Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay holds the NFL record as the league's youngest head coach. He was 30 years old when the Rams hired him in 2017.
Now, his ownership of that record could potentially be in jeopardy. The Seattle Seahawks requested to interview Minnesota Vikings assistant offensive coordinator/assistant quarterbacks coach Grant Udinski for their offensive coordinator openin, per NFL Media.
One might be wondering the following: how could Udinski even be in the running to be an NFL offensive coordinator at the age of 28? Here's a look at his path. He played four years of college football, one at Davidson College as a tight end (2015) and three at Towson as a defensive end (2016-2018). Once his football playing days ended, he spent the 2019 season at Baylor under then-head coach Matt Rhule as a graduate assistant. Udinski then followed Rhule to the NFL when he was hired to be the head coach of the Carolina Panthers in 2020. Udinski worked as a coaching assistant for the first two years of Rhule's Carolina tenure (2020-2021) before joining the Vikings in 2022, current Minnesota head coach Kevin O'Connell's first year, as the assistant to the head coach/special projects. Udinski then earned a promotion to his current title in 2023.
Udinski served as part of an offensive staff that helped Sam Darnold throw for 35 touchdowns, tied for the second-most in a season in franchise history, and lead the NFL in completions (34) and completion percentage (49.3%) on throws of 20 or more air yards in 2024. Should he be hired by the Seahawks to serve as head coach Mike Macdonald's offensive coordinator, he would be in line to work with a talented offensive core that includes Pro Bowl quarterback Geno Smith, Pro Bowl wide receiver DK Metcalf, Pro Bowl wide receiver Tyler Lockett, 2023 first-round pick wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and 2022 second-round round pick running back Kenneth Walker III. Producing at a high level with that core, should Udinski get the job this coaching cycle, would have him on a McVay-like trajectory to becoming a head coach in his early thirties.