Ryan Clark Believes the Steelers Are Unwilling To Rebuild With Mike McCarthy Hire

The Pittsburgh Steelers made one of the most consequential decisions in franchise history when they moved on from Mike Tomlin and hired Mike McCarthy as his successor. But instead of optimism, the move has triggered a wave of backlash from fans.

Their frustration is easy to trace. McCarthy is 62 years old, has only one playoff win since 2017, and represents a sharp departure from the Steelers’ long-standing habit of hiring young, impressive coordinators and letting them grow as a coach with the roster. So for a fanbase accustomed to hirings like Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Tomlin, McCarthy’s hiring felt like a short-term hedge.

That tension was laid bare by Ryan Clark on ESPN recently, who offered a layered assessment of the hire.

Speaking about Mike McCarthy’s arrival, RC acknowledged that people inside the organization are excited, but he didn’t shy away from why the reaction outside the building has been so cold.

Clark noted that part of the disappointment stems from comparison. The Steelers’ three previous head coaches were hired in their mid-to-late 30s, allowing them to grow alongside their teams for over a decade. McCarthy, by contrast, arrives with a resume on a downward trend.

“I’ve talked to some people within the organization and they’re excited about Mike McCarthy. And I think they understood that people would be sort of uninspired by this hire, especially when you got Chuck Knoll at 37, and 34 for Bill Cowher, Mike Tomlin … They were able to grow with their teams for over a decade and a half. Now you move to Mike McCarthy,” he said.

The former Super Bowl champion also emphasized the emotional vacuum left behind by Mike Tomlin’s exit. Clark described the atmosphere inside the building as feeling “like the morning at a funeral,” underscoring how seismic the transition has been.

In that context, the Steelers’ pivot to a coach with a “guaranteed pedigree” makes emotional sense because Mike McCarthy has won a Super Bowl while working with elite quarterbacks like Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers. So yes, he offers certainty at a moment when the franchise looks unsteady. But certainty, Clark argued, comes at a cost.

“For me, I’m in a wait-and-see sort of mode,” the ex-Steelers Safety said, before landing on his central concern: the hire signals an unwillingness to rebuild. In his view, Pittsburgh is attempting to delay an inevitable reset that sometimes requires enduring a losing season to reemerge with clarity and a new identity.

So in Clark’s eyes, by choosing Mike McCarthy, the Steelers are opting to remain competitive in the short term rather than fully recalibrate.

That said, the ESPN analyst’s take contrasts sharply with what the organization has publicly stated. Steelers owner Art Rooney II made it clear that public reaction played no role in the decision. “We’re really not worried about winning the initial press conference,” Rooney said, stressing that social media backlash is irrelevant compared to on-field results.

“[McCarthy] is someone who has a longer track record than many of the other candidates, a winning track record. He’s been a winner everywhere he’s been. Probably just as important for our purposes, the quarterbacks that he’s worked with have all been very successful. So he has a proven track record of developing top flight quarterbacks. Those are the things that maybe stick out the most,” Rooney added.

Still, Clark’s critique lingers because it questions whether the Steelers are choosing the comfort of being the same 9-8 team under Tomlin than embracing transformation. Becuase truth be told, Mike McCarthy in recent years has been nothing but an offensive version of Mike Tomlin. A coach who guarantees a winning season but nothing in the playoffs. No wonder fans are seeing this as a lateral move.