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The Steelers made last night’s news official and have announced that Mike Munchak is the new offensive line coach. The hiring of Munchak comes just 20 days after the firing of Jack Bicknell Jr. was announced. Munchak was fired by the Titans on January 4th. He was their head coach since 2011. He could have retained his position if he agreed to fire certain assistant coaches, but he refused to do so.
Munchak has been with the Titans/Oilers for his entire NFL career, both as a player and as a coach. He was the Houston Oilers 1st round draft pick in 1982, and served as their left guard for 12 seasons. During that time he received several Pro Bowl nominations and other accolades. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001.
After retiring in 1993, he returned to the Oilers as an offensive assistant coach. A few years later, he was promoted to offensive line coach where he remained for 14 seasons, before becoming head coach in 2010. During his time as offensive line coach, there were only 2 seasons where Tennessee didn’t have a 1000+ yard rusher. Something the Steelers haven’t had in the last 3 seasons. Coincidentally, Chris Johnson ran for over 2000 in 2009.
Munchak not only brings a long resume full of accolades and coaching experience, he has an extensive background successfully coaching zone blocking schemes. We’ll explore that further in a future article.
Coach Tomlin definitely deserves some praise for landing such an esteemed candidate. The Texans seemed to be the “shoe-in” to hire Munchak, but he turned them down. The Oilers and Steelers were bitter rivals for decades, and Munchak grew up a Browns fan. Just sayin’.
“I am excited that Mike will be joining our staff at the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Coach Tomlin said in a statement posted on the team’s website. “Mike’s offensive line background speaks for itself, both as a Hall of Fame player for the Houston Oilers and as a very successful coach with the Tennessee Titans. I look forward to having him join our coaching staff as we have already started preparing for the 2014 season.”
His contract details are unknown of course, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were for longer than one year due to the salary implications. I also wouldn’t be surprised if there were other responsibilities included outside of the offensive line. That’s just speculation of course. Time will tell.
