On June 27, 2011, he was named head coach of the North Bay Trappers Junior "A" Hockey Club of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL). He remained there for two seasons, leading them to a NOJHL championship in 2013. In 2013, the Trappers' owner, Tim Clayden, created an expansion team called the Espanola Rivermen in the 2013–14 NOJHL season and McCarthy was brought on as head coach. McCarthy stayed with the Rivermen when they left the NOJHL to join Clayden's newly created league, the Canadian International Hockey League. That league only lasted one season and folded in 2015.