On January 24, the Pittsburgh Steelers named Mike McCarthy as their new head coach, making him the fourth person to hold the position since 1969. President Art Rooney II said that while McCarthy’s Pittsburgh roots and history of developing quarterbacks were factors in his hiring, the decision was ultimately based on finding the right leader for today’s NFL.
“He is someone who has a longer track record than many of the other candidates, a winning track record,” said Rooney. “He’s been a winner everywhere he’s been. Probably just as important for our purposes, the quarterbacks that he’s worked with have all been very successful. So he has a proven track record of developing top flight quarterbacks. Those are the things that maybe stick out the most.”
The Steelers’ search included Zoom calls and in-person interviews, which followed league rules regarding candidates whose teams were still in playoff contention. After interviewing Brian Flores, Mike McCarthy, and Anthony Weaver in person, Rooney said they decided McCarthy was their choice.
“We wound up bringing in three guys for in-person interviews – Brian Flores, Mike McCarthy, and Anthony Weaver – and then we sat down and talked about whether we had our man, or if we wanted to bring in more people for in-person interviews,” said Rooney. “We decided that Mike was the man for the job, and so we went ahead and offered him the job on Saturday.”
McCarthy brings experience from working with quarterbacks such as Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay and Dak Prescott in Dallas. He has 174 regular season wins and a Super Bowl title on his resume.
Since Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement after the 2021 season, Pittsburgh has tried several options at quarterback—including drafting Kenny Pickett, trading for Justin Fields, re-signing Mason Rudolph, and signing veterans like Mitchell Trubisky, Russell Wilson, and Aaron Rodgers—but none led to playoff victories.
Addressing speculation about a possible reunion between McCarthy and Rodgers in Pittsburgh given Rodgers’ free agency status, Rooney stated: “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. 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.”
Rooney also emphasized quarterback development as an important consideration: “I hesitate to say that’s No. 1. I think No. 1 is we want a coach who’s going to lead the team to win a championship,” he said. “But maybe high on the list after that is someone who can develop a quarterback. And since sooner or later we’re going to be working with a young quarterback here, I think Mike’s ability to develop the next quarterback is something that certainly is important to us.”
Discussing current roster evaluations during interviews with candidates—including McCarthy—Rooney noted: “He likes Will Howard, thinks Will has tremendous upside and is looking forward to working with him,” said Rooney. “Obviously feels like Mason can be a contributor. We’ll have to sit down and discuss where Aaron is if he decides to come back…I think Mike was very comfortable with the quarterback room…In particular…he sees some upside [in Howard].”
Assembling an assistant coaching staff will be one of McCarthy’s first tasks as head coach—a process complicated by contractual obligations of desired hires elsewhere.
“He’s in the process right now of trying to hire a staff,” said Rooney. “It’s not an easy task because some of the people he’d like to hire are under contract…But just in general…we were very comfortable with discussion around [key positions].”
Rooney acknowledged initial fan reaction has been mixed but referenced similar skepticism when previous coaches were hired.
“We’re really not worried about winning the initial press conference,” said Rooney. “It’s about picking the coach we believe will help us win games…And none of that will matter once we’re starting to play games.
“The message for our fans is we’re very excited…We think we have a coach who is well-equipped to lead us into the next winning phase of Steelers football…I think they’re going to love Coach Mike.”
