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The NFL coaching carousal is in full swing. Many names are getting tossed around for head coaching gigs. Almost all of the usual names you hear come from winning organizations. Robert Salah, Eric Bieniemy, or Brian Daboll have seemingly interviewed for every team with a head coaching vacancy. But when you look at the Pittsburgh Steelers not one of their assistant coaches even so much have an interview lined up. It’s stranger yet when you keep in mind this organization hasn't had a losing season since 2003.
The last time a Steelers’ coordinator had been poached off this team, that was still under contract, was way back in 2007 when Ken Wisenhunt jumped ship to Arizona when it was clear that Mike Tomlin would receive the Steelers head coaching gig. This also means that Mike Tomlin has never had an assistant coach go on to take a head coaching gig while they were still a member of the Steelers organization.
A commonality of the head coaching candidates today is their young age. You rarely see anyone getting their first head coaching job older than 45 years of age. For comparison Keith Butler is 64, and recently fired Randy Fichtner is 57. No one is looking for an old dog any more and NFL coaching is becoming a young man’s game full of bright and refreshing new ideas.
One of the top head coaching candidates for 2022 is Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley. Staley is just 38 years old, meaning there are players much older than him in the league. The Steelers themselves typically only hire head coaches in their 30’s. Just take the last three guys who've held the position. Mike Tomlin was 35, Bill Cowher was 34, and Chuck Noll was 38 when they were hired.
The Steelers also have another glaring issue with their coaching staff. The Steelers have the smallest payroll for its coaches across the entire league and have the least full time coaches. For an organization considered to be the gold standard this is embarrassing.
The Steelers have the cheapest coaching staff in the NFL. They're 32nd on money spent on assistant coaches. You get what you pay for. How does a team that values coaching and winning championships cut costs on coaches? Explain. It's not like their assistants are young.
— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) January 12, 2021
Keith Butler is rumored to be on a year to year deal, and Randy Fichtner didn’t even make it to February. So as the organization begins the search for a new offensive coordinator there are a couple simple rules they should abide by. For starters, they need to get young and that means guys younger than 50. Secondly, the Steelers need to add more people, and more full time people to this staff.
What do you think? Should the Steelers bring in new coordinators, and if so who would you want them to be? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below.