McCarthy truly the Pack man

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

GREEN BAY, Wis. — ‘‘Who the heck is Mike McCarthy?’’

One Green Bay Packers fan spoke for thousands when general manager Ted Thompson hired McCarthy out of NFL nowhere in 2006 to replace Mike Sherman as head coach. Some cynics wondered if the Packers thought they were hiring a different Mike McCarthy.

A columnist in San Francisco, where McCarthy had spent one season as the 49ers’ offensive coordinator, all but said, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” And he probably wasn’t alone in that sentiment. McCarthy’s 49ers offense finished last in the NFL in total yards and 30th in points and set 49ers records for fewest offensive touchdowns (17), fewest passing touchdowns (eight) and most punts (107).

It didn’t help that he was working with rookie Alex Smith, Tim Rattay, Ken Dorsey and Cody Pickett as starting quarterbacks. But that’s beside the point. Coaches don’t often get promotions with that kind of stain so fresh on their resumé.

But Thompson chose McCarthy over Packers defensive coordinator Jim Bates — the people’s choice — and five other candidates with low-level Q ratings that still trumped McCarthy’s. Among them: Wade Phillips, Sean Payton and Ron Rivera.

‘‘I studied his record,’’ Thompson said when McCarthy was hired. ‘‘I talked to a ton of people. I talked to a lot of head coaches. I talked to a lot of general managers, and Mike’s name was one that kept coming up. The fact that I knew him from ­before — I knew his work ethic — and ­everyone who ever worked with him spoke glowingly of him, I thought I’d bring him in.

‘‘I didn’t bring him in thinking, ‘This is going to be the next head coach.’ I tried to have no preconceived ideas. I’m very glad I did.’’

That novel approach has paid off big for the Packers. With a helping hand from Thompson and the Packers’ personnel department, McCarthy has the Packers in the NFC Championship Game for the second time in four seasons.

Not bad for a guy who came from the most humble of upbringings. The son of a Pittsburgh tavern owner and fireman who was born a week before the previous Bears-Packers Game of the Century — the Bears’ 26-7 victory at Wrigley Field on Nov. 17, 1963 — McCarthy was a tight end at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan., after stops at two junior colleges. He got his coaching start as a linebackers coach at Fort Hays State in Hays, Kan., in 1987.

He went to the University of Pittsburgh in 1989 and learned the West Coast offense from head coach Paul Hackett, who learned it from the master, Bill Walsh. McCarthy replaced Jon Gruden as Pitt’s wide receivers coach in 1992. With his western Pennsylvania-rooted work ethic and his ability to learn quickly, he developed a knack for landing on his feet.

When Hackett was fired in 1992, he took McCarthy with him to work for Marty Schottenheimer with the Kansas City Chiefs, where as an offensive quality-control coach, McCarthy worked with Joe Montana.

When Schottenheimer was fired in 1998, McCarthy was hired by Ray Rhodes as quarterbacks coach with the Packers. When Rhodes was fired in 1999, McCarthy was hired by Jim Haslett as quarterbacks coach with the Saints. Seven days later, he was promoted to offensive coordinator — at 35, the youngest coordinator in the NFL.

After five seasons in New Orleans, he went to the 49ers as offensive coordinator. After Smith, Rattay et al. threw eight touchdown passes and 21 interceptions and the 49ers went 4-12, McCarthy was hired as the Packers’ head coach.

‘‘I wouldn’t classify it as luck. I’m truly blessed to be a head coach in the NFL and even more so to be the head coach of the Green Bay Packers,’’ McCarthy said. ‘‘But a lot goes into that from my perspective as far as developing as an assistant coach and a coordinator.

‘‘I came into this league the right way, something I share with my staff. Quality-control coaching is the best way to come into the league. It gives you a tremendous foundation because you have the opportunity to learn so much because you have to do so much work, and you really learn the basis of this business.

‘‘And timing has a lot to do with it. I’ll be honest with that. We had an opportunity to interview in ’06, and Ted Thompson saw something in myself, and once again, I’m blessed to have this opportunity.’’

McCarthy is a no-nonsense guy whose attention to detail is so acute that when asked when he knew he was good enough to be an NFL head coach, he tries to come up with the exact date. But it has served him well. He’s not a product of a famous coaching tree. The coaches he has worked under, Hackett, Schottenheimer, Rhodes, Haslett and Mike Nolan, aren’t Hall of Famers.

He’s known for his work with quarterbacks, but he learned more from Montana than Montana learned from him. Favre had the worst passer rating of his prime under McCarthy. His big success stories are Aaron Brooks and Steve Bono. Rich Gannon was better the two years after McCarthy coached him, but he’s one of many who swear by him.

McCarthy knows football. He knows people. He knows what he wants. And he’s not afraid to make changes. Two huge decisions by McCarthy helped get them to Sunday’s game against the Bears — tabbing Aaron Rodgers as his starting quarterback in 2007 even after Brett Favre decided not to retire, and hiring Capers as his defensive coordinator after the Packers dropped from sixth to 22nd in points allowed and went from 13-3 in 2007 to 6-10 in 2008.

‘‘Any time you win, you’ve got a good coach, and he’s continued to move this team in the right direction,’’ linebacker Clay Matthews said. ‘‘We’ve had injuries, we got derailed a few times with losses to teams we felt we should have beat.

‘‘But he’s kept us on the straight-and-narrow [path] and heading in the right direction. We’re peaking at the right time, and here we are, where 28 other teams aren’t.’’