, Mike Holmgren, Dick Vermeil, Brian Billick, Pete Carroll, and Andy Reid. Pennsylvania high school football ties Ohio with four: Mike Ditka, Bill Cowher, Mike McCarthy, and Bruce Arians.

New York (Lombardi, Tom Coughlin, Nick Sirianni), Texas (Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson, Gary Kubiak), Indiana (Weeb Eubank, Hank Stram, Jon Gruden), Illinois (Mike Shanahan, Sean Payton), and Michigan (Tony Dungy, John Harbaugh) are the other states with multiple Super Bowl winners.

Completing the list are Super Bowl champions with high school football experience in New Jersey (Bill Parcells), Arkansas (Barry Switzer), Virginia (Tomlin), Washington (Doug Pederson), and Maryland (Bill Belichick).