FRISCO, Texas -- Last summer, Mike McCarthy enjoyed the Labor Day weekend on the water with his family in Door County, Wisconsin, a little more than an hour from his home outside Green Bay.
No longer the Green Bay Packers coach and without an NFL team for the first time since 1993, McCarthy got away.
"I wasn't really thinking about football," McCarthy said. "I was enjoying the summer weather in Wisconsin. You have a shorter period of time to enjoy this type of weather. I was probably more disconnected at this time last year."
This summer, some eight months into his tenure as the Dallas Cowboys' head coach, McCarthy had to be reminded by his wife that Labor Day was in a few days.
"That's kind of in tune when we know football is right around the corner," McCarthy said.
McCarthy's return to a sideline begins Sunday (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC) against the Los Angeles Rams. He will be coaching his first game since Dec. 2, 2018, when he was fired by the Packers after a 20-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals at Lambeau Field.
As comfortable as McCarthy, 56, should feel after posting a 125-77-2 record from 2006 to 2018 with the Packers, including a Super Bowl win, his reintroduction to the league has been anything but smooth.
The coronavirus pandemic altered all of the norms for an NFL offseason, so much so that McCarthy did not address his full team until late July. Without any preseason games, the challenge of getting a team ready was more difficult in an already-shortened summer. The Cowboys did not have any live tackling in their padded practices, which means the first real hits for players will happen on Sunday's opening kickoff.
And then there is the anguish being felt since the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and the subsequent protests to end social injustice and systemic racism. McCarthy has listened to concerns and promised players a voice.
"I think every time you turn the corner, it's something different. I think it's really our life in general," McCarthy said. "It's more about what's going on in our society, and frankly if you're able to navigate and just function from just doing things the right way the best you can, I think it definitely carries over to your professional life as far as getting a team ready for a football season. It's an understatement to say it's not been different, but at the end of the day, it's what everybody is going through right now."
Players have lauded McCarthy's work on and off the field. Practices are crisp and have purpose. He built camaraderie with games of "Jeopardy" and "Family Feud" to break up camp monotony. He has empowered his coaches to coach, especially offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who will call plays again for the Cowboys this season.
Tangible differences McCarthy has made include red practice jerseys for the quarterbacks, week-to-week captains and mock games run at walk-through pace that cover all sorts of situations that will come up in real games. McCarthy is a big believer in following the numbers from GPS tracking systems to help keep his veterans safer from soft-tissue injuries. During the televised practice at AT&T Stadium, players did not wear jerseys with numbers, fearful opposing teams would look at their scheme changes on offense and defense as well as their personnel.
"He demands excellence. He demands your effort and he's a very genuine guy," Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said. "He talks about his past, talks about what he learned as a coach, how it's going to serve us and the way he's going to handle things now. When you're genuine with your players as much as he is and the whole staff, it goes a long way. Guys want to go out there and practice for him. Guys want to give their all every chance that we get. He's a players' coach, and he's done really well gaining the love and the trust."
In some ways, McCarthy benefits simply by not being his predecessor, Jason Garrett. After nine seasons, players wanted another voice, which should not be considered a shot at the former coach.
"It's a totally different environment walking in the building now, kind of like a breath of fresh air when you walk in right now with Coach McCarthy coming in," cornerback Anthony Brown said. "The players have a lot more leeway to say what we want to do. He gives us more opportunity to express ourselves I would say."
All of this is good, for now.
What matters most will be winning, which is why Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones named McCarthy the ninth coach in team history. If he doesn't win, none of it will really matter.
As the 2019 NFL season started, McCarthy did not watch much football, but as time went on, he had coaches come to his barn, where they broke down games each week to stay on top of trends for whenever he returned. It was proof he missed the game even if the game might not have missed him.
"Whether you get out because you choose to be out or whether you're out because nobody will give you a job or whatever it is, I do believe it's a time of reflection and Mike has said that several times," said defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, who hired McCarthy as his offensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers in 2005.
Nolan added: "And that's what I believe it is about that time. Certainly if you aspire to get back into the game, it is something that you do. And I think after that, in my case, and I do believe in Mike's as well, I think you come back, there's some things that you change differently only because you think it would be better, not because it gets you a job. There's things you can reflect on when you step away [from] it. It gives you a more clear vision of what it is that you want it to look like."
Things did not end well for McCarthy in Green Bay. He missed the playoffs in 2017 and was let go with four games to play in 2018 with a 4-7-1 record.
In Dallas, he gets high expectations but a fresh start.
"I know some people believe you keep the expectations low, keep the pressure off of you," McCarthy said. "Trust me, I knew the day I walked in this building what the expectations are and always will be with the Dallas Cowboys. I'm fortunate enough to have a lot of experience coaching a football team with high expectations. I don't really put a lot of time and energy and focus into that. To me, that's a given. That is part of the deal here. I embrace that. It's a blessing to be able to line up and have an opportunity to go out and win, especially when you're expected to win.
"That is the only way you can go about the game of football. That is the only way I have ever approached it. I have never lined up in any contest when I didn't expect to win."