On one hand, Mike Macdonald wanted more out of his first year as a head coach. He expected more.

But on the other hand, he heads into the offseason really excited about the direction the Seahawks are headed in following a 10-7 season that saw them miss out on the postseason by the narrowest of margins, losing out on an NFC West title by the fifth tiebreaker, strength of victory.

"Well, I wanted to win the Super Bowl," Macdonald said Tuesday in his end-of-season press conference. "In order to do that, you've got to win games, you've got to make the dance, you want to win your division, you've got to win your conference, then you want to win the Super Bowl. We did a lot of the first goal, we won 10 of our games; we didn't achieve any of the other goals, so ultimately, we fell short. But there are other things that we felt like we did well where we're building in a position to go attack this thing moving forward."

In other words, falling short of Year 1 goals doesn't mean Macdonald's first year in Seattle can't be a success in bigger-picture terms. The Seahawks did indeed miss the playoffs, but at 10-7 they were the only team in the NFL left out of the postseason. They also went 4-2 in their division, won a franchise record-tying seven road games, and showed real growth in a lot of areas, most notably on defense, Macdonald's specialty.

"We're just really optimistic, fired up for what's ahead of us with the direction our team is going," Macdonald said. "Obviously, we wanted to be fighting it out in the playoffs, and we felt like we had a good enough team to do some damage, but we didn't earn the right to do that. So we're moving on, but man, we're excited about what's to come, working through what the offseason is going to look like, making some tweaks, how do we evolve? All that stuff's ahead of us. How we build our roster, all those types of decisions, finding a new offensive coordinator, all those things. It's an exciting time, I'm excited about the foundation that we've been able to lay, and ready to get back to work."

For Macdonald, like the rest of the team, his first year as a head coach was one of learning and growth. Of course, he came into the year with a vision for how he'd run his team and detailed plans on how he'd do that, but he also had to adjust as the season went along.

"You come in with a lot of ideas and what you find is you really need more double down on the basic principles that you want it to be the team to be founded upon," he said. "You realize that pretty early. It's way clearer on understanding what we need to do day in, and day out, what it feels like, what it looks like as a team, and what it's going to take to be a championship football team. The easiest way is it's kind of a theory going in from your prior experiences before you're kind of running the show and now you are and now it's in practice. So I think as a team and players, the conversations we've had, coaches, just the shared understanding of having gone through the experience and understanding of what we're trying to create is a lot clearer now."

And as Macdonald was learning and evolving on the job, he took joy in watching a young team grow with him, overcoming a stretch in which the Seahawks lost five of six games heading into the bye week to winning six of their last eight games.

"It's been an awesome year, man," he said. "There are a lot of things that have happened that you have to navigate through, and you've got to trust your instincts and your values and philosophy to kind of push you through those things. And then with the team, I think we were at a tough spot in the middle of the season. It could have gone either way. I think the way that our guys had an approach of kind of staying steadfast in what we're trying to do, the faith they had in me and the rest of the coaches, and the message that we're trying to create. And then hearing from the guys after the season about their feedback, I just feel really strong that we've got the right guys, and they're really convicted and motivated to make this team a champion. I'm right there with them."

With the Seahawks offseason starting earlier than they'd have liked, Macdonald can get to work on preparing for next season a full month earlier than he began preparing for the 2024 season—and he won't have to start that process by filling out an entire coaching staff this time—a head start Macdonald wants to take full advantage of, and wants to not have again in future seasons.

"Tremendously," Macdonald said. "The silver lining of being in this situation and the opportunity you're presented with is you do have a head start on the rest of the league, to a certain extent, so this is something we really have to make sure we take advantage of. This is a position we don't want to be in ever again, so hopefully we can make the most of it and now we're kind of springboarding into creating those opportunities."

Also on Macdonald's offseason to-do list is enjoying more time with his wife, Stephanie, and their newborn son, Jack, who was born last month.

"Just taking a walk with my wife and my kid when the sun's out," Macdonald said of his plans for his extra time. "I literally haven't seen my son when the sun's been out since he's been born."