Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy won't be doing the play calling next season
GREEN BAY (WITI) -- Green Bay Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy has juggled his coaching staff and he's made a major decision about play calling duties for next season.
The Packers announced a flurry of coaching staff promotions and hiring on Thursday, February 12th -- highlighted by Ron Zook moving up to special teams coordinator, Edgar Bennett moving up to offensive coordinator and from that position, Tom Clements moving up to associate head coach. Clements will get the play calling duties as well.
"What we do on offense we do as good or better than anybody in this business, so we're in tune with that, but we think these adjustments will definitely help us to continue to to be able to grow and stay above the standard of offense we've been able to set in Green Bay," McCarthy said in Green Bay Thursday.
McCarthy made his name in the NFL and became the Packers head coach based on his offensive acumen, so giving up that part of the job isn't something he's gung-ho about even though it's his choice.
"It's hard to do. Jason had to drag me in here today. I don't want to come down here and admit to this, so I mean, I'm going to miss it. It's fun to call plays on Sunday, don't get me wrong. It's probably of my job responsibilities, it's something I enjoy more than anything. There's nothing like Sundays. To go out there and compete against the coordinator or whoever is across the field or something, I've taken a lot of pride in, I've had a lot of success in , really enjoyed -- but this change and the confidence I have in Tom and Aaron, I feel great about it and we'll be better for it," McCarthy said.
McCarthy says he'll maintain the ability to veto some play calls he doesn't like plus the offensive body of work in green bay is a collaborative effort anyway.
"I can still call a play if I need to -- yes," McCarthy said.
As coach, McCarthy has overseen Green Bay's offense for nine years. The Packers have finished in the top 10 of the league offenses eight of those years, but you can't be afraid to change.
"I mean, this is something I feel very strongly about. Quite frankly when I went to Ted Thompspn about the changes I was going to make and he -- in a conversation with Mark Murphy, their first comment was 'woah, you're really going to give up the play calling?' So I mean, this is something I've given a lot of thought. This is a big decision I've taken a lot of years to make," McCarthy said.
While assistants from less successful teams have gotten better jobs in the league of late, Packers assistants largely have not, even though they are the ones who've gotten the most out of their players.
"We've won a lot of games around here. This is a successful program for nine years and a big part of it is the development of young players, and our assistant coaches get that done year in and year out," McCarthy said.
There will still only be Mike McCarthy, one head coach in Green Bay in the future, but he'll be working in several different areas.
Packers coaching changes
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