Sixteen years after beating Mike Tomlin in Super Bowl XLV, former Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is succeeding him as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Steelers entered into a verbal agreement to hire the 62-year-old, a Pittsburgh native, as just their fourth head coach since 1969, the team announced Saturday afternoon. McCarthy is now the oldest head coach in franchise history. Chuck Noll, who retired 10 days shy of his 60th birthday, was previously the oldest.
His selection, coming 11 days after Tomlin told his team he was resigning after 19 seasons as the Steelers’ coach, is a significant departure from the organization’s previous history of hiring up-and-coming defensive minds without prior NFL head coaching experience, signaling the team’s desire to win now.
After failing to reach an extension with the Dallas Cowboys following the 2024 season, McCarthy spent the 2025 season away from coaching. McCarthy now becomes the first person to be the head coach of three iconic NFL franchises in the Steelers, Cowboys and Green Bay Packers, where he got his start as a head coach in 2006 and remained until he was fired in 2018.
Steelers reporter Brooke Pryor, NFL reporter Kevin Seifert, national NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler, NFL draft analyst Matt Miller and NFL analyst Ben Solak answer all the pressing questions in the wake of McCarthy’s hiring.
Why did the Steelers choose Mike McCarthy as their next coach, and how much did his Pittsburgh background play into the decision?
Days after Tomlin walked away on Jan. 13 as the Steelers’ head coach, team president Art Rooney II said he wanted to compete from “day one.” He also said he didn’t like the word “rebuild.” In hiring McCarthy over younger, less proven candidates, Rooney emphasized his desire to win now with the league’s third-oldest active head coach (behind Kansas City’s Andy Reid and New York Giants’ John Harbaugh).
None of the Steelers’ previous three head coaches had any NFL head coaching experience, while McCarthy has 310 games of prior NFL head coaching experience. He also has the sixth-most wins (185) among all NFL coaches of the past 20 seasons. Tomlin finished his Steelers’ career with 201 wins, including playoffs.
Rooney’s urgency comes on the heels of another Steelers season ending with a one-and-done playoff appearance, this time a 30-6 blowout loss to the Houston Texans in the team’s first home playoff game since the 2020 season. The Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since the 2016 season.
McCarthy is 11-11 in playoff games, last winning the wild-card game with the Cowboys against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the 2022 season. But he has also had 11 10-win seasons since he first became a head coach in 2006, tied for fourth most by a head coach in that span.
A native of the Greenfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh, McCarthy understands the Steelers’ blue-collar culture better than most. Hiring McCarthy, a veteran coach who has intimate knowledge of the city and of the tradition of the teams, allows the Steelers to remain true to their old-school roots in a way that could’ve been challenged by a young up-and-coming candidate.
Not only does McCarthy have a familiarity with the city, but general manager Omar Khan knows McCarthy from New Orleans. McCarthy served as the New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator from 2000-04, and Khan, who joined the Saints first as an intern in 1997, worked closely with McCarthy when he came on board. — Pryor
How does the hiring of McCarthy impact Aaron Rodgers’ chances of returning next season?
While Rodgers is still a wild card, there’s belief in the Steelers’ building that hiring McCarthy as the coach could help to bring the quarterback into the fold for at least one more year.
Rodgers signed a one-year deal with the Steelers a year ago, and helped them to a 10-7 record and another wild-card berth. Though Rodgers averaged just 207.6 yards per game, a career low when he played at least 16 games, his completion percentage improved to 65.7% for his best mark since the 2021 season, one in which he earned MVP honors and completed 68.9% of his attempts.
Rodgers and McCarthy teamed up for 13 seasons in Green Bay and won 107 games together. During that stretch, Rodgers won four MVP awards, and the Packers won Super Bowl XLV. That lone Super Bowl, which came after the 2010 season, was a victory over a Mike Tomlin-coached Steelers team, marking the last time the Steelers or Packers appeared in a Super Bowl. If Rodgers returned to Pittsburgh to play for McCarthy, the duo would be the ninth head coach-quarterback combination to coach and start for multiple teams, according to ESPN Research.
Though Rodgers’ relationship with McCarthy was volatile, and McCarthy was eventually fired by Green Bay in 2018, Rodgers has spoken fondly of his former coach recently, including throughout his season in Pittsburgh as he mentioned McCarthy’s stories of his hometown. — Pryor
What was the QB-coach relationship between Rodgers and McCarthy in Green Bay like?
Rodgers and McCarthy spent most of 13 seasons together in Green Bay; long enough to experience a Super Bowl championship, a 15-1 regular-season and some rocky moments along the way. But any animosity that might have built up during their long football marriage has long since dissipated.
Speaking in 2022, ahead of a game against a Cowboys team that McCarthy was coaching, Rodgers spoke nostalgically about their time together. He said they had restarted regular communication and added: “As time goes by, the gratitude of that time, as you look back on the journey of your career, goes up a little bit. … You appreciate the little things a little bit more.”
There was no talk of a possible reunion at that time, but no one who heard Rodgers thought he was harboring any longstanding grudge. — Seifert
What’s the buzz around the league on the Steelers’ decision?
Initial league reaction is one of mild surprise but not shock. McCarthy was a finalist with pedigree and connectivity to Pittsburgh — not only as a native of the city, but overlapping with Khan in New Orleans more than two decades ago.
Rooney has known McCarthy for a long time and is comfortable with him. He has a .608 winning percentage over 18 years in Green Bay and Dallas. These things worked in his favor. But given the team’s penchant for finding emerging young head coaches, this is a break from the mold.
“I thought the team would chart a new course with an assertive young coach they could build something with,” an industry source said Saturday. “McCarthy’s a good coach, but this isn’t an inspired hire.” — Fowler
What does this move signal about the Steelers’ offense?
It might not signal a shift in offensive philosophy, but it certainly signals an emphasis on improving the offense as the Steelers hire their first offensive-minded head coach since before 1969. The Cowboys had a top-five scoring offense three times in McCarthy’s tenure, while the Steelers haven’t had a top-five scoring offense since 2017, according to ESPN Research.
The Steelers haven’t been able to consistently move the ball since Ben Roethlisberger retired, and even if Rodgers returns, the team still needs to find its quarterback of the future. McCarthy coached quarterbacks in Kansas City and Green Bay before becoming the Saints’ offensive coordinator in 2000.
In bringing in McCarthy, the Steelers seem to be hoping he can quickly develop the next signal-caller, whether that’s 2025 sixth-round pick Will Howard or another prospect, potentially one selected in the upcoming 2026 draft, in which the Steelers have the No. 21 overall pick. — Pryor
What are the Steelers’ biggest offseason needs, and who could they target with the 21st pick?
The Steelers’ needs once again center around the quarterback position — regardless of whether Rodgers is in the mix next season. At pick No. 21, there will be consideration for Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson if he’s still on the board. His strong play in the pocket would fit well with McCarthy’s West Coast offense. But if Simpson is gone by the time Pittsburgh is on the clock, the wide receiver class could get a look.
The Steelers still need someone opposite DK Metcalf. And USC’s Makai Lemon would be an ideal No. 2 with his route running and run-after-catch abilities. — Miller
1:13
Why the Steelers need a young quarterback
The “Get Up” crew discusses the rebuild required in Pittsburgh following the departure of Mike Tomlin.
How would you grade the hire?
C. It’s hard to get excited about McCarthy’s third stint as an NFL head coach, especially when we consider just how he failed at the previous two stops. McCarthy made three straight playoff appearances in Dallas over five seasons, but he never made it beyond the divisional round — and that was with an excellent quarterback in Dak Prescott. In Green Bay, where McCarthy was the coach for 13 seasons, he won one Super Bowl (2010) and didn’t make it back over the next eight years. He was fired in large part because of the offense growing stale and a lack of postseason success despite elite QB play — the prime of Rodgers.
So why should Pittsburgh fans reasonably expect McCarthy to cure their playoffs one-and-done woes of the Tomlin era, especially when he is facing a quarterback problem he has never before had to endure? — Solak
