For the 13th straight year, a Michigan Wolverine has found his way onto a Super Bowl-winning roster. This time, it was the Seattle Seahawks who brought the title home with a 29-13 win over the Patriots in Super Bowl 60 - and the maize and blue fingerprints were all over it.
Let’s start at the top. Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald, who once patrolled the sidelines in Ann Arbor as Michigan’s defensive coordinator in 2021, just led Seattle to the mountaintop in only his second year at the helm.
That 2021 Michigan squad? It was the one that snapped the long drought against Ohio State and kicked off a run of three straight Big Ten titles.
Now, Macdonald’s resume includes both a college football resurgence and a Lombardi Trophy.
Before taking the reins in Seattle, Macdonald spent two seasons as defensive coordinator under John Harbaugh in Baltimore. That NFL seasoning clearly paid off. His Seahawks defense didn’t just show up in the Super Bowl - they dominated, holding the Patriots to just 13 points and keeping the pressure on all night.
And Macdonald didn’t make the journey alone. Two of his assistants - Jay Harbaugh and Chris Partridge - also brought their Michigan pedigree to the Seahawks' sideline.
Harbaugh, who handled special teams duties in Ann Arbor for years, has built what many around the league consider the best special teams unit in the NFL. That group played a critical role in Seattle’s title run, flipping field position and delivering in the clutch throughout the postseason.
On the field, the Wolverines were represented as well. Rookie tight end AJ Barner made the most of his moment on the game’s biggest stage. Barner, who transferred to Michigan from Indiana in 2023 and played a key role on the Wolverines’ national championship team, scored the first touchdown of the Super Bowl - a 16-yard grab in the third quarter that stretched Seattle’s lead to 19-0 and put the game firmly in their control.
Barner’s Super Bowl line: four catches, 54 yards, and that crucial touchdown. Not bad for a guy who just a year ago was wearing the winged helmet on Saturdays. Over the course of the season, he hauled in 52 passes for 561 yards, establishing himself as a reliable target in Seattle’s offense.
He’s not the only former Wolverine on the Seahawks’ roster, either. Defensive lineman Mike Morris and center Olu Oluwatimi - both key contributors during their time in Ann Arbor - were also part of the championship squad, continuing a pipeline from Michigan to the NFL that shows no signs of slowing down.
So yes, if it feels like there's always a Michigan man holding the Lombardi Trophy, that’s because there is. Thirteen straight Super Bowls with a Wolverine on the winning team isn’t just a fun stat - it’s a testament to the program’s ability to develop NFL-ready talent and leadership. And in Seattle, that Michigan influence was more than just a footnote - it was front and center in a championship season.