Mike McCarthy (American football)

Michael John "Mike" McCarthy (born November 10, 1963) is a professional American football coach, currently serving as the head coach of the National Football League's Green Bay Packers.

Early life
McCarthy was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father was a firefighter and Pittsburgh Police officer as well as a bar owner, who raised McCarthy as a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.

Playing career
McCarthy was a tight end at Baker University, a NAIA school located in Baldwin City, Kansas.

College
After serving as a graduate assistant at Fort Hays State from 1987 to 1988, McCarthy returned home to Pittsburgh and was hired in 1989 to work under Paul Hackett at the University of Pittsburgh, where he served as quarterbacks coach for three seasons before coaching wide receivers during the 1992 season. At first and during the off season he also worked on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to supplement his income

Assistant coach
In 1993, McCarthy began a stint with the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs; after working two years as an offensive quality control assistant, McCarthy became quarterbacks coach, overseeing the work of Rich Gannon, Elvis Grbac, and Steve Bono. McCarthy spent the 1999 season in the same position with the Packers, coaching Brett Favre in a season when Favre threw for 4,091 yards, the fourth-best total of his career.

After the Packers released the entire coaching staff following the 1999 season, McCarthy became the offensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints. He would remain in that position for five seasons and was selected as NFC Assistant Coach of the Year by USA Today in 2000.

In 2005, McCarthy served as offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers. His unit, beset by injuries and led by a rookie quarterback (top draft pick Alex Smith), finished the season ranked last in the NFL in points scored and yards gained.

Return to Green Bay
McCarthy was interviewed by Packers general manager Ted Thompson on January 8, 2006 and was offered the head coaching position three days later.

In 2006, the Packers started with a 4-8 record, but managed to win their last four games to finish the season 8-8, ending with a win against their archrival Chicago Bears, but missing the playoffs for the second straight year.

In 2007, McCarthy had his most successful regular season to date as a head coach. After guiding the Packers to a 8-1 record in the first 9 games of the 2007 season, McCarthy recorded the best won-loss ratio to start the first 25 games of a career among active coaches, setting the record for the best coaching start in Packers' history (Vince Lombardi went 15-10) and tying Washington's Joe Gibbs at 16-9, McCarthy led the Packers to a 13-3 record and made it to the NFC Championship game, where they lost to the eventual Super Bowl-winning New York Giants in overtime. That year, he finished second in voting for The Associated Press Coach of the Year award, garnering 15 votes to Bill Belichick's 29 votes. He signed a five-year contract extension with the team on January 19, 2008, that raised his salary to $3.4 million a year.

In 2008, McCarthy became embroiled in a major controversy involving the future of their franchise quarterback, Brett Favre. The controversy started when Favre decided to come out of retirement to play again. McCarthy and Packers' General Manager Ted Thompson had stated their desire to move on with new starter Aaron Rodgers. Favre was ultimately traded to the New York Jets for a conditional fourth-round draft pick.

The season was McCarthy's worst to date with the Packers. Despite a solid showing by Rodgers, who threw for over 4,000 yards and posted a 93.8 QB rating, the Packers started with a 5-5 record, proceeding to lose five consecutive close games until they ended the disappointing season with a victory over the Detroit Lions, who went on to become only the second team in the NFL's post-merger(the NFL and original AFL merged prior to the 1970 season) history to go winless in a single season and the first to go 0-16 in one season after the NFL's transition to a 16-game schedule in 1978, 31-21. At 6-10, the Packers finished 3rd in the NFC North, only ahead of the Lions, and did not make the playoffs.

In 2009, the Packers showed some signs of improvement, but also had struggles. Rodgers improved on 2008's statistics, but was sacked 50 times, more than any other QB in the NFL. The Packers dominated teams with losing records, but were swept by their rival Minnesota Vikings, led by former Packers franchise QB Brett Favre. The Packers lost to the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but then came back to beat the NFC East-leading Dallas Cowboys. They then began a five game winning streak, and the Packers qualified for the playoffs with a Week 16 win over the Seahawks, finishing at 11-5, the second playoff berth in McCarthy's tenure. The Packers lost the Wild Card round to the Arizona Cardinals in a controversial overtime game, 51-45,.

In 2010 McCarthy led the Packers to a 10-6 finish, never losing by more than four points. This record was good for 2nd in the NFC North, behind the arch-rival Chicago Bears, with whom they split victories in the regular season. They finished as the sixth seed in the NFC. The Packers went on to defeat the number three seeded Philadelphia Eagles and then the number one seeded Atlanta Falcons. They played the second seeded Chicago Bears for the third time that season in the NFC Championship game, which they won 21-14 to advance to Super Bowl XLV where they played the Pittsburgh Steelers. This was only the second time these two teams played each other in the postseason. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 to win their fourth Super Bowl and 13th NFL title overall.

McCarthy signed a 3 year contract extension on March 4, 2011.

Coaching tree
NFL head coaches under whom Mike McCarthy has served:
 * Marty Schottenheimer, Kansas City Chiefs (1993–1998)
 * Ray Rhodes, Green Bay Packers (1999)
 * Jim Haslett, New Orleans Saints (2000–2004)
 * Mike Nolan, San Francisco 49ers (2005)

Assistant coaches under Mike McCarthy who became NFL head coaches:
 * None

Assistant coaches under Mike McCarthy who became NCAA head coaches:
 * Jeff Jagodzinski, Boston College (2007–2008)

Awards
In 2007, McCarthy was voted the Motorola NFL Coach of the Year after twice receiving Coach of the Week awards. He was also named the NFL Alumni's Coach of the Year by a group of former players.

In 2008, McCarthy received the distinguished service award at the Lee Remmel sports awards banquet in Green Bay.

Personal life
McCarthy married Jessica Kress in March 2008 at a private ceremony in Maricopa County, Arizona. Together, they have two daughters, Gabrielle Kathleen, born on October 22, 2008 and Isabella Conroy, born on July 29, 2011. McCarthy also has a daughter, Alexandra, from a previous marriage.