A lot of NFL pundits and Pittsburgh Steelers fans spent the first 48 hours of the Mike McCarthy era criticizing the team’s decision to hire the veteran head coach.
While the dust has settled on some of the negative narratives around McCarthy’s coaching candidacy, the Steelers are beginning to face objections to their overall head coach hiring process.
Steelers Now’s Alan Saunders called that hiring process with team president Art Rooney II a “total failure.”
“The Steelers very clearly did not set out to hire a coach like McCarthy,” Saunders wrote. “Of their nine confirmed candidates for the position, six of them were on the defensive side of the ball, seven of them were first-time head coaches, and eight of them were 45 years old or younger.
“The Steelers were very clearly trying to hire a younger coach. McCarthy looked like an afterthought, a box to check, maybe someone to use as a check against the youth of the pool.
“If the Steelers really wanted to hire someone like McCarthy — an offensive coach with experience — they should have had a totally different coaching pool. They should have interviewed Kevin Stefanski, a younger, better coach. They should have interviewed Mike McDaniel and Kliff Kingsbury and John Harbaugh and tried to convince Sean McDermott to take an interview.”
Interestingly, Steelers Depot found flaws in Rooney’s hiring process for the opposite reason. The website’s X account argued McCarthy was Pittsburgh’s head coach choice from the start.
“Seems Art Rooney II really wanted to just interview Mike McCarthy and two Rooney Rule satisfiers in Brian Flores and Anthony Weaver with the rest being virtual fluff,” Steelers Depot wrote on X. “Seems like this was McCarthy’s job the moment that Mike Tomlin stepped down.”
Art Rooney’s Short Hiring Process to Mike McCarthy
Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora further explained Monday morning why it seems like McCarthy was always Rooney’s top choice.
“Shula or Scheelhaase, or both, could’ve interviewed early this week — Monday and Tuesday,” Kozora wrote. “By Wednesday, the team could’ve made its decision. Maybe it still would’ve hired McCarthy.
“In that scenario, at least Pittsburgh would’ve had all the information at its disposal to make the best and more informed decision possible. That’s just sensible.
“Yes, there’s a desire to get the head coach in place to begin building out the coaching staff. But opting against pausing literal days to make a final decision that will impact the team for years to come is shortsighted.”
Kozora reported it was the shortest head coaching search for the Steelers during the Super Bowl era. To be fair, there’s only been four head coach searches in Pittsburgh during that time, and technology has sped up the hiring process around the league.
Still, 12 days is rather quick. It took the Steelers 18 days to find Mike Tomlin in 2007 and 27 days to hire Bill Cowher in 1992.
Kozora argued other tea leaves indicate why McCarthy could have been Pittsburgh’s choice early in the process. An intriguing one Kozora mentioned was the contract extension Brian Flores received from the Minnesota Vikings.
Flores signed an extension to remain Vikings defensive coordinator a day after his in-person interview with the Steelers.
“The deal still allowed Flores to take a head coach job if offered. Maybe there’s an innocent explanation,” Kozora wrote. “That Flores interviewed, flew home, and finally had the chance to sign the deal.
“But I have an awfully hard time believing that’s a coincidence.”
Did Steelers Not Take Rooney Rule Seriously in Head Coaching Search?
Maybe the most damning part of Pittsburgh’s head coach hiring process, though, was how the organization dealt with the Rooney Rule.
The rule, which the league founded in 2003 and named after late Steelers owner Dan Rooney, requires teams to interview at least two minority candidates for head coach openings. Dan Rooney pushed for the rule, which has expanded over the years, to help minority candidates get serious consideration for high-profile NFL jobs.
But often times, teams don’t take the interviews seriously. They just meet with minority candidates to satisfy the rule and hire their preferred choice before the interviews started.
Steelers pundits and fans are wondering if Art Rooney II did that with the McCarthy hire, making a mockery of his father’s own legacy.
“This was a quick and narrow search. Three candidates brought in for in-person interviews. That’s it,” Kozora wrote. “Flores and Weaver are worthy candidates, but they were also effectively mandated to satisfy the Rooney Rule.”
One day after the Steelers met the requirements of the Rooney Rule, they hired McCarthy.
That’s awfully fast for an organization who waited three months for Aaron Rodgers to sign just last summer.
Steelers Coming Under Fire for Mike McCarthy Hiring Process