Mike McCarthy could add 14-member analytics team in Dallas

Following the Dallas Cowboys announcing Mike McCarthy as the team’s head coach, insight about his possible plans for a new analytics team emerge.

After spending a year out of the NFL, Mike McCarthy was officially announced as the Dallas Cowboys‘ newest head coach during a press conference on Wednesday at The Star in Frisco. And it seems the veteran head coach may be bringing some new tricks along with him.

McCarthy spent nearly 13 seasons with the Green Bay Packers as their head coach, leading the historic franchise to nine total playoff berths and a Super Bowl victory in 2011, ironically at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. But towards the end of McCarthy’s tenure in Green Bay, things started to get stale leading to disappointing 4-7-1 record before his firing in December of 2018.

McCarthy spent the year away from football preparing for his next opportunity. He formed a group of former NFL coaches that would meet several times a week in his tricked-out barn that was a mere eight miles away from Lambeau Field. That according to Peter King of NBC Sports. And analytics were a big part of that consortium.

Known for being an old school football coach, modern analytics didn’t appear to play a large role during McCarthy’s time in Wisconsin. But the 56-year old apparently embraced the numbers during his year-long forced sabbatical. So much so, McCarthy could be bringing a new 14-member analytics team to Dallas this offseason.

Here’s what King told The Rich Eisen Show on Wednesday about a possible part of McCarthy’s coaching pitch that he believed included the addition of a massive team dedicated to analytics.

"“I think [McCarthy’s] going to have a different approach to analytics … he had a slide on his deck that showed a 14-member analytics/technology/video department … This is a real logical way that Mike McCarthy modernized his approach to football. And, in my opinion, that adapt or die mentality that I believe he had helped him get the Dallas Cowboys job.”"

Analytics has become an important aspect of all sports, with the deep dive into the numbers, statistical probabilities and tendencies all playing a major role. And the fact McCarthy is looking to modernize his coaching style speaks volumes about why the Cowboys elected to hire him as their next head coach.

Mike McCarthy was given a rare gift. After spending 13-years as the head coach of an NFL team, he was allowed to take a year off to improve himself outside of the system. Although there were no guarantees McCarthy would ever find another opportunity like that again, his decision to take that off time to better himself as a football coach has undoubtedly paid off. And the Dallas Cowboys could ultimately be the beneficiaries.