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Head Coach
15th NFL Season
Third season with Packers
When Mike McCarthy took the job as Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers back in January 2006, he said he would remain true to his roots and true to his beliefs.
That steadfastness served him well in his first year at the helm, battling through a slow start but sticking to his plan and vision and ultimately turning the team's fortunes around with a four-game winning streak to end the 2006 season at 8-8.
Never one to panic and lose sight of the big picture, McCarthy stayed the course as his team stood 1-4 at the bye week and 4-8 with one-quarter of the season to play. He kept the team together, believing in his leadership, and the strong finish has filled the organization with optimism heading into 2007.
Leading a team that was the youngest in the NFL at the start of the 2006 season, McCarthy already has established the expectation of success and laid the foundation for a team that can continue to grow and improve. He impressively blended a mix of young players with seasoned veterans at key positions in his first year, proving that his emphasis on fostering a strong team dynamic when he initially took the job was well worth the effort.
McCarthy moves into 2007 with his team determined to carry the momentum from the end of 2006 as far as it can. Another year of record attendance for the offseason strength and conditioning program is as strong an indication as any of the excitement the players feel about the direction of the team under McCarthy.
| Solid First Year |
| McCarthy got his team to bounce back from tough circumstances twice during his first season to remain in the NFC playoff hunt until the final week. The 8-8 record tied for the third-best among the seven rookie coaches in the NFL in 2006.
Close losses early to eventual NFC runner-up New Orleans and St. Louis put the Packers at 1-4 at the bye week. But the team used the extra week of preparation and rest well, traveling to Miami to upset the Dolphins and, three weeks later, post another impressive road win at Minnesota's Metrodome to improve to 4-5. Three straight losses to eventual playoff qualifiers dropped the Packers to 4-8, but again McCarthy used a long road trip to get the team back on track. This one was to San Francisco, for whom McCarthy was offensive coordinator the previous year, and a big win that coincided with a key personnel change provided the springboard to a strong final month. With his defense struggling near the bottom of the league rankings, McCarthy moved defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins to end immediately after San Francisco's Frank Gore broke off a 72-yard first-quarter run, and the defense quickly improved. A move that may have been made earlier if not for Jenkins' ankle injury, the switch on the defensive line improved the Packers' run defense on early downs and allowed for a better situational pass rush, and the defense climbed to 12th overall by season's end. The Packers quarterbacks coach seven years prior, McCarthy also renewed his relationship with Brett Favre, and the reunion helped rejuvenate the future Hall of Famer's play. Charged with learning McCarthy's version of the West Coast offense and making the appropriate decisions at the line of scrimmage and in the pocket, Favre's interceptions dropped from 29 in 2005 to 18. The strong defensive play and Favre's veteran leadership fueled a season-ending four-game winning streak, the final three wins coming over NFC North opponents. A 26-7 win at Chicago in the season finale over the eventual NFC champion Bears put the Packers at 5-1 in the division and barely out of the playoffs, losing a tiebreaker with the New York Giants, who also finished 8-8. |
| The Right Fit |
| With a personality to match his blue-collar hometown, McCarthy landed his first NFL head coaching job in his kind of place.
A Pittsburgh native, McCarthy was named the 14th Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 12, 2006, the only step left to take after 13 years as an NFL assistant. But while he previously had traveled through NFL cities such as Kansas City, New Orleans and San Francisco, it may be Green Bay that most resembles his native Pittsburgh. And if there was one word used to describe McCarthy's hiring in his first days with the Packers, it was that he was the right "fit", both for a town and a team looking to turn around a disappointing 4-12 season in 2005. The way McCarthy fits Green Bay, however, goes beyond the toughness in his personality, down-to-earth demeanor, and pride in his upbringing. He not only spent one of those 13 previous years in the NFL with Green Bay, as quarterbacks coach in 1999, but he took over the Packers already well-versed in the West Coast offense with a reputation for developing offensive talent, particularly at the quarterback position. McCarthy is known for taking a hands-on teaching approach with young players and has been well-respected around the league, in part because he had called plays for six seasons as an offensive coordinator before becoming a head coach. Plus, he has tutored an impressive roster of NFL quarterbacks. While two of the biggest names he has worked with, Favre in Green Bay and Joe Montana in Kansas City, were at or beyond their peak years at the time, McCarthy has played at least a part in the development of signal callers like Aaron Brooks, Jake Delhomme, Matt Hasselbeck, Marc Bulger, Rich Gannon and Elvis Grbac. That entire stable has combined for 31 career Pro Bowl selections, nine Super Bowl starts, and six Most Valuable Player awards. |
| Paying His Dues |
| Much like those players he worked with who rose to prominence, McCarthy paid plenty of dues along the way to his first head-coaching job.
He learned a disciplined and no-nonsense approach to life at an early age. His father, Joe, was a longtime firefighter and police officer who also owned a bar near a Pittsburgh steel mill. McCarthy worked odd jobs at the bar as a teen. It was interacting with the hard-working tavern clientele while also watching a father in uniform dedicated to public service that helped make McCarthy proud of where he came from. After his playing career as a tight end at Baker University (Kan.) ended, his 20-year coaching career began as a linebackers coach at Fort Hays State (Kan.) in 1987. He cracked the Division I ranks two years later as a volunteer assistant at the University of Pittsburgh. It was there he displayed the will and determination to make it in the coaching profession, working for free on the football field by day and collecting tolls along the Pennsylvania turnpike during the graveyard shift to make ends meet. He soon moved into a paid position at Pitt assisting with the quarterbacks, and then coaching the wide receivers, before Panthers head coach Paul Hackett recommended him to the Kansas City Chiefs when they hired Hackett as offensive coordinator in 1993. McCarthy joined Hackett on the Chiefs' staff as a quality control assistant. McCarthy considers Hackett the biggest influence in his coaching career, having learned the West Coast offense from him and then installing it himself as offensive coordinator in New Orleans. It was under Hackett's wing that McCarthy developed the attention to detail, scouting and game-planning skills that would help him move up the NFL ranks. |
| Opportunity Knocks |
| The third-youngest head coach in the NFL when he was hired at age 42 (the Saints' Sean Payton was seven weeks younger and the N.Y. Jets' Eric Mangini was 35), McCarthy took over a team coming off its first losing season since 1991, before Favre arrived as quarterback.
He also now has Favre's potential successor, Aaron Rodgers, under his watch, just a short time after working with the only QB drafted higher than Rodgers in 2005, No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith in San Francisco. Packers General Manager Ted Thompson made it clear when he hired McCarthy he wasn't looking for just an X's and O's guy. He was looking for someone who would impress him with a variety of qualities, including leadership ability, toughness, football knowledge, and an awareness of the Green Bay organization and the team's unique place within the NFL and the local community. McCarthy, who had interviewed for the Cleveland Browns head coaching job five years earlier but admits he wasn't necessarily ready then, fit the bill. In his introductory news conference, he spoke of how taking over the Packers was like buying his "dream house," with the foundation, tradition and resources to help him and the team make that losing 2005 season an anomaly in modern Packers history. McCarthy emphasized he didn't feel the Packers are in a rebuilding mode at all, but there was work to be done right away. He wasted no time constructing the environment he wants for his team, implementing free weights as the foundation for the players' strength and conditioning. He also installed an offseason workout program, and a then-record attendance at those sessions spoke volumes about the level of respect he quickly commanded as a head coach. |
| Career As NFL Assistant |
| McCarthy broke into the NFL as a quality control assistant with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1993. It was then he worked with Montana before moving up to quarterbacks coach from 1995-98, working with starters Gannon, Grbac and Steve Bono. The trio's total of 52 interceptions marked the lowest total in the AFC over that four-year span.
After working with McCarthy from 1995-98, Gannon went on to earn all four of his Pro Bowl selections, the 2002 league MVP award and a start in Super Bowl XXXVII. Gannon credits McCarthy with helping him take the quarterback's game to a higher level. "He's the guy that really helped catapult my career," Gannon said. "He was the guy who really taught me the West Coast system of football. He really taught me how to prepare for a game, taught me how to watch film, how to break down an opponent, how to study. It was really those things I took with me to Oakland. "There was never a doubt in my mind he'd be a head coach. He's a great play-caller, great working with the quarterbacks. He's a tough guy, a guy willing to do the work, and he's a leader." When Gannon left the Chiefs for Oakland, in 1999, McCarthy departed Kansas City to become Green Bay's quarterbacks coach. That year, the Packers ranked seventh in passing and ninth in total offense. Favre threw for 4,091 yards, the third-highest total in his career. The following year, McCarthy began a successful five-year stint as the offensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints. It became the most prolific offensive era in the team's four decades, as the Saints set 10 offensive team records and 25 individual marks. Among the more notable accomplishments, the Saints led the NFC with 432 points and 49 touchdowns in 2002, both team records. In his first season in 2000, McCarthy was chosen NFC Assistant Coach of the Year by USA Today. That year the Saints produced their first 1,000-yard receiver in eight years in Joe Horn and their first 1,000-yard rusher in 10 years in Ricky Williams. After that decade-long drought of 1,000-yard rushers, the Saints had one (either Williams or Deuce McAllister) in each of McCarthy's five seasons running the offense. In 2005, McCarthy became offensive coordinator in San Francisco. The 49ers struggled, with injuries accounting for a league-high 101 games missed by members of the starting lineup. Four quarterbacks were used during the season, including Smith, the No. 1 overall draft pick. In all, McCarthy has coached in eight NFL playoff games. |
| College Coaching & Playing Career |
| McCarthy began his six-year collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Fort Hays State in Hays, Kan., in 1987, just after completing his playing career at nearby Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan.
At Baker, McCarthy earned a degree in business administration and was an all-conference tight end and senior captain in 1986, helping lead the Wildcats to an NAIA Division II national runner-up finish. At Fort Hays under head coach John Vincent, he coached linebackers for two years while earning a master's degree in sports administration. The return to his hometown came in 1989 under Pittsburgh head coach Mike Gottfried, now an ESPN college football analyst, followed by three years under Hackett with the Panthers. As quarterbacks coach, McCarthy worked with Alex Van Pelt as he topped the school's career and single-season records for passing yards established by Dan Marino. |
| Personal |
| Born Michael John McCarthy in Pittsburgh, he grew up one of five children in the Irish-Catholic family of father Joe and mother Ellen in Greenfield, a Pittsburgh neighborhood just a couple of miles from downtown. He graduated from Bishop Boyle High School in Homestead, Pa.
McCarthy has one child, 15-year-old daughter Alexandra. He also enjoys boating, golfing and country music. In his short time in Green Bay, McCarthy already has immersed himself in several community events, including the Mike McCarthy Celebrity Golf Open, a fundraiser for local and statewide cystic fibrosis organizations that has had a longstanding relationship with the Packers. In addition, he has served as honorary chairperson for the local Cerebral Palsy Telethon and worked with the American Heart Association on its Red Cap campaign to recognize heart disease and stroke survivors and raise awareness of those conditions. On an annual basis, he also visits cancer patients at Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee, acts as presenter at the Lombardi Award of Excellence Dinner Ball, which supports the Vince Lombardi Charitable Funds in the fight against cancer, and serves as guest speaker at the Green & Gold Gala, a fundraiser for Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin. Among several other events, McCarthy has participated in Jerry Parins' Cure for Cancer Motorcycle Ride, the team's regular Make-A-Wish Foundation practice and game visits, and various local Get Motivated Seminars. |
| McCarthy At A Glance |
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| Coaching Background | ||
| Year | College/Pro Team | Position Coached |
| 1987-88 | Fort Hays State | Graduate Assistant |
| 1989 | Univ. of Pittsburgh | Volunteer Assistant (QBs) |
| 1989-91 | Univ. of Pittsburgh | Graduate Assistant (QBs) |
| 1992 | Univ. of Pittsburgh | Wide Receivers |
| 1993-94 | Kansas City Chiefs | Off. Assistant/Quality Control |
| 1995-98 | Kansas City Chiefs | Quarterbacks |
| 1999 | Green Bay Packers | Quarterbacks |
| 2000-04 | New Orleans Saints | Offensive Coordinator |
| 2005 | San Francisco 49ers | Offensive Coordinator |
| 2006-07 | Green Bay Packers | Head Coach |
| Unprecedented Explosiveness In New Orleans |
| Mike McCarthy began his tenure in New Orleans by earning USA Today NFC Assistant Coach of the Year honors in 2000. After five seasons (2000-04), he left as the most successful offensive coordinator in Saints history. Under his direction, the offense set 10 team records and 25 individual marks. A look at the Saints in five seasons under McCarthy. |
| Notable Team Records |
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| Pro Bowl Selections |
In each of his five seasons as offensive coordinator, McCarthy's offense produced at least one Pro Bowl selection, and 10 overall:
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| Notable Individual Records |
| QB Aaron Brooks |
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| RB Deuce McAllister |
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| WR Joe Horn |
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| NOTE -- Records upon McCarthy's departure for 49ers after 2004 |