Mike Zimmer: Retired, United States Marine Corps
When it comes to Mike Zimmer’s hypothetical non-coaching career, only one possibility sticks out as rooted in reality: The military. Zimmer is the only coach on the sideline who, when dressed in camouflage for the league’s Salute to Service month, seems completely in his natural garb. His straightforward communication style, unforgiving scowl and his leadership skills scream, “Maybe he was a general in another life? A drill sergeant?”
Even his coaching background—defense—has inherent military implications. Indeed, Zimmer’s office could easily be determined the Department of Defense, where Zimmer draws up his elaborate plans to prevent the opponents’ oblong ordinance from ever touching down.
Mike McCarthy: Commercial fisherman
Mike McCarthy’s family grew up on the sea. For generations, the men of the McCarthy clan have earned their living with their hands, in a boat, harvesting the ocean for its many bounties both for sustenance and profit.
The sea’s siren song too called for Mike. Now, he takes his boat, the “Bart Farb,” into the Green Bay every morning—whether the waters are angry or calm—to harvest crabs, lobster, shrimps and various other aquaria for his family’s dinner plate and for local chefs and markets.
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Life on the water can be dangerous and lonely, but McCarthy knows this is his birthright, his hands daily tying knots that have been embedded into his DNA by the work of dozens of men before him. To work on the land, aye, is just not for him.