Steelers Next Steps After Hiring Mike McCarthy

The Pittsburgh Steelers have found their head coach, hiring Mike McCarthy as just the fourth leader of the organization in nearly 60 years. The biggest question of the offseason is answered, but it's far from the only one that's going to be in front of the black and gold.

Now, the Steelers must fill the rest of their staff. After releiving everyone from their duties who worked under Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh is tasked with filling their assistant coaches and coordinator positions, which is the next step in their process this winter.

Team President Art Rooney II broke down that process and how the Steelers are viewing it as they begin.

""He's in the process right now of trying to hire a staff," Rooney told Steelers.com's Bob Labriola. "It's not an easy task, because some of the people he'd like to hire are under contract to other teams, and so we've got to get permission to talk to them. But just in general, the people he had targeted for key positions – offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, offensive line coach, and those kinds of things – we were very comfortable with the discussion around that."

Who Are the Candidates?

Coaching in the NFL as a head coach for 18 years, McCarthy has plenty of connections. Even before that, his journey in the NFL started in 1993, meaning he's gotten plenty of people in his "NFL rolodex" that he can call for open jobs.

Some of those names are former coaches who worked with McCarthy in the past, and some are players who played for the head coach and are now making their way through the coaching ranks themse

Steelers On SI's Jacob Punturi laid out several options who are position coaches elsewhere, who could be candidates in Pittsburgh. Some of those names include New Orleans Saints tight ends coach, Chase Haslett, and quarterbacks coach, Scott Tolzien, Chicago Bears defensive backs coach, Al Harris, and Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks coach, Steve Shimko.

Former Steelers linebackers coach, Scott McCurley, is also an option. McCurley spent the 2025 season in Pittsburgh and arrived from the Green Bay Packers.