The Pittsburgh Steelers completed their coaching search in less than two weeks, but now newly hired head coach Mike McCarthy has decisions to make and trips to take.
The Steelers officially will introduce McCarthy with a news conference at 2 p.m. Tuesday, but he probably won’t have much time to settle in. The NFL scouting calendar heats up in next five days, plus McCarthy needs to start assembling his coaching staff.
So there’s not much time to spare.
If McCarthy wants to immediately get involved in the scouting process, he will have to move quickly. The Senior Bowl kicks off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Mobile, Ala., with the teams practicing daily in advance of the game. A year ago, Mike Tomlin, his two coordinators and multiple members of the scouting staff were there to evaluate players.
It’s not yet known if McCarthy will attend.
Kicking off the scouting circuit is the East-West Shrine Bowl on Tuesday night in Frisco, Texas, a game that largely draws NFL scouts and assistant coaches. The Scouting Combine is Feb. 23-March 2 in Indianapolis, leading ultimately to the NFL Draft on April 23-25 in Pittsburgh.
In the meantime, McCarthy needs to assemble a coaching staff. He will start from scratch, having been out of the league for a year.
He hired two offensive coordinators during his five seasons in Dallas, starting with Kellen Moore, a holdover from the previous Cowboys staff. McCarthy replaced Moore with Brian Schottenheimer ahead of the 2023 season.
Moore called plays as the Cowboys’ coordinator, but McCarthy took over those duties once Schottenheimer was promoted to the job. Dallas had the NFL’s highest-scoring offense in 2021 with Moore calling plays and again in 2023 under McCarthy.
McCarthy was largely the primary play-caller during his 13 seasons with the Packers, a gameday responsibility he could keep with the Steelers. If so, that could turn away some OC candidates.
Veteran coordinators Joe Brady, Brian Daboll, Kliff Kingsbury and Matt Nagy are among those hoping for head coaching jobs nowadays but could fall short, while Denver pass game coordinator Davis Webb is a trendy OC candidate who worked closely with quarterback Bo Nix.
The Steelers interviewed two other offensive coaches as possible head coaches: Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase and 49ers offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak. Neither were primary play-callers for their teams.
McCarthy had four offensive coordinators in Green Bay, where Jeff Jagodinski was followed by Joe Philbin, Tom Clements and Edgar Bennett. Philbin returned to the Packers in 2018 for McCarthy’s final season.
His offensive staffs in Green Bay included multiple coaches with Pittsburgh ties besides Clements, a Bishop Canevin graduate and former Notre Dame quarterback. Clements, 72, retired as Packers quarterbacks coach in 2024.
Among them, Munhall native Luke Getsy, a former offensive coordinator with the Bears and Raiders, spent four seasons with McCarthy in Green Bay. Getsy, 41, later returned to the Packers under Matt LaFleur and spent this past season as a senior offensive assistant.
Former Pitt quarterback Alex Van Pelt, 55, a senior offensive assistant with the Rams, spent six seasons with McCarthy. Pittsburgh native Frank Cignetti Jr., 60, and Jim Hostler, 59, worked with McCarthy in New Orleans and Green Bay.
So, McCarthy might not be the only local product on the Steelers’ coaching staff.
Tom Arth, the Steelers’ current quarterback coach, had a brief connection with McCarthy. Arth spent the 2006 training camp with the Packers as an undrafted quarterback in a position group with Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers.
Arth, 44, joined the Steelers staff in 2024.
Two of the Steelers’ former coordinators are already headed elsewhere. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith reportedly is joining Ohio State, and special teams coach Danny Smith was hired by Tampa Bay. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin recently interviewed with the Commanders.
McCarthy had three defensive coordinators in Dallas, all with previous head coaching experience.
Former Buccaneers and Falcons head coach Raheem Morris is among the top defensive candidates on the market this year. He orchestrated the Rams defense when they won the Super Bowl in the 2021 season.
McCarthy’s first defensive coordinator in Dallas was Mike Nolan, a veteran with a long list of coaching jobs. But Nolan was fired after one season and replaced by Dan Quinn, a former head coach in Atlanta. Quinn ran the Cowboys’ defense for three seasons before accepting the Commanders’ coaching job. In 2024, Quinn was replaced by Mike Zimmer, a former Vikings head coach.
Bob Sanders (2006-08), Dom Capers (2009-17) and Mike Pettine (2018) ran the defense in Green Bay.
Among the Packers’ defensive assistants under McCarthy was Ejiro Evero, who served one season as a quality control coach in 2016. Now the defensive coordinator in Carolina, Evero interviewed with the Steelers as a head coach candidate but remains under contract.
The Steelers also gave a head coaching interview to former Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, who is looking for a job after Miami coach Mike McDaniel was fired. Weaver, a former assistant head coach in Baltimore, is reportedly a head coach candidate in Arizona and Buffalo.