Regime Change

My pouting is over and have to get behind Coach but damn he has to put the air hose down or he's gonna pop. That DC hire gives me pause. I really wanted a great DC like a schwartz. We have a long way to go to see how this plays out, if we have a ****ty year next year then they need to give up on the "we are close" thinking and fully rebuild the roster.

 

No

Really

 

there will be only one team with the same coaching group in this division. the bengirls will be the team to beat it looks like right now. familiarity with many of these coaches could mean a quicker turn around. at least for the staff. that is part of bringing in new coaches, it's not just the players getting ready for the season. i hope mccarthy can bring them together quickly or at least quicker than the other teams in this division. that will go a long way this year.

tom arth: staying gets the new offensive coaches on the same page with will howard. having aaron rodgers back would give some familiarity to this room and maybe help the kid along in year two. he really didn't get to practice along with rodgers this year but got his feet wet in thinking.

gerald alexander: staying is also a good thing for the new DC and coaches. this could help the transition in the defensive backfield. with many moving parts coming in, this may add stability for the players.

scott mccurley: again some stability amongst the players. mccurley was a good hire by MT. he's one of the top at this position coming in. retaining him was huge. it's nice the new coaches and he have some familiarity.

any of this could help the transition to quickly get on the same page. that's the hope anyway.

 

I was thinking Schwartz as well but then looking at his coaching tenures he's not a slam dunk. In fact, he's a mixed bag. Took him 7 years in TEN to build a top 10 scoring defense. Is any Steeler fan willing to wait 7 years for a defense? Then, in DET as HC they were bottom half of the league in points allowed. One year as BUF DC was miserable. Then came PHI where it took him multiple seasons to get a top scoring defense. He's done better in Cleveland of all places. But again he's not a slam dunk DC. Doesn't matter anyway I guess because they aren't trading picks for the guy.

 

Schwartz still has 2 years on his current Browns contract. Him pouting because he didn't get the HC job is a bad look for him, IMO.

 

I don't agree. You see what a ****show that Browns' ownership and front office have been.

The offense has been pathetic. They are a joke as an organization.

The only successful part of the entire operation has been Schwartz's defense.

The Browns couldn't even get good candidates to show up for interviews for the head coaching position, so what do they do? They pass over the one guy that has most definitely earned it with his performance with the team. The only coach that has risen in that river of crap in that city, and he was never even considered for the position. I don't blame him one bit for having the guts to make it publicly known that he's out of there.

What more does the guy have to do, when other coaches don't even want to come near the place while he has been all in and right there?

 

Mike Tomlin is a terrible coach because he has no coaching tree and his coaches never moved through the ranks. But Mike McCarthy bringing in guys that have basically only ever served as position coaches under McCarthy is bringing in top guys.
Sure. Both things can be true in a logic and reason based universe. Why the heck not.

 

I guess.

 

I see a huge improvement coming with our new DC hire. The Steelers defense sucked with respect to explosive play differentials. The only other differential that perhaps is more important is turnover differential. Four of the five teams that are best in explosive play differential were in the championship games and played last weekend. Pretty telling. I mean, the the four the final four teams all ended up in the top five. Seattle being number one. I think the Rams were two. The other one was the Packers who had a pretty darn good year and maybe would have done even more had Micah not been injured. Patrick Graham with a crappy crappy Raiders roster. their defense, Vegas's only the Vikings were better in explosive plays allowed, second best in as important of a metric as you will find in today's NFL with the worst defensive roster in the league. But lets just see what he can do. He has a good roster to work with so my expectation is we should see good results with this defense.

 

I am so glad #81 will be gone... this is just a classic:

 

I'm sure Arthur Smith has already checked his eligibility.

 

Some hires today, to those who know anything of this hires, how we looking?

Go Steelers!!!

 

Here’s what the Pittsburgh Steelers have done so far this coaching offseason (2026) after parting ways with longtime coach Mike Tomlin and hiring a new staff:

Head Coach

• Mike McCarthy — Named the 17th head coach in Steelers history. McCarthy replaces Mike Tomlin and officially started in January 2026.

Key Coaching Staff Hires

• Patrick Graham — Defensive Coordinator
  Hired to lead Pittsburgh’s defense. He previously was defensive coordinator with the Las Vegas Raiders and has extensive NFL experience.
  
  
• James Campen — Offensive Line Coach
  Brought in to coach the offensive line; he has coached on McCarthy’s staffs before.
  
• 
  
• Ramon Chinyoung — Running Backs Coach
  Hired from the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff; officially taking over as the RB coach.
  
  
• Jahri Evans — Assistant Offensive Line Coach (reported hire)
  Former NFL Pro Bowler who is expected to join McCarthy’s staff.

Retained/Transitional Staff
McCarthy is also bringing back several existing coaches from the Mike Tomlin era to help with continuity:

• Tom Arth — Quarterbacks Coach
  
  
• Gerald Alexander — Secondary Coach
  
  
• Scott McCurley — Linebackers Coach
  These coaches have worked with McCarthy before and are staying on for 2026.

 

Actually the only two that are official are McCarthy and Graham

I suspect the others are still working on contracts

https://www.steelers.com/team/coaches-roster/

 

Two good sources

https://thesteelersfans.com/forums/threads/2026-coaching-interview-hiring-tracker.36295/

https://www.steelers.com/team/coaches-roster/

 

But
They got a Pro Bowl Qb

 

They had 2 pro bowl QB in their roster to start the season in 2025!

Flacco is also in the pro bowl this year!

 

You do realize that not only does it benefit him to bring in guys that he speaks a similar language with for efficiency sake, you also have to take who's AVAILABLE. He's not going to have his ideal staff in his first year.

I'd like to see him develop some young bright coaches and keep the fresh ideas coming in. You know, like the really good coaches do. Guys that get hired elsewhere because other organizations want coaches that worked in an innovative system or philosophy. There is no Tomlin system. His philosophy is bend don't break defense, take ZERO chances on offense, and kick more field goals than the other guy. You're probably going to run into enough bad and injury plagued teams throughout the season to get you .500, or slightly better, with good pitching and small ball. But, that OBVIOUSLY doesn't cut it in the playoffs. I'm sorry that you are completely incapable of seeing that.

 

My point is that no one on McCarthy's staff is an innovator or an "up and comer" either. These are all just guys that have floated around the league at the same level of coaching for years now. Mostly wherever Mike McCarthy has had a job and then they go have a gap year somewhere until McCarthy gets another job. That's not really a coaching tree....more like hiring your buddies.

Every coach does this. So it isn't really a big deal. But...the some of the same people who repeatedly pushed the lack of innovative or attention grabbing hires during the Tomlin tenure are now touting the sweeping changes of the McCarthy era. It is the same thing....just different names and faces.

I will grant that the new DC seems competent and like he might put a fun defense on the field. Tolzien might be still be young enough to have new ideas...so hopefully that hire goes through.

But this is all business as usual in NFL circles. Hire the guys you worked with in the past. There are no new faces on the staff. No guys that anyone has be worried about getting poached for a big job elsewhere. The ability of the Steelers internet to pretend otherwise is astonishing.

 

Plus....he's got two guys that are almost certainly nepo hires/favors on his staff. Just look at their last names and then Google their coaching resumes. McCarthy has not interviewed a single coach from outside his circle. That is not lack of availability....that is just lack of interest in doing so.

 

How is the Graham hire any different than the Austin hire? That doesn't mean it is a bad thing....but the same people that are praising McCarthy are/have slammed Tomlin and it is the SAME thing...

I am not so much arguing against a specific thing McCarthy is or is not doing...I am pointing out the illogical and inconsistent fan positions on the issue.

This is how people fool themselves into thinking that their favorite team is "one guy away" and then spend years po'd when they don't get to watch a parade on TV. From my perspective it all looks woefully irrational. But, to each their own!