Steelers' Mike McCarthy Is Quickly Making A Major Difference As He Is Hard On Both Coaches And Players

The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be a completely different team in 2026. There wasn't too much turnover with the roster from the 2025 season, in fact, Pittsburgh will be starting the same quarterback in back to back years for the first time since Ben Roethlisberger was lining up under center. The roster is improved if anything, and there is a fresh sense of optimism in the building now that Mike McCarthy has taken over as the head coach while retooling nearly the entire coaching staff from the 2025 season. This is something many fans have wanted for a long time, and they finally got their wish.

McCarthy replaced former head coach Mike Tomlin after he decided to step down following the 2025 season. Many fans wanted the franchise to hire a younger head coach, but the organization opted to go with the veteran who has coached in the NFL before. The fan base seemed to be upset about the hire at first, but a lot of people have come around on the move. Tomlin coached in Pittsburgh for 19 seasons, so this is a major change. People have been identifying differences between the two coaches and their styles and preferences already, and that is something that will probably continue into the regular season.

Beat writer Mark Kaboly spoke about some differences between Tomlin and McCarthy during a recent episode of Kaboly & Mack, and he made it seem like McCarthy might be going a little harder on his players, and his coaching staff.

"I think they're bringing the rookies back next week, which is crazy in my eyes," Kaboly said. "What's crazy about how McCarthy's running things is, usually the last day of OTAs/minicamp is today. Not only would the players be on the plane within an hour and a half of the last whistle, but the coaches would be on the plane too to go to Cabo, right? Not this group. They're bringing back the rookies next week to have some sort of coaching session with those guys before letting them go. McCarthy even said yesterday that they were going to have homework, and I'm talking about the coaching staff."

It seems like McCarthy is way more detailed than Tomlin was at the end of his tenure, and that is fair as Tomlin was in the same spot for 19 years. This is just Year 1 for McCarthy, so he might be trying to set the tone for his time with the organization.

The new coaching staff has put a ton of effort into developing the younger players on the roster, with the rookies obviously being included in that mix. McCarthy has been focused on the two younger quarterbacks (Will Howard and Drew Allar), but the other rookies and second-year players matter as well.

The new staff is bringing the younger guys back next week, when usually the players would be off until training camp at this time of the offseason. Hopefully this extra work and effort shows up once the 2026 regular season rolls around in Pittsburgh.

Steelers' Mike McCarthy Is Already Displaying A Completely Different Coaching Style

There have been plenty of differences pointed out between McCarthy and Tomlin, but the most interesting one that has been noted so far is that McCarthy keeps his hands off of certain positions. He knows he is an offensive-minded guy, and he focuses on that and the quarterback group. Of course, he coaches the entire team, but he allows the assistant coaches on his staff to do their jobs, which is something Tomlin did not always do.

Coaching in this way means McCarthy has to have a ton of trust in the guys on his staff, which is maybe why he is giving them homework throughout the rest of the offseason.

What do you think of these comments from Kaboly? Let me know on X, @brogannoey!

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