Fair or not, Mike Tomlin’s tenure in Pittsburgh often came with the “players’ coach” label — and questions about how hands-on his coaching approach was. Head coach Mike McCarthy has ushered in a new era, and there are already noticeable differences to reporters from the first practice they observed.
“McCarthy is taking an extremely hands-on approach with his young quarterback,” The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo wrote. “Truth be told, McCarthy probably gave more detailed, nuanced feedback to his quarterback than Mike Tomlin did in my entire time covering the former head coach.”
Tomlin accomplished much over his 19 years with the team, but he failed to develop a quarterback. In his defense, he had Ben Roethlisberger from the moment he took the job until just a few years before he stepped down. Kenny Pickett was his only real swing at developing one. That obviously didn’t end well.
It should be no surprise that McCarthy is more nuanced and hands-on in his approach with quarterbacks. He comes from an offensive background and has extensive experience working with that position group. Tomlin was a defense-first head coach. Quarterback development is part of why they broke tradition and hired McCarthy in the first place.
Comparing Tomlin and McCarthy is a bit like comparing apples and oranges, but fans will still be interested to know exactly how things have changed behind the scenes. The differences were evident right from the start of the first rookie minicamp practice open to the media.
“Tomlin was a bit of a CEO-type coach, chatting up everyone from the practice squad players to the stars during stretching lines,” DeFabo wrote. “While the rest of the team was stretching, McCarthy was working with Allar only.”
They intentionally made Allar the only quarterback on the rookie minicamp roster—a break from the norm—to focus on laying the groundwork with him as much as possible.
“We pushed him. To go 35 snaps in a team drill, that’s pushing it, but he handled it,” McCarthy said after rookie minicamp. “If your quarterback can’t handle it, then you don’t get to go to the speed and the tempo and the pre-snap that we were able to go. I thought Drew did a hell of a job.”
McCarthy, QB coach Tom Arth, and OC Brian Angelichio all paid Allar extra attention throughout practice, mostly drilling his footwork fundamentals and making him take snaps from under center. In Pittsburgh’s quest to find its next franchise QB, McCarthy’s hands-on approach will pay off.
And the difference in coaching styles doesn’t end there. McCarthy will reportedly nix “victory Monday” as a day off for the team after solid wins. They will get right back to work to maximize prep time against the next opponent.
One approach isn’t necessarily better than the other, but it reflects a clear shift in how Pittsburgh is structuring its work under McCarthy.
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