The Dallas Cowboys named Mike McCarthy the ninth head coach in franchise history on Jan. 8, 2020, handing the reigns of the team to an innovative offensive mind with a championship pedigree.
McCarthy comes to Dallas with 13 years of head coaching experience and 13 additional years as an assistant coach in the NFL, including six as an offensive coordinator.
As a head coach, McCarthy has racked up a 125-77-2 regular season coaching record - all with the Green Bay Packers (2006-18), and he owns the sixth-most wins (29th all-time) and fourth-highest winning percentage (.618) among active NFL coaches. His teams have qualified for the postseason nine times, won six NFC North Division titles, made four NFC Championship Game appearances and took home a Super Bowl XLV championship held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, following the 2010 NFL season.
Having mentored top quarterbacks, including Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers, McCarthy's experience and success with young quarterbacks will help shape the immediate future of the Dallas Cowboys.
McCarthy launched his head coaching career with the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 12, 2006, and in 12-plus years as their head coach, he guided one of the most successful stretches in franchise history, reaching the postseason in eight consecutive seasons (2009-16). With his Super Bowl XLV victory, McCarthy joined Vince Lombardi and Mike Holmgren as the only coaches to guide the Packers to a Super Bowl win.
Known as a prolific offensive mind - and the primary play-caller - McCarthy's Packers offense finished fourth in the NFL in total offense and third in points-per-game in total through his tenure with the club. Behind the arm of Aaron Rodgers, over that same span, the Packers were third in passing offense. Additionally, over the course of 13 years with the Packers, his offenses regularly ranked in the top-10 in passing yards (10 times), total offense (nine) and scoring offense (nine).
In Week 6 of 2015, McCarthy earned the 100th regular season win of his career in just his 150th game, making him the seventh-fastest coach in NFL history and the then fastest current NFL coach to reach the 100-win plateau. Two years later in Week 6 of 2017, McCarthy coached his 200th career game, including postseason, and having compiled 128 victories, he tied Bud Grant and Chuck Noll for the sixth-most wins by a head coach through 200 games. McCarthy is only the fourth head coach in NFL history to lead a single franchise to eight or more consecutive playoff appearances, joining Tom Landry, Noll and Bill Belichick. Those eight appearances from 2009-16 were more than the rest of the NFC North Division combined over that span (Minnesota, three; Detroit, three; Chicago, one).
McCarthy's nine playoff appearances overall are the most by a Packers coach since the NFL postseason began in 1933, and he guided the Packers to a franchise-record fourth consecutive division title in 2014. With the victory over Dallas in the 2016 playoffs, McCarthy surpassed Lombardi and Holmgren for the most playoff victories in team history (10).
From 2011-14 the Packers were the only NFC team to win its division each year and one of only three teams in the NFL to do so over that span (Denver, New England). Through his time in Green Bay, McCarthy led the Packers to a 51-23-2 (.684) record against division opponents. That includes an impressive stretch from 2010-12 when the Packers reeled off 12 straight wins against NFC North opponents, the longest divisional winning streak in team history.
McCarthy's success began with dominance at home. Under McCarthy at Lambeau Field, the Packers owned the fourth-best home winning percentage (73-27-2, .725) in the league from 2006 through Week 13 of 2018. In 2014 Green Bay finished 8-0 for the fifth time since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger (1996-97, 2002 and 2011) and were one of only two teams to go undefeated at home during the regular season (Denver). Green Bay finished with a record of .500-or-better at home in 11 consecutive seasons under McCarthy.
In his first two seasons as head coach, McCarthy simultaneously oversaw a renaissance in Brett Favre's career and the development of Rodgers as the quarterback of the future. Favre concluded his Green Bay career with a 95.7 passer rating in 2007, his best in 11 years and fourth-best in his career, while completing a then career-high 66.5 percent of his passes. Favre's interceptions dropped from 29 in 2005 to 18 in 2006 then 15 in 2007. He finished second in the voting for what then would have been an unprecedented fourth NFL MVP award, and he subsequently passed the torch to Rodgers, his understudy for his final three years in Green Bay and McCarthy's prime pupil for eight-plus seasons.
After taking over as the starter in 2008, Rodgers developed into one of the greatest quarterbacks in league history. Under McCarthy's tutelage, Rodgers topped 4,000 passing yards six times (2008-09, 2011-12, 2014, 2016), which in 2008, combined with Favre's total in 2007, marked the first time in league history a team had two different quarterbacks throw for 4,000 yards in consecutive years. In the process, Rodgers also became the first quarterback in league history to surpass the 4,000-yard plateau in each of his first two seasons as a starter. In total, McCarthy had been on the coaching staff for eight of the 13 (1999, 2007-09, 2011-12, 2014, 2016) 4,000-yard passing seasons in franchise history. Rodgers posted 21,332 passing yards from 2008-12 to set an NFL record for the most passing yards by a quarterback in his first five seasons as a starter, surpassing the previous mark held by Peyton Manning (20,618, 1998-2002). His career passer rating of 102.4 is tops in NFL history, and he is the only quarterback in NFL history to have posted a 100-plus passer rating in six consecutive seasons (2009-14).
A Pittsburgh, Pa. native, McCarthy was named the 14th head coach of the Green Bay Packers, after serving 13 years as an NFL assistant.
McCarthy is known for taking a hands-on teaching approach with young players and is well-respected around the league, in part because he called plays for six seasons as an offensive coordinator before becoming a head coach. He has tutored an impressive roster of NFL quarterbacks, while two of the biggest names he has worked with, Favre in Green Bay and Joe Montana in Kansas City, were at or beyond their peak years at the time. McCarthy played at least a part in the development of signal callers Aaron Brooks, Jake Delhomme, Matt Hasselbeck, Matt Flynn, Marc Bulger, Rich Gannon and Elvis Grbac. The entire stable of quarterbacks that McCarthy has worked with, which also includes Jeff Blake, Steve Bono and Dave Krieg, has combined for 43 career Pro Bowl selections, 10 Super Bowl starts and eight Most Valuable Player awards.
The third-youngest head coach in the NFL when he was hired at age 42 (the Saints Sean Payton was seven weeks younger and the N.Y. Jets Eric Mangini was 35), McCarthy took over a team coming off its first losing season since 1991.
McCarthy broke into the NFL as a quality control assistant with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1993. It was then he worked with Montana before moving up to quarterbacks coach from 1995-98, working with starters Gannon, Grbac and Bono.
When Gannon left the Chiefs for Oakland in 1999, McCarthy departed Kansas City to become Green Bay's quarterbacks coach. That year, the Packers ranked seventh in the NFL in passing and ninth in total offense. Favre threw for 4,091 yards, the third-highest total in his career at that point.
The following year, McCarthy began a successful five-year stint as the offensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints. It became the most prolific offensive era to that point in the team's four decades, as the Saints set 10 offensive team records and 25 individual marks. Among the more notable accomplishments, the Saints led the NFC with 432 points and 49 touchdowns in 2002, both team records at the time. In his first season in 2000, McCarthy was named NFC Assistant Coach of the Year by USA Today. In 2005 McCarthy served as offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers.
McCarthy began his six-year collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Fort Hays State in Hays, Kan., (1987), just after completing his playing career at nearby Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan. At Baker, McCarthy earned a degree in business administration and was an all-conference tight end and senior captain in 1986, helping lead the Wildcats to an NAIA Division II national runner-up finish. He was inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame in October 2007.
At Fort Hays State under head coach John Vincent, McCarthy coached linebackers for two years while earning a master's degree in sports administration.
McCarthy returned to his hometown in 1989, serving first as a graduate assistant (1989-91) and then wide receivers coach for the Pittsburgh Panthers.
Born in Pittsburgh, McCarthy graduated from Bishop Boyle High School in Homestead, Pa. He and his wife, Jessica, have five children and were actively involved in the Green Bay community, including hosting the annual Mike & Jessica McCarthy Golf Invitational. Established in June 2010, the tournament benefited the American Family Children's Hospital in Madison, Wis. The event raised funds that have helped the hospital expand with two new floors, a neonatal intensive care unit and additional pediatric beds.
