Steelers make Sullivan and Morgan hires official, add a quality control coach

The Pittsburgh Steelers have long been known as having one of the smallest coaching staffs in the NFL. Think about what transpired after the 2018 season. The Steelers decided to go with Randy Fichtner as their offensive coordinator, but instead of hiring a new quarterbacks coach, Fichtner’s former position, they let Fichtner absorb that position.

The same was true when the team let Joey Porter go, and had defensive coordinator Keith Butler take over the duties as outside linebackers coach. In a world where many teams are expanding their coaching staffs more and more by the year, the Steelers were seemingly in a reverse trend.

That isn’t the case in 2020. After the team moved on from Fichtner and promoted Matt Canada to offensive coordinator, they hired Mike Sullivan as their new quarterbacks coach. On top of that, when Adrian Klemm was promoted to offensive line coach, the team brought in Chris Morgan to take over Klemm’s old position.

Monday, the Steelers made those moves official.

Sullivan began his NFL coaching career in 2002 after making the jump from the college ranks where he had spent his entire career on the defensive side of the ball. The Jacksonville Jaguars defensive quality control coordinator in 2002, Sullivan switched to the other side of the line of scrimmage in 2003 as an offensive assistant. Sullivan spent six years as the New York Giants wide receivers coach before switching to quarterbacks coach for two seasons in 2010 and 2011.

After two Super Bowls with the Giants, Sullivan was hired as the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for two seasons before returning to New York as the quarterbacks coach in 2015. Sullivan was promoted to the offensive coordinator for the Giants for the 2016 and 2017 seasons before heading to Denver as their quarterbacks coach in 2018.

Sullivan spent last season as an administrator for Army, his alma mater, where he was director of recruiting. The 54 year old coach is a two time Super Bowl winner and a one time NCAA FCS National Champion.

As for Morgan, he has spent the last six seasons with the Atlanta Falcons as their offensive line coach. With a new head coach for the 2021 season, Morgan was let go about two weeks ago. In all, Morgan has been coaching in the NFL for 12 seasons with the Oakland Raiders, Washington Football Team, and Seattle Seahawks.

Other than the two hires everyone was expecting, the Steelers also added a position with a quality coach. The team announced Monday they hired Matt Tomsho as their newest member of the coaching staff.

Matt Tomsho comes to the NFL after spending last season as the wide receivers coach at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Tomsho also coached at the University of Pittsburgh, Louisiana State University, and University of Maryland all when new offensive coordinator Matt Canada was with each of these programs.

For the latest news and notes on the Steelers, be sure to stay tuned to BTSC as the team prepares for the new league year, NFL Free Agency and the 2021 NFL Draft.