Is Mike McCarthy relying too heavily on familiar faces for the Steelers’ coaching staff?
Mike McCarthy is rounding out his coaching staff for his first season with the Steelers, and boy are some names rather familiar. To him, at least, if not necessarily to the Steelers, as he is hiring many of his former coaches. Or if not his former coaches, or mentors, then their offspring—or at least considering them.
It is critical for a coaching staff to work in harmony, a quality McCarthy is relying on heavily as his Steelers round into form. He has already worked with many on his new staff—and many of them have worked with one another. Most of their candidates to lead the offense are former assistants. He has interviewed the son of Jim Haslett for another position, with whom he has had a long association. And he has employed Chase Haslett once before.
But is it too much? Has Mike McCarthy taken synergy too far for his coaching staff, banking on collaborative cooperation? Needless to say, he is far from the first person to hire a bunch of coaches he’s worked with before. Especially for first-time head coaches, they have a strong tendency to bring others along. And that’s really no different from retreads, as we saw with John Harbaugh’s staff in New York.
It is quite striking to see so many members of the Cowboys’ and Packers’ coaching staff under Mike McCarthy now with the Steelers. After all, both of those teams fired him at one point, and they did so for a reason. The reason wasn’t necessarily the assistant coaches that he chose to hire, mind you.
And to that point, to McCarthy’s credit, he does have some semblance of a coaching tree. At the very least, that means that he has had a history of picking coaches others believed could do more. Somebody like Scott Tolzien—who isn’t a lock to make McCarthy’s coaching staff, mind you—could be an up-and-comer. Obviously, we can’t answer the question I pose now. But at least, perhaps, it’s one that bears watching.
The Steelers are out of the playoffs, exiting in the first round yet again, a pattern going back to 2017. With seven consecutive postseason losses, and no wins in nearly a decade, they are facing another long, long offseason. No doubt we will see many changes, but none will top Mike Tomlin resigning.
The playoffs are still going, but for us and the Steelers, we are transitioning to offseason mode. That’s what happens when the team you cover loses by the middle of January all the time, but you’ve been around, so you know that already. Enjoy the ride, even the turbulence, because it’s the only way we know how to travel anymore.