Many Steelers fans on social media were not happy with the choice, but President Arthur Rooney II said McCarthy’s experience with quarterbacks was a major factor. As for the negative reaction among Steelers fans, Rooney said he was not concerned.
“We’re really not worried about winning the initial press conference. It’s about picking the coach we believe will help us win games,” Rooney said via Bob Labriola of the team’s website. “Social media really doesn’t enter into it. And none of that will matter once we’re starting to play games.”
McCarthy and Rodgers were together for 13 seasons in Green Bay (2006-18) and won a Super Bowl. That long relationship could entice Rodgers to return for another season in Pittsburgh, but Rooney said McCarthy’s career stands on its own merit. He has a 174-112-2 record over 18 seasons with the Packers and Dallas Cowboys.
“We decided to bring Mike on because we believe that he’s the right coach for us at this point to help lead us to a championship,” Rooney said. “We don’t know what Aaron’s plans are right now, and that did not weigh heavily in the decision.
“We’ll see where Aaron is, and we’ve left the door open, but obviously we all have to sit down and see if that makes sense. So that’ll happen sometime in the next month or so. But the decision was made based on Mike being the coach we want, and it really had very little to do with whether Aaron is going to be back or not.”