Oates: Thompson Should Lock Up McCarthy

[vince]

Not that this is exactly going out on a limb at this point, but I have to say I agree with this assessment 100%.

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/packers/255457


Oates: Thompson should lock up McCarthy
By TOM OATES
608-252-6172
toates@madison.com

Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson has been busy extending the contracts of young players who have become key contributors — Donald Lee is the latest example and Corey Williams should be next on the list — but the time has come for Thompson to think about re-upping his coach as well.

Mike McCarthy signed a three-year contract when he joined the Packers in 2006 and, halfway through his second season, has left no doubt that he is a coach worth keeping.

The Packers have exceeded all expectations with their 7-1 record at midseason, putting McCarthy in the pole position for NFL coach of the year honors and pumping life back into a franchise that had lost its way. Under the resolute McCarthy, the Packers have once again found their way — his way.

The public has been slow to embrace McCarthy, due partly to the Packers' unusually rocky 4-8 start last year and partly to the fact that he doesn't come across as eloquent or even all that personable in public. Make no mistake, though, this team bears his stamp. Like McCarthy, it is intelligent, focused, tough, physical and resilient.

Nowhere is that more evident than in the Packers' 9-3 road record the last two seasons. Even good teams can unravel on the road in the NFL, but the Packers' success under McCarthy prompted this testimonial from linebacker Brady Poppinga:

"Based on the character of this team and who we are, I think it's a reflection of him. He's that kind of guy. He's the same Coach McCarthy regardless of the circumstances. That's what has led us to the point we're at today. It's not like he comes on the road and all of a sudden has to change things and (says), 'Oh, no, we're going into this place,' or 'We're playing this team.' No, he's the same. It gives us the confidence to know that if we play the way we're capable of and if we fight to the end, we're going to have a great shot at winning."

The Packers have won 11 of their last 12 games and, though he has made in-game strategical errors on a few occasions and has been unable to get any kind of a running game going, McCarthy is the main man behind that success.

He has won over the locker room with his humane treatment of players and his no-nonsense, straight-from-the-heart method of communication. The players, in turn, follow his lead by showing up ready to play every week.

He has preached mental and physical toughness since his first day on the job, and the Packers' attacking defense and ability to consistently come up with winning plays in the fourth quarter are reflections of that.

He hasn't been dealt a full hand by Thompson, especially at running back, but has made use of what he has, creatively fashioning one of the NFL's top passing games despite not having the threat of the run.

He has changed the way Brett Favre plays and, better yet, has done so without Favre even realizing it. McCarthy has almost formed a partnership with his veteran quarterback, who has responded by taking fewer chances and playing better than he has in years.

Most important, McCarthy is realistic and therefore never satisfied. That's why the Packers get better and more confident by the week.

[hurleyfan]

I would certainly think this has to be one of TT's priorities.. if not during this season, then shortly after..

[MJZiggy]

I was just thinking that I doubt M3 wants to be bothered with his contract right now...

And who says he's not personable. It's just that the personality is not what Oates would expect.

[hoosier]

I agree that McCarthy's teams seem well prepared on a more consistent basis than Shermy's teams (though in general I think Sherman was a decent to good coach). The only exception I see are the needless penalties by the offense, especially in the red zone. We still haven't seen how McCarthy prepares his team against a patsy. It will be interesting to see what they do against St Louis, assuming the Rams are still struggling--do they play down to the Rams' level or do they put them away?

[The Leaper]

It's not like McCarthy is going anywhere right now. I'm sure a new contract will be very high on Thompson's to-do list this offseason, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's already told McCarthy that he will be extended after the season...but that it won't be dealt with prior to that time.

[Cheesehead Craig]

No reason to do this before the season is over. There's plenty of time offseason to take care of this.

[Carolina_Packer]

I agree with waiting until the offseason, unless they want to be strategic and do it when/if they are getting ready to head to the playoffs to possibly give the players a boost somehow, like they know he's gonna be there for the long run. Otherwise, yeah, wait until the offseason, but yes, do lock him up.

As for his personality, that's Pittsburgh. If you ever watch the CBS pre-game football show with Dan Marino, close your eyes sometime when he's talking...it kinda sounds like Mike McCarthy. Maybe it's just me. I've always been interested in regional accents...Wi-scan-zin!

I like MM's public demeanor. You want your team leader to be a little bit serious, but not too serious. Sometimes you see humor come out, or see him smile or laugh, but he's not silly or animated. That's OK, however he's doing it, he seems to have respect and seems to give it.

[Tarlam!]

Do it now. The signal to the players is unimaginable. M3 needn't even be directly involved to distract him!

He could have:

Option A "This is on the table, sign here"
Option B "Your 7-1 today. Let's play it out until the end of the season; Every loss, we deduct "X" from Option "A", evry win we add "X" to option "A".

Include a Post season clause.

And, as we love to say in Australia "Bob's you're Uncle".

I have no idea where that saying comes from, but it means, well, oh heck. Go look it up!

[Cheesehead Craig]

And, as we love to say in Australia "Bob's you're Uncle".

I have no idea where that saying comes from, but it means, well, oh heck. Go look it up!
Careful, you're starting to sound like Woodbuck. :lol:

[RashanGary]

It should be one of the priorities this off season. Right now, just try to win games. MM's not going ot get injured. His money will be there when the season is over.

[MJZiggy]

It should be one of the priorities this off season. Right now, just try to win games. MM's not going ot get injured. His money will be there when the season is over.

Tell it to Joe Paterno...

[Freak Out]

His agent can do the work.

[Rastak]

And, as we love to say in Australia "Bob's you're Uncle".




I use that phrase all the time at work.




This is a catchphrase which seemed to arise out of nowhere and yet has had a long period of fashion and is still going strong. It’s known mainly in Britain and Commonwealth countries, and is really a kind of interjection. It’s used to show how simple it is to do something: “You put the plug in here, press that switch, and Bob’s your uncle!”.

The most attractive theory — albeit suspiciously neat — is that it derives from a prolonged act of political nepotism. The Victorian prime minister, Lord Salisbury (family name Robert Cecil, pronounced ) appointed his rather less than popular nephew Arthur Balfour to a succession of posts. The most controversial, in 1887, was chief secretary of Ireland, a post for which Balfour — despite his intellectual gifts — was considered unsuitable. The Dictionary of National Biography says: “The country saw with something like stupefaction the appointment of the young dilettante to what was at the moment perhaps the most important, certainly the most anxious office in the administration”. As the story goes, the consensus among the irreverent in Britain was that to have Bob as your uncle was a guarantee of success, hence the expression. Since the very word nepotism derives from the Italian word for nephew (from the practice of Italian popes giving preferment to nephews, a euphemism for their bastard sons), the association here seems more than apt.

Actually, Balfour did rather well in the job, confounding his critics and earning the bitter nickname Bloody Balfour from the Irish, which must have quietened the accusations of undue favouritism more than a little (he also rose to be Prime Minister from 1902–5). There is another big problem: the phrase isn’t recorded until 1937, in Eric Partridge’s Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Mr Partridge suggested it had been in use since the 1890s, but nobody has found an example in print. This is surprising. If public indignation or cynicism against Lord Salisbury’s actions had been great enough to provoke creation of the saying, why didn’t it appear — to take a case — in a satirical magazine of the time such as Punch?

A rather more probable, but less exciting, theory has it that it derives from the slang phrase all is bob, meaning that everything is safe, pleasant or satisfactory. This dates back to the seventeenth century or so (it’s in Captain Francis Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue of 1785). There have been several other slang expressions containing bob, some associated with thievery or gambling, and from the eighteenth century on it was also a common generic name for somebody you didn’t know. Any or all of these might have contributed to its genesis.

[LL2]

M3 should get a fat raise. He turned the team around in less than two years. TT gets some credit too, but it takes good coaching to get wins. M3 is producing a lot of wins. He should be coach of the year. I know Tomlin in Pittsburgh will be mentioned but the turn around there is not as significant.

[GoPackGo]

No reason to do this before the season is over. There's plenty of time offseason to take care of this.

I agree....Being a kid who grew up in Greenfield, coaching the Pack is McCarthy's dream job. He's doesn't want to be anywhere else. Also, why should McCarthy get a fat raise? Why is it that people think players and coaches should get fat raises before the previous contract is up? Aren't they just doing the job they were hired to do? I agree with giving a fat raise on a new contract only after the current contract is up or close to it, if the performance stays at a high level. Ted Thompson is just getting what he paid for right now.

[Partial]

No reason to do this before the season is over. There's plenty of time offseason to take care of this.

I agree....Being a kid who grew up in Greenfield, coaching the Pack is McCarthy's dream job. He's doesn't want to be anywhere else. Also, why should McCarthy get a fat raise? Why is it that people think players and coaches should get fat raises before the previous contract is up? Aren't they just doing the job they were hired to do? I agree with giving a fat raise on a new contract only after the current contract is up or close to it, if the performance stays at a high level. Ted Thompson is just getting what he paid for right now.

You grew up in greenfield? I live in greenfield.

[MJZiggy]

I think he was talking about M3, but he grew up in the Greenfield neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, so his dream job is probably coaching the Steelers, but I don't think he's complaining and I don't think he wants to be anywhere else either right now.

[GoPackGo]

No reason to do this before the season is over. There's plenty of time offseason to take care of this.

I agree....Being a kid who grew up in Greenfield, coaching the Pack is McCarthy's dream job. He's doesn't want to be anywhere else. Also, why should McCarthy get a fat raise? Why is it that people think players and coaches should get fat raises before the previous contract is up? Aren't they just doing the job they were hired to do? I agree with giving a fat raise on a new contract only after the current contract is up or close to it, if the performance stays at a high level. Ted Thompson is just getting what he paid for right now.

You grew up in greenfield? I live in greenfield.


not me, McCarthy grew up in greenfield

[GoPackGo]

I think he was talking about M3, but he grew up in the Greenfield neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, so his dream job is probably coaching the Steelers, but I don't think he's complaining and I don't think he wants to be anywhere else either right now.

McCarthy didn't grow up in Greenfield. i don't know what i was thinking :doh:

[Partial]

No reason to do this before the season is over. There's plenty of time offseason to take care of this.

I agree....Being a kid who grew up in Greenfield, coaching the Pack is McCarthy's dream job. He's doesn't want to be anywhere else. Also, why should McCarthy get a fat raise? Why is it that people think players and coaches should get fat raises before the previous contract is up? Aren't they just doing the job they were hired to do? I agree with giving a fat raise on a new contract only after the current contract is up or close to it, if the performance stays at a high level. Ted Thompson is just getting what he paid for right now.

You grew up in greenfield? I live in greenfield.


not me, McCarthy grew up in greenfield

I thought he was from Pittsburg? Jagz was from dirty stallis.