Ben McAdoo begins his eighth season with the Packers, his second as the team’s quarterbacks coach.
McAdoo was appointed to his current position on Feb. 13, 2012, by Head Coach Mike McCarthy, as part of a series of staff changes on the offensive side of the ball that came in the aftermath of former coordinator Joe Philbin being named head coach of the Miami Dolphins. In his current role, McAdoo works closely with three-time Pro Bowl QB Aaron Rodgers, who is entering his sixth season as the franchise’s starter under center.
Following his near-unanimous selection as the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 2011, Rodgers continued to flourish under McAdoo’s direction in 2012. He was once again voted the Pro Bowl starter for the NFC after completing 371 of 552 attempts for 4,295 yards with 39 TDs against just eight INTs and leading the league in passer rating for the second consecutive season (108.0).
Maybe most impressive was that Rodgers maintained his remarkable level of play in the face of seemingly constant injuries and lineup shuffling on the offensive side of the ball. Throughout the season, he captained an offense that saw five different players start at running back, five different offensive line combinations and the loss of top targets Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson for a combined 12 games and extended parts of others. Despite the lack of continuity around him, he managed to guide the league’s No. 5-ranked scoring offense (27.1 ppg.), while also ranking second in the NFL in touchdown passes and third in completion percentage (67.2).
Prior to drawing his most recent assignment, McAdoo served as the team’s tight ends coach for six seasons.
In 2011, he helped then fourth-year pro Jermichael Finley make his return to the field following a season-ending knee injury suffered in 2010. Finley was named a Pro Bowl alternate after playing in all 16 games for the first time and setting new career highs with 767 yards and eight touchdowns, while matching his previous career best with 55 catches and becoming the first tight end in franchise history to post two 55-catch seasons. In addition to Finley, McAdoo helped develop second-year men Tom Crabtree and Andrew Quarless into adept blockers up front. Quarless appeared in 10 games before suffering a season-ending knee injury of his own in Week 13 and Crabtree played in all 16 games, starting a career-high nine of them.
In 2010, Finley got off to a torrid start under McAdoo’s tutelage, posting 21 catches for 301 yards and a touchdown in the opening four games. That included back-to-back 100-yard receiving performances as Finley joined Paul Coffman (1979) as the only TEs in team annals to accomplish that feat. Finley’s three career 100-yard games already rank No. 2 in franchise history behind Coffman (six).
After Finley sustained his knee injury on the opening series at Washington in Week 5, Quarless, then a rookie, and Crabtree, who held a first-year player designation, moved into more significant roles under McAdoo’s guidance. Quarless went on to post 21 receptions for 238 yards, the best marks by a Green Bay rookie TE in both categories since Bubba Franks (34-363) in 2000. Quarless’ 62 receiving yards at Detroit in Week 14 were the most by a Packers rookie TE since Ron Kramer posted 68 at Detroit on Nov. 28, 1957.
In 2009, McAdoo oversaw one of the most productive seasons in team history by the tight ends. With the emergence of youngsters Finley and Spencer Havner, along with another year of steady production from veteran Donald Lee, Green Bay’s tight ends posted a collective 99 receptions for 1,048 yards, franchise records in both categories.
Finley (55 receptions) and Lee (37) became the first tight-end duo in franchise history to each post 35-plus receptions in the same season, and they were one of only two tandems in the league to do so in 2009, along with New Orleans’ Jeremy Shockey and David Thomas. Meanwhile, with Finley (five TDs) and Havner (four), the Packers were the only team in the NFL to have two tight ends catch at least four TD passes apiece.
The emergence of Finley, a third-round draft choice in 2008, was not a surprise after seeing the marked improvement he made in his first season. McAdoo helped Finley steadily learn the pro game as a rookie, and Finley flashed his tremendous potential over the final two games of the season, posting three receptions for 64 yards and his first NFL touchdown.
In 2007, it was former backup Lee enjoying a breakout year as he moved into a starting role. Lee posted career highs with 48 catches for 575 yards and six TDs, and he followed that up with consistent production in 2008-09 to become the first Packers tight end since Coffman (1981-83) to catch at least 35 passes in three consecutive seasons.
Upon arriving in Green Bay in 2006, McAdoo helped the Packers’ tight ends adapt successfully to additional blocking and pass-protection duties they hadn’t previously been assigned. The added assistance helped a young offensive line, with as many as three rookie starters at times, allow just 24 sacks all season.
Originally named to the tight ends post Jan. 17, 2006, the 36-year-old McAdoo replaced Philbin, who was then the lone holdover from the previous coaching staff and had been made the team’s offensive line coach after McCarthy had been introduced as head coach. In each of McAdoo’s previous two NFL tenures, he has worked with McCarthy.
McAdoo came to Green Bay from the San Francisco 49ers, where he served as assistant offensive line/quality control coach in 2005. In that role, he assisted the offensive line and tight ends.
Prior to joining the 49ers, he had a brief stint at Stanford University as tackles and tight ends coach. He resigned after the ’05 recruiting season to take the 49ers position and reunite with McCarthy, then the San Francisco offensive coordinator, with whom he worked in New Orleans the previous season.
McAdoo, pronounced (MACK-ah-doo), entered the NFL coaching ranks in 2004 with the New Orleans Saints as an offensive assistant/quality control. He worked directly with McCarthy and assisted the offensive line and tight ends.
Prior to working in the NFL, McAdoo spent 2003 as an offensive assistant at the University of Pittsburgh, helping the Panthers earn a trip to the Continental Tire Bowl after an 8-5 season. At season’s end, the University of Akron hired him as an assistant coach, but he stayed only through the ’04 recruiting period before joining the Saints staff.
Earlier, he served as offensive line/tight ends coach at Fairfield (Conn.) University in 2002. After that campaign, the head coach left the team and McAdoo was appointed assistant head coach before the program was disbanded.
He began his college coaching career at Michigan State (2001) as a special teams/offensive assistant, on the heels of coaching four years at the high school level. He spent two years in the Homer Center school district in Pennsylvania and two years in the Indiana (Pa.) area.
McAdoo attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) and earned a degree in health and physical education. Later, he received his master’s degree in kinesiology from Michigan State.
Born July 9, 1977, in Homer City, Pa., McAdoo lives with his family in Oneida.
