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McCarthy has made it a priority to create an environment where players feel free to make the three-story trek to the coaches' offices and get some one-on-one attention.
As many people suspected at the time, there weren't many players who even thought about leaving their sanctuary to speak with former coach Mike Sherman. The atmosphere wasn't conducive to having heart-to-hearts.
"It's amazing last year going through it," McCarthy said. "I've got Brett Favre (who) comes in my office and he's walking around and he goes, 'Well, I've never been up here.' If I had one, I had 20 guys tell me that.
"I want guys up on that third floor. I want that interaction between the coaches and players. You talk about relationship-building, you talk about group dynamics, that's a key part of it."
McCarthy said he was not trying to create a social club, but he wants a player who might be afraid of asking questions in a meeting room full of other players to be able to come upstairs and talk to his position coach or coordinator. He said the layout of Lambeau Field didn't promote that kind of intimacy, so he wants to make sure the players know there's an open-door policy.
"What I don't want is that when they push No. 3 in the elevator, it's, 'Oh (shoot), here I go, I'm going up to the head coach's office for something negative,' and that's part of it," McCarthy said. "I'm not talking about being buddy-buddy. And I told the players that. I'm just trying to promote as much player-coach interaction as possible."
McCarthy has made it a priority to create an environment where players feel free to make the three-story trek to the coaches' offices and get some one-on-one attention.
As many people suspected at the time, there weren't many players who even thought about leaving their sanctuary to speak with former coach Mike Sherman. The atmosphere wasn't conducive to having heart-to-hearts.
"It's amazing last year going through it," McCarthy said. "I've got Brett Favre (who) comes in my office and he's walking around and he goes, 'Well, I've never been up here.' If I had one, I had 20 guys tell me that.
"I want guys up on that third floor. I want that interaction between the coaches and players. You talk about relationship-building, you talk about group dynamics, that's a key part of it."
McCarthy said he was not trying to create a social club, but he wants a player who might be afraid of asking questions in a meeting room full of other players to be able to come upstairs and talk to his position coach or coordinator. He said the layout of Lambeau Field didn't promote that kind of intimacy, so he wants to make sure the players know there's an open-door policy.
"What I don't want is that when they push No. 3 in the elevator, it's, 'Oh (shoot), here I go, I'm going up to the head coach's office for something negative,' and that's part of it," McCarthy said. "I'm not talking about being buddy-buddy. And I told the players that. I'm just trying to promote as much player-coach interaction as possible."
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