With each coaching hire that the Steelers nail — and they’re three-for-three since 1969 — the pressure builds to get the next one right, too.
So here they are, 19 years after their last search. With plenty of good options from which to choose.
The problem with having a bunch of quality candidates is that, eventually, a choice needs to be made. So who will they choose?
For now, the candidates are: Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase, Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, 49ers offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak, Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, and former Cowboys and Packers head coach Mike McCarthy.
As to the franchise’s three most recent coaches, dating back to the first term of the Nixon administration, each one (Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, Mike Tomlin) was a defensive coordinator with no previous head-coaching experience. That formula, if followed again, would point to the likes of Shula, Weaver, Evero, and Minter.
But here’s the basic reality. Since hiring Tomlin in 2007, the game has changed. It has skewed more and more toward offense, with the post-2009 emphasis on player safety making it harder to play old-school, hard-nosed, Steel Curtain defense.
When the NFL started aggressively flagging and fining players for illegal hits on defenseless receivers, there was a disconnect between the league’s application of the rules and the manner in which Tomlin was coaching them. Eventually, the league put Tomlin on the Competition Committee in part to get him to buy in to the new way of playing the game.
As of 2026, it’s impossible for the Steelers to ignore the evolution of the game. And, frankly, their offense has been sluggish at best in the years after the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger. If the Steelers intend to never be in position to draft a franchise quarterback, they’ll need to find and develop one another way, either by hitting on a lower draft pick or getting more out of a veteran than he has done elsewhere. Having an offensive mastermind as the team’s head coach will help.
Then there’s the question of whether they want another coach who’ll stick around for 15 years or longer. The availability of Pittsburgh native Mike McCarthy is intriguing, but he’s 62. Noll (23 seasons), Cowher (15), and Tomlin (19) were each in their 30s when hired.
At first blush, Shula feels like a perfect fit, given that his grandfather, Don, recommended Noll for the job. Only 15 days after Don Shula and Noll worked together in Super Bowl III (which their Colts lost to the Jets), Noll was hired by the Steelers.
But perfection is revealed after the fact. With a coach who isn’t fired because he performs well enough to not be. Plenty of first-time coaches fail, largely because the coordinator and head-coach skillsets are very different.
Wherever it goes, the weight of hiring three straight Super Bowl winners is palpable. And if it’s obvious from the outside, it’s inescapable on the inside.
