Steelers officially announce Teryl Austin as their defensive coordinator

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a number of coaching vacancies they need to fill in the 2022 offseason. With the first hire being announced on Tuesday at a position where many did not realize the Steelers even had a vacancy, the Steelers have a new wide receivers coach in Frisman Jackson.

The next coaching hire the Steelers have announced is a big one. In order to fill out the rest of their coaching positions, announcing their new defensive coordinator after the retirement of Keith Butler was the logical next choice. In a move which was reported days ago, the Steelers have now officially announced Teryl Austin is their new defensive coordinator starting in the 2022 NFL season.

Teryl Austin began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Penn State in 1991. Making a jump to the NFL in 2003, Austin was the Seattle Seahawks defensive backs coach for four seasons before moving to the Arizona Cardinals for an additional three seasons. Austin went back to the college ranks to be the defensive coordinator of the Florida Gators in 2010, but returned to the NFL the following year to coach the Baltimore Ravens secondary from 2011 to 2013. Austin got his first NFL coordinator job in 2014 with the Detroit Lions where he spent four seasons. After one year as the defensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2018, Austin came to Pittsburgh as the Senior Defensive Assistant/Secondary coach.

With the official announcement from the Steelers, hirings at other coaching positions on the defense could be coming soon. With the retirement of former defensive coordinator Keith Butler, the Steelers are still in need of an outside linebackers coach. Also, with Coach Austin moving into the coordinator role, it will be interesting to see if the Steelers add another coach in the secondary.

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