Just three days after being fired by the Green Bay Packers, Mike McCarthy was back in the building on Wednesday speaking to the locker room and motivating them before another game.
Interim head coach Joe Philbin, along with general manager Brian Gutekunst and team president Mark Murphy, allowed McCarthy to return to the team on Wednesday to speak with the players one last time.
Mike McCarthy returned to Lambeau Field on Wednesday and spoke to the team, with the blessing of Mark Murphy, Brian Gutekunst and Joe Philbin.
"His passion for the game and his love for the players was clearly evident," Philbin said. "He did a great job." https://t.co/PuedEv7W3J
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) December 6, 2018
It’s not often you see this happen in any professional sport, however, McCarthy spent nearly 13 seasons as Green Bay’s coach and will certainly go down as one of the best in franchise history.
“He wanted an opportunity to speak with the team. I was 100 percent, fully supportive of, and he did a fantastic job talking to the team,” Philbin said, via PackersNews.com. “Not just about football and winning football games, but his passion. His passion for the game, his love for the players was clearly evident. I’m sure it was emotional for him and everybody in the room. It was awesome. I thought he did a great job.”
Green Bay drew some criticism for its decision to fire McCarthy during the season rather than the end after all he did for the organization, so it’s nice to see he was allowed back to address the players one last time.