With Zach Azzanni joining the Raiders, Mike Tomlin’s entire Steelers former lead coaching staff is now hired—minus DC Teryl Austin. With the team for the past seven seasons and soon to turn 61, he has yet to find a new job. He did interview for the Commanders’ DC job, however. But what happened to the rest of the staff?
Former Steelers OC Arthur Smith took interviews for both offensive coordinator and head coach jobs in the NFL. Instead, he accepted a position in college, now Ohio State’s offensive coordinator. While Austin remains in search of work, the Steelers’ other coordinator in the staff, special teams guru Danny Smith, landed on his feet in a hurry with the Buccaneers.
One of Tomlin’s longest-tenured coaches on his Steelers staff, RB coach Eddie Faulkner, is now with the rival Ravens. With the team since 2019, he was seen as an up-and-comer with the Steelers, but he never came up. Briefly in 2023, he acted as interim offensive coordinator but did not call the plays.
Several former Steelers coaches ended up in the AFC East. TE coach Alfredo Roberts and DL coach Karl Dunbar joined the Jets, while OL coach Pat Meyer is in Buffalo. Joining Azzanni in the AFC West is OLB coach Denzel Martin, who is now an assistant OLB coach with the Chargers.
The Steelers retained two of Mike Tomlin’s coaching staff, specifically QB coach Tom Arth and ILB coach Scott McCurley. The latter worked with new HC Mike McCarthy previously. As for Arth, presumably, they wanted some consistency at the quarterback position while installing a new offense.
Even some of the Steelers’ assistants and quality control coaches from the coaching staff have also found new jobs. While assistant OL coach Isaac Williams hasn’t landed back on his feet yet, Luke Smith followed Danny Smith to Tampa Bay. Anthony Midget is now working in the college ranks, and Matt Baker also joined the Browns.
There is one member of the Steelers’ coaching staff under Mike Tomlin who got away. Reportedly, they wanted to retain Gerald Alexander in the secondary, and it seemed that he would stay. But Vikings DC Brian Flores, who interviewed for Pittsburgh’s head coach job, poached him away.
That leaves just Teryl Austin, and it’s worth noting that Steelers players were reportedly not happy with the coordinating from the coaching staff. He is, however, the most experienced member of their old staff. While he never landed a head coach job despite numerous interviews over the years, he has many decades of coaching experience.
After a dozen years in the college ranks, Teryl Austin moved into the NFL in 2002 as the Seahawks’ defensive backs coach. He landed his first defensive coordinator role with the Lions in 2014, serving in that role for four years. After a brief stint with the Bengals in 2018, the Steelers added him to the coaching staff in 2019, as a senior defensive assistant. Since 2022, he has been the defensive coordinator, and he helped increase their takeaway production. But so far the takeaway is that the NFL isn’t particularly interested in his services. Not that there isn’t still time.
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