Yeah, McCarthy's been great, and I've always liked the way he conducts himself in press conferences, right from his very first one. I remember that he won a lot of fans over in that first press conference.
In spite of the Packers' success this season, McCarthy is still being almost completely overlooked by the national media, which is proof that young coaches are rated more on hype than accomplishments.
Take a look at this baffling excerpt from Dr. Z's mailbag on the Sports Illustrated web site yesterday:
"Andy of Denver, and I thank you, asks for my choice of 'best coach out of the rookie head coaches last year.' I'm not sure what you mean. You're not including this season's crop, right? Well, if you'd have asked me that in the off-season I'd have said tie between Eric Mangini of the Jets and Sean Payton of the Saints. Now both their teams are in the dumper. I'm not going to say Brad Childress or Rod Marinelli because their teams have a better record right now. I think I'll stick with the same two, although I give the Saints more hope this season than I do the Jets."
Now, I don't think Dr. Z is snubbing McCarthy, I think he was just hasty in answering the question and completely forgot about him. I e-mailed Dr. Z to tell him about his oversight. What makes it even worse is that he mentioned Childress and Marinelli, as if those are the only two coaches who might be considered along with last year's geniuses Mangini and Payton. McCarthy is 5-0 against Childress and Marinelli.
