For an NFL head coach, strong leadership and respect don’t guarantee success. But failing to possess either all but guarantees failure. That will be Mike McCarthy’s mission once he meets with the entire Pittsburgh Steelers team later this offseason. Where his players, including Cam Heyward should he continue playing, will be judging those first impressions.

On the latest episode of his Not Just Football podcast, Heyward stressed the importance of having the players’ respect.

“You will get laughed out of the freaking room,” Heyward told co-host Hayden Walsh. “You will be looked at as a joke. You have to be able to talk to players. You gotta be able to get the best out of them. Those are the things you first gotta be able to do to be a head coach. Then you gotta be able to delegate. You gotta be able to hire a good staff that you think can get the best out of each player.”

Only once did the episode reference McCarthy’s name, showing it was recorded post-hire, so Heyward did not share his thoughts on Pittsburgh’s decision. But it’s clear that will be McCarthy’s top priority.

Spending his entire career with Mike Tomlin, Heyward knows the value of a leader and someone who can hold court in a team meeting. Tomlin did it daily and never lost the locker room during his 19-year tenure. Once players tune out the person and the message, everything else falls apart.

That’s what ended Urban Meyer’s disastrous tenure with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Not just the losses and bad personal decisions but losing any and all respect from the players meant there was no going back. Michael Silver once shared that players laughed at Meyer as he attempted to explain his infamous bar video.

Heyward said a bad coaching hire reflects on more than the man himself.

“If your GM signed off on someone who can’t stand in front of men, that’s an indictment on you. You’ll be thrown to the wolves with your head coach,” he said.

An interesting comment. Omar Khan was one of the Steelers’ decision makers on the McCarthy hire. If it proves to be the correct decision, Khan will look brilliant. But if McCarthy fails, Khan will wear that, too. That’s true of any team but for a Pittsburgh organization that hasn’t made a “bad” hire in 60 years, the franchise will feel it more than others.

Heyward’s yet to decide his future and talked little about his plans during the episode. Much of it focused on the AFC and NFC Championship Games, the Pro Bowl, and the NFL’s coaching search at large. He noted there’s value in hiring a hot-name coordinator or bringing in a coach with plenty of experience, of which McCarthy falls into the latter camp.

Whether it’s McCarthy in Pittsburgh or a first timer like Jesse Minter in Baltimore, the goal of a coach is the same.

“He’s gotta be able to have a vision,” Heyward said. “He’s gotta be able to explain it. Then he’s gotta be able to delegate and provide that to his staff. Who then takes that to the players and then it has to be put on display for your team.”

A simple task but not always an easy one. If McCarthy can execute that, he’ll exceed expectations and usher in a successful chapter of Steelers football.