No plans to change offsite camp, St. Vincent is special

LATROBE (93.7 The Fan) – Weather rules all. With the lightning in the area and the fields at St. Vincent College soaked, the Steelers broke camp a day early. Instead of a long practice on Monday, the players had the rest of the day off, will get Tuesday off and then hold closed practices in Pittsburgh before hosting the Jets on Friday.

It doesn’t mean Mike McCarthy thinks any less of leaving the UPMC Rooney facility and coming to Latrobe for training camp, even with the weather inconveniences.

“Not at all,” according to McCarthy.

“I was talking to (Steelers GM) Omar (Khan), I’m actually looking forward to next year. I’m going to enjoy training camp next year.”

He said with all of the administrative responsibility and going through it the first time, he understands the layout and things he would change in 2027.

“St. Vincent as a whole, is an A+,” McCarthy said. “I really think this is a special place and a great place to train a football team, just the whole environment. The only real negative was we had to cancel a couple of practices. Our best practices are when our fans are out there.”

McCarthy said he views the group dynamics of players living in dorms and getting to know each other is very valuable. He said people live in different parts of the city, but here they are in one community, all day.

“The conversations these men have at dinner, at night, around the pool table, the Home Run Derby,” McCarthy said. “To me, training camp is critical for your football team. I've been involved with training camp at home, but they did stay in the dorms. So I just think the ability is to have everybody together, going away to camp, I think is special. It gives you a real shot to start off the season the right way.”

How much did McCarthy like it in Latrobe?

“Players may not want to hear this, but we’ll look to stay longer next year,” McCarthy said.

Monday was the fourth practice either moved, shortened or fans were unable to attend due to weather.