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Fortune
Fortune
Emma Burleigh

Seahawks head coach turned down a cushy career in finance at KPMG for a football internship—12 years later, he won the Super Bowl at 38

Head coach Mike MacDonald (Credit: Kevin C. Cox—Getty Images)

The Seattle Seahawks just triumphed over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX, taking home the Lombardi Trophy after a 29–13 victory this past Sunday. The team’s coach, Mike Macdonald, led his players to victory at just 38 years old—and it’s all thanks to an early career gamble.

Macdonald had graduated from the University of Georgia with a master’s degree in sports management, and he was at a crossroads. His four-year stint working for the college’s football team, the Bulldogs, was coming to a close. Despite loving football (and like many graduates before him), he chased a stable career and landed a job offer at Big Four global accounting firm KPMG at the end of 2013.

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