FOXBORO — With the NFL’s new year looming less than a month away, the New England Patriots are finalizing their coaching staff under first-year head coach Jerod Mayo. According to a report from Football Scoop on Wednesday evening, the Patriots are adding Mike McCarthy to their coaching roster as an offensive assistant. Despite sharing a name with the Dallas Cowboys’ head coach, McCarthy has strong connections to the New England area, having served as the offensive line coach at Brown University in Providence, RI since 2019 under head coach James Perry.
McCarthy, the newly appointed Patriots offensive assistant, spent five seasons coaching the offensive line at Brown University. During his tenure, he played a pivotal role in rejuvenating the Bears’ offense, transforming it into one of the Ivy League’s most prolific and fast-paced units. In the 2021 season, McCarthy mentored Chad Broome-Webster, a two-time Second Team All-Ivy selection, and engineered an offensive line that contributed to quarterback EJ Perry’s recognition as the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year with the Bushnell Cup. Despite his reputation as an offensive coach, McCarthy’s football journey commenced as an outside linebacker and long snapper at Widener University before transitioning swiftly into coaching. He held various positions in both professional and collegiate football, starting as a scouting/video intern with the New York Jets in 2008, followed by stints with the Cleveland Browns (2015, offensive quality control) and the Detroit Lions (2016-17, quality control/assistant offensive line coach). On the collegiate level, McCarthy coached at the College of New Jersey, Western Michigan, Tulane, North Carolina Central, and eventually Rutgers, where he assisted the offensive coordinator before joining Brown University.
McCarthy’s hiring marks another addition to the Patriots’ offensive coaching staff, reflecting the team’s shift towards an outside zone-based, west-coast style offense. Since taking the reins of the Patriots on January 17, Mayo has assembled a new coaching staff, including offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, quarterback coach T.C. McCartney, offensive line coach Scott Peters, assistant offensive line coach Robert Kugler, assistant receivers coach Tiquan Underwood, and running backs coach Taylor Embree.
