PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s been a winding road for the next Steelers head coach to return blocks from where he grew up. Mike McCarthy’s football journey which has led to reportedly being the next Steelers head coach.
Mike McCarthy attended a couple of different universities eventually playing football and was a two-time all-conference tight end at NAIA Division II Baker University.
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Known now for his offensive knowledge, McCarthy actually started as a defensive graduate assistant at Fort Hays State University in Kansas. He would coach linebackers and tight ends before Paul Hackett gave him an opportunity at Pitt.
A graduate assistant with the Panthers for three years, his first coaching job was as the receivers coach at Pitt in 1992. Dietrich Jells had a 55-reception, 1091-yard season with 8 touchdowns averaging 19.8 yards-per-catch with Billy Davis adding 34 receptions for 503 yards. Current Rams senior offensive assistant Alex Van Pelt was the quarterback and Hall of Famer Curtis Martin was the lead running back.
McDonald’s Marty Schottenheimer gave McCarthy his first NFL opportunity as an offensive quality control coach with the Chiefs in 1993 and 1994. He would move to coaching quarterbacks Rich Gannon and Steve Bono before leaving for a job with the Packers with offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis and head coach Ray Rhodes for one season.
He was hired away to work with another Pittsburgher, Avalon’s Jim Haslett in New Orleans as the offensive coordinator and had the 10th best offense, in terms of scoring points, with Jeff Blake and Aaron Brooks as quarterbacks. By his third season, New Orleans was third in the NFL in scoring offense with Brooks throwing for 27 touchdowns, Joe Horn 1,312 receiving yards and Deuce McAllister rushing for 1,388 yards.
He would move on to San Francisco for a season and struggled to 15 points a game under Mike Nolan. Despite that season, the Packers saw something in McCarthy and hired him as head coach. McCarthy won a Super Bowl along with 125 games over 13 years. He would later be hired by the Cowboys in 2020 and after a six-win season, would have three consecutive years with 12 wins, and fired after going 7-10 in 2024, a year where Dak Prescott missed after the season due to injury.
Now McCarthy reportedly takes over his hometown team at age 62 with a wealth of coaching experiences.