Even with the high profile job and title of Green Bay Packers head coach, Baker University alumnus and 2007 Baker Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Mike McCarthy has not forgotten about his alma mater.

For the second consecutive year, McCarthy has donated $100,000 to the Baker football program. This donation was written into McCarthy’s contract with the Packers, where McCarthy donated $50,000 and the Packers matched his gift, and if everything goes as planned, the donation will be made for three more years.

“If he’s with the Packers and I’m here, which we plan on both doing, this is a five year plan,” Baker head coach Mike Grossner said. “But this is a year-to-year thing written into his contract.”

Grossner said McCarthy negotiated his own contract, so he was instrumental in working the donation agreement into his deal with the Packers.

$75,000 was put aside last year and at least $50,000 will be put aside this year for an endowed scholarship in McCarthy’s name to be created in the future. $20,000 of last year’s money went toward scholarships for transfer students and McCarthy’s donation also went toward equipment for the weight room.

“The coaches have put these funds in their restricted discretionary accounts and it allows them to use it for scholarships, or special travel or special equipment, improvement’s to their facilities or the locker rooms,” athletic director Dan Harris said. “All things we can do with those kinds of funds that really make an athlete feel special.”

McCarthy and Grossner were teammates at Scottsdale Community College in Scottsdale, Ariz. before McCarthy came to Baker.

This donation may inspire other Baker alumni to also give back to their football program and school.

“I think him doing what he’s doing and promoting his university probably will encourage somebody somewhere else to do it,” Grossner said. “I’m glad that he got on board right away and I think it’s special that the Packers wrote this in his contract and are very proud to be a part of it as well.”

McCarthy now spends many of his days at historic Lambeau Field in Green Bay but it was at Liston Stadium where he was an all-conference tight end and in 1986 led Baker to a National Runner-up finish in Division II of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

“He’s really proud of his roots and that’s pretty special coming from a small NAIA school to the Green Bay Packers,” Harris said.

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