Steelers Coaching Staff Expected To Take A Big Hit Following The 2024 Season

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been able to make it through nine full games and the entire fan base has not revolted against new Offensive Coordinator Arthur Smith. This is a good thing, especially after spending the majority of the last three seasons with Matt Canada calling the plays. The 2024 season started off a bit rough for Smith, but he has been praised over the last several weeks of the season and he has been a big reason the offense has been playing so efficiently. 

Unfortunately for Steelers fans, there are a lot of bad head coaches around the NFL. There are expected to be a good amount of vacancies around the league once the hiring cycle begins during the 2025 offseason, and Smith's name will likely be mentioned a good amount. NFL insider Dianna Russini spoke about the vacancies and Smith on Friday's episode of her podcast Scoop City. She immediately mentioned Smith while talking about names to consider for openings around the league.

"So, Arthur Smith," Russini said. "I know he was a head coach already. He didn't have the most success in Atlanta, but they were building towards something, they were getting close, they just needed a quarterback. Now, he's done something in Pittsburgh."

Russini's co-host and former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel immediately chimed in, saying that he doesn't agree that someone who is just one year removed from being fired as a head coach should be getting another opportunity. Smith's time coaching the Atlanta Falcons wasn't great, but he was consistent. His team went 7-10 in three consecutive seasons with what was probably the worst quarterback play in the league.

Daniel continued to express his doubt, questioning the amount of qualified candidates in the league. He didn't agree that Smith should immediately get another chance to become a head coach again, and it probably would be the right move for Smith to wait a while and learn under Head Coach Mike Tomlin. Russini went on to share why some teams would be interested in Smith.

"I think when a coach has a lot of the fundamentals of the role, of the job, on how to do it, that's really valuable," Russini said. "I'm talking to teams that I know for a fact are resistant to a first-time head coach. They don't want to deal with the learning curve, they don't want to deal with the warm-up the first year."

There might be some proof to this theory. The best coach from the 2024 hiring cycle so far has been Dan Quinn with the Washington Commanders, and he had plenty of experience as a head coach prior to this gig. Coincidentally it was also with the Falcons, but he had more success there. Smith's experience could be attractive to franchises that are desperate to turn things around. It's not like Atlanta was the worst team in the league when he was running the show, but by no means were they good.

Steelers' Mike Tomlin Might Have Finally Made A Good Hire

The biggest knock on Tomlin, aside from the seven straight seasons of not winning a playoff game, is his hiring process. The Steelers have never had a coordinator go on to become a head coach while Tomlin has been running the show outside of Bruce Arians, and it has been a revolving door at offensive coordinator over the last five seasons. A mark of a good coach is a strong coaching tree, and Tomlin's is non-existent. He is considered the mentor to Raheem Morris, but he never worked on Tomlin's staff in Pittsburgh.

Smith garnering interest as a candidate for a head coaching job is something Pittsburgh fans aren't used to. However, there is a very real chance that after one year of having a sustainable offense, Pittsburgh loses the man running the show.