There’s a new Mike in town.
With longtime Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin stepping down from his role following the 2025 season, Pittsburgh opted to bring in former Packers and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy — another experienced name with a Super Bowl ring — to fill the role in 2026 and beyond.
The 62-year-old was a polarizing hire from the start. Before being out of the NFL in 2025, McCarthy was the Dallas Cowboys’ head coach for five seasons. In three of those years, Dallas had a top-five scoring
offense, but McCarthy wasn’t brought back after a 7-10 record in 2024. He also went 1-3 in the playoffs over those five years.
There’s plenty of good and bad from McCarthy’s last coaching stop, and it’s been spun in every way as he’s started his tenure in Pittsburgh. To gain some more insight on the coach he’s been in the 2020s, I recently chatted with longtime Cowboys writer Dave Halprin, the founder and editor of SB Nation’s Blogging the Boys. You can read my questions and his answers below:
1. What were the basics of McCarthy’s coaching style in Dallas? (Leadership, decision-making, etc.)
Dave Halprin: Mike McCarthy, in a lot of respects, felt like a throwback coach. He wasn’t much into inspirational speeches, or clever themes to rally around, or other things coaches sometimes do to lead their team. Instead, he feels like a down-to-business type of guy who believes in his coaching ability and doesn’t worry about some of the other stuff. He never called out his own players individually and generally seemed to have good relations with his squad. There is nothing particularly distinctive about his leadership style, but there always seemed to be a level of competence, and that comes from a guy who has done this successfully for a long time. You ask about some other aspects like decision-making in a way further down the questions, so I’ll hold on that element for now.
2. What were the tenets of McCarthy’s offensive scheme in Dallas? And how much control did he give his offensive coordinators?
DH: In general, McCarthy is a somewhat disciple of West Coast schemes with an emphasis on running the ball and playing more of a ball control offense. This led to McCarthy not bringing back offensive coordinator Kellen Moore in the middle of his run in Dallas with the infamous quote of “Kellen wants to light the scoreboard up, but I want him to run the damn ball so I can rest my defense.” The Cowboys offense was potent under Moore, so this change did not sit well with everybody. The Cowboys offense still had times when they were still very good, but Moore was using more of the modern NFL schemes with play-action, motion, and other elements that have been in vogue recently. Under McCarthy, some of that stuff went away and the offense felt more constrained and less innovative under his leadership. He also took over play-calling leaving new coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to do most of his work during the week. It wasn’t uncommon to hear comments that McCarthy’s offense felt like a throwback to the 90s or some earlier period.
3. What would you say was McCarthy’s biggest strength as a head coach? Biggest weakness?
DH: His biggest strength I think is his competence. McCarthy knows a lot about football and some of it translates into the modern times. He is respected by most of his players and he generally runs a “drama-free” program. His offenses have been very successful over the years and the product on the field generally feels like it could be competitive. This is a huge generalization and there certainly are times when we were left shaking our heads and thinking what the heck was that, but overall he seems to have a plan and have his players ready to execute it.
His biggest weakness to me was his lack of innovation and evolution. He talked a big game about modernizing with analytics and other things, and while he was aggressive at times at going for it on fourth down, once he took over the offense and the play-calling, it felt like Dalals was surviving more on talent than scheme. We wanted more play-action, more pre-snap motion, more bunch/rub routes, things like that were being called for to get players open into space, but that seemed to become less and less of the offense. The creativity felt diminished. Additionally, he is very poor at in-game decisions especially around clock management and other details like that. It was a near constant complaint, along with his team being penalized way too often.
4. What were the main reasons that led to Dallas letting McCarthy go after 2024? Did the media/fans agree with the team’s decision?
DH: Many were surprised that he even came back in 2024. After the Cowboys got blown out by the Packers in the playoffs, many fans and media were ready to move on at that time. Surprisingly, Jerry Jones stuck with him and even after the disastrous 2024 season, Jones had serious talks about bringing McCarthy back but those talks fell apart, reportedly over the length of the contract. In general, I think most Cowboys fans were done with McCarthy by that time. Yes, he had three seasons where he won 12 games for the team, but in the playoffs it became the same story for the franchise – a huge disappointment. It just didn’t feel like there was any growth with the team and many fans were more than ready to move on and find a new coach. The 1-3 record in the playoffs was a significant factor as the Cowboys always seem to play well in the regular season, but crash out in the playoffs. McCarthy just seemed to be more of that.
5. Do you believe McCarthy can still put together and lead a playoff contender in this stage of his coaching career?
DH: He can definitely lead a talented team to the playoffs. I think at this point he needs some star power to do it; I don’t think he can scheme his way to victories the way some coaches around the NFL can. But if given a roster with talent, his competence will allow him to do very well in terms of regular-season wins. As for the playoffs, that is where things fell apart in Dallas. He couldn’t get the franchise over the hump. Granted, many coaches before him in Dallas struggled with the same problem. So it’s hard to say, but if given enough talent, McCarthy will give you a competitive football team.
You can follow Dave’s Cowboys coverage here.
