The Pittsburgh Steelers looked to the past to find their next head coach. For an organization that’s been progressive with their previous hires, signing former Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy signifies a shocking step backward.
On Saturday, reports confirmed the Steelers’ plan to hire McCarthy as the team’s fourth head coach since 1969. He’s just the third hire since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger and bucks a successful past model.
Pittsburgh landed on then-34-year-old Bill Cowher, a rising defensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs, as Chuck Noll’s successor in 1992. Following his 2006 retirement, the Steelers hired Mike Tomlin after one season as Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator over “perceived front-runners” Russ Grimm and Ken Whisenhunt, veteran coaches with previous ties to the organization, via ESPN.
Those two inexperienced hires worked pretty well, with Cowher and Tomlin each winning a Super Bowl and two AFC championships. McCarthy, 62, represents a sharp change in direction. At its most unforgiving reading, it’s a sign of a team out of fresh ideas.