McCarthy: QB Whisperer

I was geniunely interested in how/when McCarthy became this QB guru that is so often used to describe him. Found this story pretty fascinating.

Green Bay Packers: The quarterback guru – Twin Cities

Long read but here is a clip:

"He’s considered an architect of the quarterback position, the modern-day standard. McCarthy has worked with Joe Montana, Rich Gannon, Steve Bono, Matt Hasselbeck, Brett Favre, Aaron Brooks and, of course, Aaron Rodgers. But he never even played the position. McCarthy was a tight end at Baker University (Kan.). His first job? Coaching linebackers at Fort Hays State.

The making of this Quarterback M.D. is rooted in his first 10 years as a coach . McCarthy did “the whole sleep-in-the-office thing.” He learned from experts, he formed his own style. An obsessive attention to detail. A complete deconstruction of the position. Insomnia. And pointed one-on-one attention.

That’s what it took to reach this leather chair inside Lambeau Field.

“I never felt the ‘you never played the position’ (criticism),” McCarthy said. “It’s been said to me, it’s been written about me, but I feel I can sit down and talk quarterback play with anybody. I feel I’ve definitely created that same environment here in Green Bay.

“It’s all about taking care of the most important position in football.”

THE PROGRAM

It was a dream setup. McCarthy walked from his parents’ home to the University of Pittsburgh across Schenley Park in minutes. If McCarthy could have signed “a 25-year assistant coach contract” at Pittsburgh, he would have signed in a heartbeat.

So the pay didn’t matter. The insane hours, irrelevant.

“I loved every minute of it,” McCarthy said. “I couldn’t get enough of it.”

A graduate volunteer in 1989 and a graduate assistant for two more years, the young McCarthy was coach Paul Hackett’s apprentice. Pick any quarterback he’s ever coached. From Pittsburgh’s Van Pelt in 1989 to Rodgers in 2012, McCarthy said, each quarterback would recognize 70-80 percent of his teaching methods. These three years provided the framework.

At Pitt, McCarthy’s job was to break down all the defenses Pittsburgh faced. And while McCarthy “didn’t make a dime,” he was glued to Van Pelt’s progress. He was enamored with the year-to-year development of a quarterback. Van Pelt went on to shatter Dan Marino’s passing record at Pitt.

“We learned the system and grew within the system together,” said Van Pelt, now the Packers’ running backs coach. “It was his first time being exposed to the West Coast (offense), as well as mine.”

Hackett was the driving force, dissecting quarterback play down to weight distribution on the second step of a drop.

“You may be as detailed as Paul Hackett but you won’t be more detailed,” McCarthy said. “Guys like him, he lived it. He took it home at night.”

So McCarthy did, too. At Pitt, he slept about two hours a night. When Hackett became offensive coordinator at Kansas City in 1993, he took McCarthy with him. Suddenly, McCarthy shared a sideline with Joe Montana. A four-time Super Bowl champ, “an encyclopedia of quarterback play.”

As the Chiefs’ quality control coach, McCarthy armed himself with a notebook and pen at all times. He attended every quarterback meeting, taking notes of every conversation among Hackett, Montana and Dave Krieg. Make no mistake, McCarthy was the student in this relationship. Montana was nearly a decade older.

In awe, McCarthy watched seven-on-seven drills. With Montana, the ball never touched the ground.

“His fundamentals were flawless,” McCarthy said. “He was such a great athlete but he was so smooth and cool with his approach and he had no wasted movement. I don’t think people realize how good of an athlete he really was. He was so dang accurate with the ball.”

And after the 1994 season, McCarthy was promoted to quarterbacks coach. His big break, his opportunity.

That off-season, McCarthy met a handful of friends at a restaurant back home in Pittsburgh. In five years, their buddy had made it. They congratulated him. They patted him on the back. They talked about the surreal possibility of coaching “the Joe Montana.”

Then, one of McCarthy’s friends shot him a skeptical glare.

“Let me ask you a question,” the friend asked. “What in the (expletive) are you going to teach Joe Montana?”

Everyone laughed, and McCarthy tried answering the question. He mumbled something about footwork and … stopped himself. He had nothing. Yet.

Montana retired, and McCarthy remained unproven, humbled. But finally, the position was his.

TAKING OVER

For a coach who has become so consumed by the “body clock” these days, this was torture. In Kansas City, McCarthy took that clock and smashed it with a sledgehammer.

Maybe he drank coffee. Maybe it was Coke. Rich Gannon can’t remember. Something spiked with caffeine had to fuel his coach.

As the quarterbacks coach, McCarthy’s day typically lasted from 5:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Only when the schedule dipped into November did the former Chiefs quarterback notice fatigue in his coach. The team typically practiced outside, in the frigid weather, and returned indoors for a film session. Heat blasted.

“His eyes were rolling in his head,” Gannon said. “He was awake. He wasn’t sleeping or anything. But I could just see him fighting it. He was dying. And he knew he had another seven or eight hours in him.”

After five years of hustling, of absorbing that “sickening” amount of information, it was McCarthy’s time. He didn’t want to blow it. The first true quarterback he taught, hands on, was Gannon.

Over their four years together, Gannon started only 19 games. But it was McCarthy who helped Gannon morph from journeyman to juggernaut. Behind the scenes, he revitalized the quarterback’s career. Eventually in Oakland, Gannon would make four Pro Bowls, earn league MVP honors and reach the Super Bowl.

McCarthy benefited, too. From 1995-98, he evolved from student to teacher. Those notes from Hackett, from Montana, were his guide.

 

I’m going to read this but I’m going to need a nap first

 

This is exactly why I wanted the team to draft another QB or more other than just Allar
Let Mike cook!!!!

waiting for the MOJO too

 

Spot on. There's a difference between knowing the subject and being able to teach it. Had a few smart profs that weren't great at the teaching. McCarthy seems like he can actually teach. That will be huge going forward.

 

We shall see. I hope so. Like McVey, I've yet to see him develop a great Qb that he picked as a rookie. I'm not saying he can't, I'm saying like I say about McVey, I haven't seen it.
See like Shanahan, I've seen him do it, not just take a Qb that was already there, and make him better, but actually take a rookie, and make him good. Again, I'm not saying he can't, I just would like to see it

 

Excellent