Mike McCarthy has already become a bad sports parent

Mike McCarthy will be taking a year off from coaching, but he’s making use of that time to become a bad sports parent.

Every year from 1992-2018, as an assistant or head coach, Mike McCarthy was at the NFL Combine. But he was fired by the Green Bay Packers before last season ended, and never seemed close to getting a new job for the 2019 season.

During the down time he’s not used to having at this time of the year, McCarthy has apparently been a regular attendee at his step son’s high school basketball games. A greater focus on being a supportive parent is never a bad thing, but there is a line somewhere.

On Tuesday night Notre Dame Academy, where McCarthy’s step son plays, lost by one point to Pulaski High School in a regional playoff game to end their season. According to Fox 11 in Green Bay, a complaint has been filed with the WIAA based on McCarthy’s post game actions.

"This parent chose to follow the officials and berate them, which is clearly unacceptable,” said Janel Batten, Pulaski’s athletic director."

Fox 11 obtained security footage of the incident.

A man, who appears to be McCarthy, follows the referees and their escorts as far he was allowed to, accompanied by what one of the officials described as a “verbal tirade.” Pulaski athletic director Janel Batten went a little further, saying McCarthy, the aforementioned parent in question, used “unsportsmanlike language.”

In less than three months, McCarthy has gone from employed NFL head coach to an embodiment of the true-to-life cliche we picture when we think of a bad sports parent. That ire is often directed at a coach, over playing time, etc.

But McCarthy practically stalked the officials to offer his complaints, with a level of alleged profanity better used on an NFL sideline than a high school gym. Maybe this can count as a hidden plea for a coaching job somewhere next year, if only to keep McCarthy from having more bad moments as a sports parent.