This is from Coach McCarthy’s press conference on Monday:
(How can you use a win like that? The flip side, the season’s not over if you lose and fall to 3-4, but then you’ve lost four games by three points each and things are pretty tough around here. What kinds of things can you take from a win like this and build off of and try to create some momentum?)
I’m the point man of this deal. I don’t swing left to right like that. I’m out in front. I do not change. It’s not my personality. I believe it’s ineffective to swing with the emotion, the criticism, even on the other side of it. When something everybody feels extremely positive is happening, I don’t think you run around with your pom-poms this week. That’s the last thing that I’m going to do. Everybody had a chance to enjoy the win last night, and I’m sure everybody feels good today. It was easier coming to work today than it was last week. That’s our business. Winning is important. A lot of good things come off of winning. But it’s onto the next one. It’s a simple as that. I wish I had some fancy words up here to make you feel better, I could answer your question better. But that’s what you’ve got and that’s what I am.
(You are that way, but you have 25-year-old kids who are more emotional and might look at it differently. How do you make sure that they use it in a positive way?)
Well, it’s all part of how you, you have to set the tempo and the plan every week. A big part of coaching is you’re a teacher and a salesman. You have to sell that plan, sell that path every single week. You can’t just go up and give a good speech at the beginning of the year and roll the ball out there. It doesn’t work that way. Today’s athlete is different. I think they’re very educated, they’re very in tune. The social networking is unbelievable. Some things I don’t even know how to work. But I’m in tune with what’s out there. It’s important for us to stay focused on the next opponent, and that’s our approach.
McCarthy is in awe of twitter (?!). I'll let that pass. But in his own words, the man is a technocrat. He isn’t a leader. I’ll be genuinely surprised if we beat the Jets come Sunday. But Brent limped off the field last Sunday. If we can beat the Bears come Christmas, I'll say the season turned out alright. Or as well as could be, our coaching situation considered.
2 comments:
I read the awe of social networking comment as him being amazed at the extent of social networking players do (with each other and fans). And it seems like he and Mike Singletary have the same problem from opposite ends of the spectrum: they don't know how to properly balance the motivational speeches/firing up the troops with the methodical planning that is necessary to win games. McCarthy is somewhat right, but perhaps instead of thinking of himself as a teacher (he has coordinators who work more closely with players to teach plays, etc), he should think of himself as a department head - set the tone for the players and other coaches.
One thing I'm certain of is that Mike McCarthy learns very slowly, if at all. Look at how long it took him to start embracing practicing outdoors in the cold (in Green Bay, WI). He isn't much of a dialectical thinker. He just imposes his master plan and waits for it to work. He does this four years into this rebuild, even when it's clear that the rebuilt Green Bay Packers are a mediocre team.
He isn't head-coaching material. He really isn't offensive coordinator material. He's a QB coach who has been promoted two levels too far. Given Rodgers' regression this year, he isn't even doing that very well anymore. Rodgers is probably "Favring" (forcing plays to try to win the game).
It's ugly.
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