Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers are searching for a head coach for the first time since 2007 and just the fourth time since 1969, as head coach Mike Tomlin resigned on Tuesday,
Steelers president Art Rooney II will lead the search, along with assistance from general manager Omar Khan, and they expect the process to take several weeks. The Steelers can start in-person interviews right away with coaches from non-playoff teams, and those without a current job, while they’ll have to wait until Jan. 19, for playoff coaches that don’t make the conference championship game, and until the week before the Super Bowl for those that do. In the meantime those coaches can do virtual interviews.
Rooney said the Steelers will not be constrained in what type of coach they interview, but the last three coaches they’ve hired — two Hall of Famers and one sure to join the others — were all 30-something, first-time NFL head coaches who were most recently NFL defensive coordinators. That’s a pretty strong type, and it happens to be a fairly deep pool of candidates that are similar to the coaches the Steelers have hired in the past.
The Steelers love their NFL bloodlines, though as far as I can tell, they’ve never hired a second-generation head coach. Chris Shula will be the third of his family to take the job if he lands a role. The grandson of Hall of Famer Don Shula, Chris’ father Dave Shula also coached for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Shula has quickly emerged as one of the most sought-after candidates in this hiring cycle. Now in his second season as the Rams’ defensive coordinator, he has overseen a unit that has consistently overachieved relative to personnel, blending discipline with creative pressure packages.
Shula, 39, just finished his second season as the Rams’ defensive coordinator. He won Super Bowl LVI there as a linebackers coach and has been with L.A. since 2017. Before that, he coached with the Chargers, and at John Carroll, Indiana and Ball State at the collegiate level.
According to Albert Breer, Shula has interviewed with the Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins, Las Vegas Raiders and Arizona Cardinals. The Cleveland Browns requested to talk to him, too, but it...
