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 opening, per NFL Media.
One might wonder: 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.
Udinski played four years of college football, one at Davidson College as a tight end (2015) and three at Towson as a defensive end (2016-18). 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.
He started working as a coaching assistant for the first two years of Rhule’s Carolina tenure (2020-21) 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. That led to a promotion to his current title ahead of the 2023 season.
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 — while leading the NFL this season in completions (34) and completion percentage (49.3%) on throws of 20+ air yards.
Should he be hired by the Seahawks to serve as Mike Macdonald’s offensive coordinator, Udinski would be in line to work with a talented offensive core that includes Pro Bowlers quarterback Geno Smith, wide receiver DK Metcalf and wide receiver Tyler Lockett along with WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba and running back Kenneth Walker III.
An opportunity to coach a core of playmakers like that could wind up sending Udinski on a McVay-like trajectory to becoming a head coach in his early thirties. If he takes the interview and ultimately gets the job, of course.
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