Posted: Sun, 23 Jan 2011 08:33 PM - 17,710 Readers

By: John Egan

We now know that Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy is heading to Super Bowl XLV, which will be played Feb. 6 in Arlington, Texas. What you may not know is that McCarthy has a home on Lake Travis, just west of Austin—far away from the frozen tundra at Green Bay’s storied Lambeau Field.

McCarthy, who’s going to his first Super Bowl during an 18-season NFL career, owns a condo at The Villas on Lake Travis. His oldest daughter, Alex, graduated from Lake Travis High School. McCarthy’s ex-wife lives in the Lake Travis area.

Of course, the main reason for McCarthy buying a home along Lake Travis was to be near his daughter. Another reason? He’s an avid boater. Furthermore, McCarthy is a big country music fan, and Austin bills itself as the “Live Music Capital of the World.”

“I love Austin,” McCarthy said in 2010.

Back in 2006, PackersNews.com quoted Mike Grossner, head football coach at McCarthy’s alma mater, Baker University in Kansas, as saying that McCarthy was traveling to Austin “quite a bit.” Grossner said: “He’s kept a nice relationship with his ex-wife, so that’s worked out well.”

Coaching the Packers has worked out well for McCarthy, too.

McCarthy took the helm of the NFL team in 2006. He now earns $3.4 million a year as the Packers’ head coach. McCarthy said he realized sometime during his stint as an assistant coach with the Kansas City Chiefs that he’d someday be able to rise to the level of NFL head coach.

“I’m truly blessed to be a head coach in the NFL and even more so to be the head coach of the Green Bay Packers,” McCarthy told reporters Jan. 21.

Leading up to the NFC Championship game against the Chicago Bears, McCarthy said he was reminding his players to “stick to who you are.”

“We like our brand of football. We’re not going to change the way we approach games, the way we perform in those games,” McCarthy told reporters Jan. 17.

We’ll see whether that philosophy will give McCarthy’s Lake Travis friends and neighbors something to celebrate after the Super Bowl on Feb. 6. Maybe some of those friends and neighbors will be watching the big game at Cowboys Stadium. After all, it’s only about a three-hour drive from Lake Travis to Arlington.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Packers coach Mike McCarthy has strong ties to Austin area - Austin Market | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/market-in-austin/packers-coach-mike-mccarthy-has-strong-ties-to-austin-area#ixzz1Bv6keNxR

*  Story Contributed by: John Egan