Michael McCaskey was the Chairman of the Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 in the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

.

Biography

McCaskey, son of current Bears principal owner Virginia Halas McCaskey, is the oldest grandchild of George Halas

George Halas

George Stanley Halas, Sr. , nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was a player, coach, owner and pioneer in professional American football. He was the iconic longtime leader of the NFL's Chicago Bears...

 and became president of the Bears in 1983 after Halas' death. McCaskey held that post until 1999, when he became Chairman of the Board until 2011. He is the brother of current Bears Chairman George McCaskey.

Mike McCaskey was never a fan of Mike Ditka

Mike Ditka

Michael Keller Ditka, Jr. is a former American football NFL player, television commentator, and coach. Ditka coached the Chicago Bears for 11 years and New Orleans Saints for three years. Ditka and Tom Flores are the only two people to win Super Bowls as a player, an assistant coach, and a head...

 but kept the volatile Ditka on as coach with an extension in 1984 and was rewarded with a Super Bowl

Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...

 trophy the following season. McCaskey clashed repeatedly with Ditka on a variety of issues and finally fired Ditka after a disastrous 5–11 season in 1992.

McCaskey's first coaching hire, Dave Wannstedt

Dave Wannstedt

Dave Wannstedt is current Assistant Head Coach/Inside Linebackers Coach for the Buffalo Bills in the National Football League. He was most recently head coach of the University of Pittsburgh football team, a position he held for six seasons. Wannstedt is also the former head coach of the Miami...

, was a sought-after candidate that McCaskey was able to sign but the Wannstedt tenure was a steady downward spiral after a 1994 playoff appearance. Wannstedt was fired after 1998 and after a botched hiring of Dave McGinnis

Dave McGinnis

Dave McGinnis is the linebackers coach of the Tennessee Titans. He formerly was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals from 2000 through 2003.-Biography:...

 as head coach, McCaskey was stripped of much of his operational responsibilities and limited to the position of chairman of the board.

McCaskey is an alumnus of the Weatherhead School of Management

Weatherhead School of Management

The Weatherhead School of Management is a private business school of Case Western Reserve University located in Cleveland, Ohio. Weatherhead is considered a top-tier business school, with its strongest programs concentrated in organizational behavior, nonprofit business, information systems,...

, at Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...

. He served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia and taught at the business schools at UCLA and Harvard University prior to becoming president of the Bears.