Steelers Now
Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is already being mentioned as a head coaching candidate for the 2026 NFL season. The first head coach vacancy opened on Monday, as the Tennessee Titans fired coach Brian Callahan after just 23 games in the head spot.
Smith has long ties to the Tennessee organization, and another strong season with the Steelers could have him in contention to get back into head coaching. He was among 23 candidates for the job listed by The Tennesseean on Monday.
Smith, 43, was with the Titans from 2011 to 2020, starting as a quality control coach and working his way up to a two-year stint as offensive coordinator. Along the way, he served as both offensive and defensive quality control coach (2011-12), offensive line coach (2013), assistant tight ends coach (2014-15), tight ends coach (2016-18) and offensive coordinator (2019-20).
At his last post, he led the Titans to some of their best, most-recent success, with a No. 10 offense in 2019, as Tennessee made it to the AFC Championship Game, and the No. 4 offense in 2020, when they won the AFC South with an 11-5 record.
Smith left to become the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons in 2020. Since his departure, Tennessee has had just one winning season in four and is off to a 1-5 start this season.
Things did not go according to plan in Smith’s first go-around as an NFL head coach, as he went 7-10 in all three seasons with the Falcons. He joined the Steelers before the 2024 season, taking over a moribund offense and greatly improving its outcomes.
Under Matt Canada in 2023, the Steelers were 28th in scoring, 25th in yards, 25th in passing and 13th in rushing. A year later under Smith, they were 16th in scoring, 23rd in yards, 27th in passing and 11th in rushing.
That performance earned Smith some head coach opportunities this offseason, but he turned down the chance to take the job at his alma mater, North Carolina, before Bill Belichick was eventually hired, and he lost out to Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson for the New York Jets and Chicago Bears jobs.
With the Steelers exceeding expectations again in 2025, Smith could very well be a head coaching candidate for more than just teams where he has history like the Titans, in 2026.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers OC Arthur Smith Already Getting Head Coach Buzz
