McCarthy and the coaching class of 2006

[Greg C.]

Here's an article from Mike Vandermause of the Press Gazette, comparing Mike McCarthy to the other coaches who were hired in 2006:

McCarthy bashers strangely silent

Remember back to last season when the Packers were stumbling and bumbling to a 4-8 record? There were cries for Mike McCarthy's head, as some impatient fans were loudly questioning GM Ted Thompson's choice for a head coach. In numerous chats, I remember repeatedly having to tell fans to give McCarthy a chance, that you cannot judge a coach based on a partial season.

I'm not ready to say "I told you so." I'm not ready to proclaim McCarthy as the next coaching genius. As a matter of fact, it's still too early, just 18 games into his tenure, to judge the job McCarthy has done.

I will repeat, for the benefit of impatient followers of the Packers, that building a team takes time. It goes for McCarthy as well as Thompson. While I have questioned moves (or non-moves) made by Thompson over the off-season, I never swayed from the attitude that both men deserve an adequate amount of time to roll out their program.

How much time is needed to judge them? I would say by the end of the 2008 season we will have a good idea on both of them.

But let's take a look at how McCarthy and the six other NFL coaches who were hired in 2006 are doing. As it stands, McCarthy has moved into a tie for the best record among those seven coaches. Here are the 18-game track records, with this year's records in parentheses:

Mike McCarthy, Packers 10-8 (2-0)
Eric Mangini, Jets 10-8 (0-2)
Sean Payton, Saints 10-8 (0-2)
Scott Linehan, Rams 8-10 (0-2)
Gary Kubiak, Texans 8-10 (2-0)
Brad Childress, Vikings 7-11 (1-1)
Rod Marinelli, Lions 5-13 (2-0)

Remember everyone who fell in love with Payton last year, and those labeling the Jets' coach "Manginius"? Both coaches have stumbled out of the gates in 2007.

The point here is not to say McCarthy is the best of the bunch. The jury is still out on all these coaches. But anyone who was ready to throw McCarthy under the bus in the middle of last season clearly was making a premature assessment.

-- Mike Vandermause, [email protected]

 

[tromadz]

neat

 

[millertime]

sean payton also one a playoff game.

 

[Greg C.]

sean payton also one a playoff game.

Yep, he won one and lost one, so his winning percentage is actually a bit lower than McCarthy's, but obviously he has accomplished more. And Mangini at least made it to the playoffs, so he's accomplished more than McCarthy as well. But it's pretty darn even. And coaching is more like a marathon than a sprint, so we're a ways from seeing which of these coaches is the best. I wouldn't rule ANY of those seven coaches out at this point.

One thing that sticks in my mind about Payton is that he is supposedly a very tough coach to play for. His players hated his training camp last year, but were of course very happy about how the season turned out. Sometimes these really tough coaches have short-term success but have a harder and harder time keeping their players motivated as years go by. I call it the Coughlin factor.

 

[Zombieslayer]

This is a topic to bump at the end of this year, when the Packers go 11-5, win one playoff game and lose one.

And bump it again next year after we've won the Super Bowl & Favre puts his win record out of reach by anyone.