The Packers are looking for a General Manager for the first time since Mike McCarthy became the team’s head coach in 2006 and McCarthy was asked about the search process during his Thursday press conference.
McCarthy referred specific questions about candidates to Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy, but said that he is “involved” in the process. The Packers are interviewing several in-house candidates with Russ Ball on the administrative side of the shop and Eliot Wolf and Brian Gutekunst coming from the personnel department.
McCarthy was asked if he has a general preference about the background of Ted Thompson’s successor. McCarthy said he and Thompson had a “hell of a partnership” for the last 12 years and would want the same with the next G.M.
“My preference really goes back to what I said earlier. It has to fit,” McCarthy said, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I have the best job in pro football, and no disrespect to the other 31 clubs. I love it here, I want to be here, but it has to fit for me, too. I’ve done this job long enough, I wouldn’t want the G.M. to hire me or partner with me if we don’t fit together. Because you’re on a path for, in the short term and long term, it’s going to be a lot difficult to get to where you’re going to go. It has to be a partnership.”
One would think there would be a pretty good idea about how McCarthy and the in-house candidates work together given how long they’ve already been colleagues, but the change in responsibilities for the new General Manager could lead to a change in that dynamic that leads to further changes down the line.