By Charles Robinson, Yahoo! Sports
January 17, 2008
GREEN BAY, Wis. – For one week in January of 2000, Jim Haslett beckoned. And every day, Mike McCarthy would file into a room and spew football with a blur of erasable markers. In some ways, that's where the road to the NFC championship game started for the Green Bay Packers coach – with quite possibly the longest interview in the history of assistant coaches.
McCarthy cracked a smile Wednesday, recalling the process leading to his first coordinating job. It was a trek that went through Haslett's office not once or twice in the balmy winter season in New Orleans; McCarthy interviewed seven times in seven days. This was how he made his first big leap, plucked from a distant branch of the Bill Walsh coaching tree.
With McCarthy on the verge of a reported four-year extension with the Packers, that might have been the last time he has to try so hard to sell himself.
"Every time I drive down Oneida Street (in Green Bay), I drive by the Kinko's and it reminds me of the Jim Haslett interview," said McCarthy, who served as the Packers' quarterbacks coach in 1999. "Because that's where I was about three nights before I went to New Orleans. I can remember leaving here, it was 25 below zero and when I got off the plane it was 75 degrees. We went to the office the first day and then every night about 10:00, 11:00, Jim Haslett and (Saints assistant) Rick Venturi, we would just start talking about football, different situations, different circumstances. And after about five days it was, I mean, it got to be monotonous. It was like, you asked me that question three times already."
He got the job, serving as New Orleans' offensive coordinator from 2000-2004, before moving on to the San Francisco 49ers in 2005 and then Green Bay last season. But you never forget your first big shot, and Haslett's interview was due diligence that McCarthy can respect now. At the time, Haslett was actually seeking out other candidates for the coordinator job while he interviewed McCarthy. But he eventually settled on the guy who would go on to build his reputation as one of the brightest offensive minds in the league.
And make no mistake, "bright offensive mind" is by no means synonymous with the NFL's all-too-common "genius" tag. That moniker is typically reserved for head coaches who secure Super Bowl rings. However, McCarthy is forcing his way into the conversation, going 21-11 in his first two seasons in Green Bay and guiding the Packers toward Super Bowl XLII.
Since coming aboard in January of 2006, McCarthy's tenure has been marked by the staples that typically comprise Super Bowl contenders. He has established chemistry with general manager Ted Thompson, forged a respectful relationship with the future Hall of Fame quarterback, fashioned a perfect mix of veterans and youth, and improved Green Bay's depth.
Yet, it's been a remarkably quiet run for McCarthy, whose 13-3 season registered as little more than static amongst the screaming publicity that went to the New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys. A hardscrabble Pennsylvania kid built as stout and sturdy as an iron teapot, McCarthy can't even lay claim to the sexiest story line on his own team. That crown still belongs to quarterback Brett Favre, a player who, ironically, has been able to breathe life back into his own legend at least partially due to McCarthy's tutelage.
Still, of all the coaching accomplishments that have been most impressive over the last two seasons, McCarthy's ranks near the top of the marquee. He took a team that ran aground under Mike Sherman (4-12 in his final season in 2005) and then paired with Thompson to remake the roster with a solid amount of speed and playmaking ability.
But another Super Bowl? One year ago it seemed like a pipe dream. Now McCarthy is two wins removed from reservations with immortality.
"You know, I don't really remember us discussing (the Super Bowl) last year in terms of (the 2006 season)," Favre said. "But from day one this year, I remember talking with Mike in the offseason and saying that has to be our focus, no joke."
Certainly nobody is laughing. Not with the Packers having knocked off the ghost of Mike Holmgren and his Seattle Seahawks last week. Not with the Packers hosting Sunday's NFC championship game in what are expected to be frigid conditions. And certainly not with McCarthy at the helm, having tweaked and installed an extremely potent version of the West Coast offense he picked up from Walsh disciple Paul Hackett.
With the help of some deft personnel moves by Thompson, McCarthy has engineered one of the league's most potent scoring units. Employing a diverse array of looks – from two tight ends to multiple fullbacks to five wide receivers – the Packers finished with the league's fourth best-scoring offense (and second in total yardage).
"The reason I hired him is because he's a tough guy," said Haslett, now the defensive coordinator with the St. Louis Rams. "He's really smart and he's really organized. (Those were) the three main things I wanted. He really only knows the one offense that he's been involved in his whole life. And he knows it like the back of his hand."
He's weathered the departures of wide receiver Javon Walker and running back Ahman Green, and corralled Favre, who had practically taken a role as an assistant coach under Sherman. He's also won over a Green Bay fan base and media contingent that largely questioned his hiring two years ago. Not that there wasn't reason for concern.
"One of the things I thought was very impressive about them hiring Mike, they did it even though we were 32nd in offense," 49ers coach Mike Nolan said. "Obviously that's not the pretty girl that everyone wants to hire. It was a real credit to Ted that he was able to see that he had a diamond in the rough. Mike was outstanding in his year with us. He had very little to work with. Hell, we came away with four wins that season, which was a minor miracle."
Sort of like McCarthy pulling together a mix of young talent and a core of veterans at key spots in Green Bay. The Packers' 13 wins tied a franchise record. Had that not been accomplished in the same year the Patriots were running the table and Dallas was experiencing a rebirth, McCarthy might have been the toast of the league. But while the aforementioned franchises sipped champagne media reviews all season, the Packers typically got what was left. And those few sweet drops typically went to Favre, who revived his image as a national darling.
Rarely did anyone outside of Green Bay credit Favre's resurgence on his mechanics, which got better under McCarthy's direction. As the young players around him either failed or progressed slowly in recent years, Favre had developed a few bad habits, particularly in his footwork, where he wasn't balancing out his feet properly before releasing the football. McCarthy's work with Favre before the start of the season helped rectify the problem.
That was just one small illustration of the coaching ability that guys like Haslett and Nolan championed when McCarthy was up for Green Bay's opening. Known for qualities cut out of a Boy Scout brochure (honest, direct, consistent), his currency two years ago was knowing a good system and having the fortitude to stick with it – particularly when things became difficult, which Thompson anticipated night happen.
"We didn't get off to a good start," Thompson said. "We played some really poor games in Lambeau Field. We lost to the (New York) Jets and Patriots by a large margin, and all of the sudden, we were 4-8. But he never changed. I think that is that toughness people talk about. His mindset and what he believed in, what he thought of his players and the way he treated his players, it never changed."
Even now, players talk about how he is open to suggestions in meetings, but somehow maintains the natural divide that must exist between the roster and the coaching staff. The front office lauds his consistent approach. Coaches celebrate his ability to both master and teach the system. The common thread: McCarthy doesn't sell any part of it.
As Nolan framed it, "When you find guys that are one-liner guys or there is one story that sums them up, typically we're only going to talk about them for one year and they are going to crash and burn. Mike is going to remain one of the best coaches in this league as time goes forward, because he's not a 'one thing' guy. 'One thing' guys are good this year and they suck the next. That's who they are.
"Mike's not that guy. Mike is a good coach. He's going to stay good. And it's because there is a whole hell of a lot more to Mike than just being a 'great guy' or a 'great mind' or a 'great game-caller' or whatever. Mike works on the whole package. We're talking about someone that is going to be talked about next year and the next year the year after." Charles Robinson is a national NFL writer for Yahoo! Sports. Send Charles a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast. Updated on Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 1:12 pm, EST Email to a Friend | View Popular
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