There’s been a lot of talk recently about what recently hired offensive line coach Mike Munchak will be able to do for the Steelers young linemen. Former Steelers offensive tackle Tunch Ilkin recently spoke with Bob Labriola about how he thinks the new coach can elevate the play of the young offensive line.

Ilkin describes Munchak as “an old friend”, who he’s known for 30 years. The two were linemen for division rivals, and never lined up against each other, but met at the Pro Bowl in 1988. Tunch said they traded helmets there, and he’s kept Munchak’s on his shelf ever since.

He describes the former Oilers guard’s style of play as “physical, and nasty”. “He would get after it, wouldn’t back down, just one of those tough guys you would love to have on your side.”, said Ilkin. According to Tunch, the Titans offensive line that Munchak coached was “a nasty bunch”.

…those offensive lines could run the outside-zone and they also could come off the line and straight-block. They could do both, and if you can do both you really have something.

Tunch thinks the Steelers offensive line is “going to get after it”, and Munchak is going to make them nastier.  “The guys are going to be even a little bit nastier than they’ve been in the past, because that’s the way Mike is.”

Ilkin broke down how he thinks some of the Steelers linemen will benefit from their new coach. “He’ll make Marcus [Gilbert] more consistent, because if I was Marcus I’d want to improve upon my consistency,” said Ilkin. “That’s the area where Mike will help Marcus really grow: being more consistent and taking his craft to the next level.”

On Mike Adams, he thinks Munchak will teach him how to be a pro. Ilkin said, “He’ll teach Adams how to prepare. He’ll teach Mike Adams how to get more out of himself than maybe even Mike Adams would think was there.”

The other two who he thinks will benefit from Mike Munchak’s coaching are David DeCastro and Kelvin Beachum. Tunch thinks he’ll be able to teach them both nuances of the game that they haven’t acquired yet due to their youth.

In the next article, we’ll take a quick look at how Munchak’s lines have preformed compared to the Steelers’ lines. Later down the road, we’ll look at some x’s and o’s of Munchak’s offensive lines.

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.

Well, apparently the news came sooner than I thought. Houston Chronicle reporter John McClain reports tonight that Mike Munchak is taking the Steelers offensive line coach job. This is fantastic news for the Steelers, who are gaining a seasoned offensive line coach and hall of famer.

Mike Munchak is going to the Steelers as o line coach.

— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) January 23, 2014

Munchak interviewed with Texans and Steelers for o line job. He grew up in Scranton as Steelers fan and starred at Penn State. Going home.

— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) January 23, 2014

Former Titans HC Mike Munchak has agreed to become Steelers O-line coach, as @McClain_on_NFL reported.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 23, 2014

I have an update to an earlier report regarding Mike Munchak’s interview for the offensive line coaching vacancy. Mike Prisuta reports that Munchak is in fact interviewing with the Steelers today.

Steelers interviewing Mike Munchak for offensive line coach opening today on the South Side

— Mike Prisuta (@DVEMike) January 17, 2014

It was reported earlier that the team was going to meet with him about the opening at the Senior Bowl next week. This is good news. Mike Munchak would be a great addition to the Steelers.