When Art Rooney II stepped to the podium nine days ago at Acrisure Stadium to address Mike Tomlin stepping down, he said the process to find a new head coach was going to take “weeks.”
These weren’t just words. The process thus far has been slow, and despite nearly one-third of the NFL looking for new head coaches, there’s a good reason why.
It didn’t take long for Rooney and Omar Khan to put together a list of candidates, as eight interview requests were pumped out in just a couple of days. It’s no accident that out of all of them, two of the very first were Rams’ pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase and Rams’ defensive coordinator Chris Shula.
Some atop the Steelers’ organization have great respect for what Sean McVay has done in this league, and not just his time as head coach of the Rams. Of course, the organization hasn’t been in much of a position to pluck from the McVay tree, though they did interview Zac Robinson two years ago during the search for a new offensive coordinator, after which Tomlin hired Arthur Smith. Robinson went on to become offensive coordinator in Atlanta.
Now with a vacancy at head coach, the interest in re-visiting the McVay tree is genuine. While official requests have not been submitted, I expect the Steelers to bring in at least one of either Scheelhaase or Shula for in-person interviews next week, regardless of whether or not the Rams defeat the Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game. If they do, assistant coaches that are coaching in the Super Bowl can be interviewed during the bye week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl.
There’s a reason why this is playing out a little slower than some of the other teams. By rule, the Steelers have not been able to host either Scheelhaase or Shula yet for in-person interviews. And, from what I’ve heard on this search, they are willing to wait to host potentially both of them on the South Side before making any final decisions. In the meantime, they are doing their due diligence with other candidates who either impressed them during virtual interviews and are eligible for second interviews, such as Anthony Weaver, or bringing in other potential candidates straight to an in-person interview, such as Brian Flores and Mike McCarthy.
As of Thursday night, there are only four other head coaching vacancies. Of those four teams — the Raiders, Browns, Cardinals and Bills — only the Raiders have interviewed both Scheelhaase and Shula, and the Browns have a second interview requested with Scheelhaase.
Rooney and Khan obviously want to get this hire right. And, from the way this is playing out, the process isn’t fully complete until they can get a closer look at every candidate worthy of one. So, this process will require patience, especially if the Rams keep playing football until the second Sunday in February.
MORE STEELERS
• Weaver is a legitimate candidate for the head coaching job. I can’t say with any real confidence where exactly he ranks on the list for Rooney and Khan, but he earned a second interview for a reason. I’m not saying he’s the favorite to win the job right now, but it will not be the most shocking development if he winds up being hired. — Chris Halicke in Downtown
• I don’t know what to make of the McCarthy consideration. I have a hard time believing he’s a strong candidate. No real noise on that front at all. Until I hear otherwise, I’ll remain skeptical that he’s some sort of favorite to land this job. — Chris Halicke
• The Steelers are typically an organization that prefers to keep things under wraps, not letting things leak out to the public. Let me just say this is definitely one of those times. Those running this search are doing a good job thus far of playing their cards close to the vest. There will be a lot of noise surrounding this search for a new head coach, but I can guarantee you that a lot of it is not coming from the inside. Let’s just say I’ve sent a lot of feelers out to sources that have gone unanswered, even from those who usually respond every time. — Chris Halicke
• One way a new head coach could have a huge impact on this roster is better utilization of certain players. During the season, shortly after the Bengals exposed Tomlin’s “coverage people” plan, I learned that there were significant disagreements between the players and coaching staff on how things needed to be done on the defensive side of the ball. There were certain players that felt their skill sets were not being properly utilized with what was being asked of them. Patrick Queen became the intermediary between the players and the coaching staff during this time, and Queen himself wasn’t exactly thrilled with what was being done defensively at the time, either.
The open line of communication between the players and coaches paid off, and it’s no accident that we saw significant changes on defense after that. Some of it was out of necessity due to injuries, like Jalen Ramsey moving to safety. But, the dramatic shift to a lot more two-high safety coverages wasn’t solely because of Tomlin and Teryl Austin. The players needed something different, too. To the coaching staff’s credit, they didn’t shun the players. They listened and made changes accordingly. — Chris Halicke
• I’m not surprised whatsoever by the Ravens’ hiring of Jesse Minter. Yes, the Steelers were interested in him, but did not get a second interview for a reason. I had a feeling from the beginning that Minter was going to Baltimore. And after the news broke on Thursday, I texted one source to confirm my suspicion or see if I somehow have somehow developed some sort of foresight, and my suspicion was confirmed with a succinct, “Yep.” — Chris Halicke
PENGUINS
• I asked a few Penguins players this week about advanced analytics, and how they use them. What’s publicly available — meaning on the NHL site, or independent sites like Natural Stat Trick or MoneyPuck — are almost all shot-attempt based. But what the team has internally is much more extensive — things like controlled zone entries and success rates on those, success rates on breakouts, defending rushes. They have those figures on an individual level for their own players, but also team-wide numbers on opponents that help with pre-scouting. — Taylor Haase in Calgary, Alberta
• One player said that while they still definitely get presented numbers like those, it feels like they used to got them more, “especially last year.” — Taylor Haase
• If it’s something like pre-scouting another team, relevant numbers will be on a board in the locker room before the game. But if a player wants something specific, they can talk to the Penguins’ video staff who can “whip something up for you pretty quick.” — Taylor Haase
• Different arenas incorporate some of the player- and puck-tracking data on their video boards, and Columbus might show the most information of any of them, rotating at the bottom of the screen throughout the game. One player said that playing in that building is actually “distracting” because one might find himself watching the video board to check what his possession time is. — Taylor Haase
• How much do they actually care about all of those figures? On a team-wide level, they definitely do, since it’s a tool for learning about opponents’ tendencies. But a few players I talked to were skeptical about the relevance of some of the shot-based data as far as it relates to their own games. — Taylor Haase
• I speculated a couple of times after Evgeni Malkin came back that he might be on the wing because they’re trying to avoid him taking faceoffs as he manages his left shoulder injury. This isn’t speculation anymore — that’s confirmed to be exactly what’s happening. So, don’t rule out Malkin being moved to center again eventually. — Taylor Haase
• Kyle Dubas and Jason Spezza aren’t on this road trip out west because they’re using this time for scouting elsewhere, something that’s not too uncommon when the team has a long trip like this. Vukie Mpofu is the lone hockey ops representative on the trip. — Taylor Haase
• Expect Tanner Howe to make his debut soon in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after undergoing knee surgery in April — a much-needed boost to Wilkes-Barre’s forward group that has been depleted by trades. — Taylor Haase
PIRATES
• The Pirates are still actively looking to improve their offense after adding a bit this winter, and it’s clear that there’s a need at third base.
Behind Eugenio Suarez, the free-agent market at that position is rather weak. In terms of FanGraphs WAR totals across 2024-25, Suarez ranked second among free-agent third basemen at 7.6, trailing new Cubs infielder Alex Bregman at 7.7. Paul DeJong ranked third (1.9) before signing a minor-league deal with the Yankees and next on that list was Yoan Moncada (1.0), a 30-year-old who just re-signed with the Angels.
If the Pirates don’t go down the route of signing Suarez, a player they have shown interest in, then they could still get a deal done via a trade. There’s still a willingness to deal resources in order to improve in other areas, but it seems that those assets would likely come in the form of prospects rather than major-league talent after already parting with Johan Oviedo and Mike Burrows.
I’ve been told that there is interest in both Brett Baty and Mark Vientos after the Mets signed Bo Bichette to become the team’s starting third baseman. But it takes two teams to tango here. The Pirates could offer up prospects in exchange for one of these pre-arbitration players, but the Mets would likely get other offers the Pirates would have to contend with. As for Alec Bohm, the belief is that he’s no longer available in a trade after the Phillies failed to land Bichette. Bohm is entering the last year of his contract with the Phillies and could end up remaining in Philadelphia. — José Negron in Downtown
• Konnor Griffin will not attend PiratesFest this weekend and his mother, Kim, provided an explanation as to why on Tuesday, stating on social media that Konnor and his wife, Dendy, are on their honeymoon after getting married last weekend. Bubba Chandler also has a personal commitment that won’t allow him to attend. The Pirates are required to set the date for PiratesFest more than a year in advance in order to host the event at the Convention Center, leaving it difficult to foresee potential scheduling conflicts for players. — José Negron
• After a rather disappointing offensive showing in which he struck out at a 32% rate and hit just .200 last season, Oneil Cruz has spent this offseason between the Dominican Republic and the United States, working to better his offensive approach and improve defensively. I’ve been told he’s put an emphasis on getting more reps against left-handed pitching in live batting practice situations and that he’s worked on his reactions, first steps, angles and direction out in center field. Cruz will be at PiratesFest this weekend, but he’s recently been continuing his offseason work in Florida. — José Negron
