John McCarthy is in his 30th year as an assistant coach for the Mountaineers heading into the 2020-21 season.
After primarily working with the Mountaineer men, Coach McCarthy has spent the last four seasons assisting head coach Lora Westling and the Mountaineer women. He helped the Mountaineer women in 2019-20 reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the program's history.
A Western alumnus, “Coach Mac” began his time as an assistant to Hall of Fame head coach Jay Helman. During his tenure as an assistant, he has been on the bench for more than 600 games and has been fortunate enough to have coached Western’s RMAC Championship team, 40-plus players that have garnered RMAC postseason honors, and four players who have gone on to become members of the Western Colorado Hall of Fame.
Prior to his involvement with Mountaineer basketball, McCarthy served as the basketball coach at Battle Mountain High School in Eagle-Vail, Colorado, where he left as the Huskies all-time winningest coach.
McCarthy is a retired history teacher from Gunnison High School where he was the department chair and taught advanced placement history courses. During his career, he was recognized on several occasions as an outstanding educator including a recipient of the Dan Tredway Memorial Excellence in Teaching Award and 2010 Colorado VFW Teacher of the Year Award.
McCarthy is married to Western alumna Melanie Torpey, a retired physical education teacher and gymnastics coach with the Gunnison Watershed School District.
