{"id":517035,"date":"2026-01-15T03:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T03:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/517035\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T03:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T03:52:10","slug":"steelers-coaching-search-tracker-the-first-interview-requests-are-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/517035\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers coaching search tracker: The first interview requests are in"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 For just the fourth time since 1969, the Pittsburgh Steelers will conduct a coaching search. That process \u2014 led by owner and team president Art Rooney II and general manager Omar Khan \u2014 is already underway, just one day after Mike Tomlin stepped down <\/a>Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh has put in interview requests for Los Angeles Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase, Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores and Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, league sources told The Athletic.<\/p>\n

Historically, the Steelers have preferred young and often defensive-minded coaches, but in a news conference held Wednesday, Rooney made clear he\u2019s casting a wide net<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I sign up for another Chuck Noll or another Bill Cowher or another Mike Tomlin? Sure, somebody that we feel fits that mold would be great,\u201d Rooney said. \u201cBut we\u2019re not going to narrow the box too much. \u2026 I think if I\u2019ve learned anything, it\u2019s to have an open mind. When we had Mike in for his first interview, (I) certainly wasn\u2019t expecting that he was going to be our next head coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s he looking for in the next coach?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there are a lot of things that go into being a successful head coach,\u201d Rooney said. \u201cNumber one, really in my mind, is leadership and really trusting that this person can stand up in front of your team day in and day out, hold their attention and have them motivated to do what they do. That\u2019s the most important part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh is expected to continue to reach out to candidates within the coming hours and days. Here\u2019s a scouting report on the known candidates. This page will continue to be updated as the process continues.<\/p>\n

Nathan Scheelhaase, Rams pass game coordinator (35 years old)<\/p>\n

Rooney said on Wednesday that \u201cthe quarterback position will be an important part of this discussion with the candidates.\u201d Scheelhaase knows the position well, as a former four-star prospect who started four seasons (2010-13) at the University of Illinois.<\/p>\n

He began his coaching career with the Fighting Illini shortly after his playing career. He spent his first season as the running backs coach (2015) and then served as an offensive analyst (2016-17). Scheelhaase then worked for six years in various roles with Iowa State, where he got experience coaching virtually every offensive position group. Most importantly, in 2022, he served as the Cyclones\u2019 offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, calling the plays and working directly with the most important position.<\/p>\n

Scheelhaase is now in his second season with the Rams. He spent his first year as an offensive assistant and pass game specialist before being promoted into his current role. It seems that every coach Sean McVay touches turns to gold, which makes Scheelhaase an enticing option.<\/p>\n

Chris Shula, Rams defensive coordinator (39)<\/p>\n

If the Steelers are looking for a young, defensive-minded head coach, Shula fits the mold. The grandson of Hall of Fame coach Don Shula and son of former Bengals coach Dave Shula, Chris has spent two seasons as the Rams\u2019 defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh has long prided itself on the play of its linebackers. Shula was a linebacker himself at Miami (Ohio). He coached several places collegiately (Ball State, Indiana and John Carroll) before joining his old RedHawks teammate, McVay, in Los Angeles. After several seasons coaching linebackers, Shula was promoted to defensive coordinator this year.<\/p>\n

The Steelers were unable to maximize the potential of the NFL\u2019s highest-paid defense. Shula took the NFL\u2019s lowest-paid defense and led it to a top-10 finish in points allowed (20.4) and EPA per play.<\/p>\n

Anthony Weaver, Dolphins defensive coordinator (45)<\/p>\n

Weaver knows the Steelers-Baltimore Ravens rivalry well \u2014 from the other side. A second-round pick by Baltimore in 2002, Weaver played in 103 games during his seven-year career with the Ravens and Houston Texans. The former NFL defensive end began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Florida (2010) and then coached linebackers at North Texas (2011). He returned to the NFL as a coach in 2012 with the New York Jets and has also made stops with the Buffalo Bills (2013 defensive line coach), Cleveland Browns (2014-15 defensive line coach), Texans (2016-19 defensive line coach and 2020 defensive coordinator).<\/p>\n

Weaver rejoined the Ravens in 2021. He served first as the defensive line coach and run game coordinator before a promotion to assistant head coach and defensive line coach in 2022-23. Last season, Weaver left to become the Dolphins\u2019 defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

Brian Flores, Vikings defensive coordinator (44)<\/p>\n

Shortly after the Dolphins fired Flores after a three-year run during which he compiled a 24-25 record, he brought a lawsuit against the NFL alleging a pattern of racist hiring practices by teams and racial discrimination during the interview process.<\/p>\n

At the time, he was somewhat of a pariah when the Steelers opened their doors to Flores, hiring him as a senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach for the 2022 season. The move helped Flores get back on track, and now, after three years as the Vikings\u2019 defensive coordinator, he\u2019s one of the hot names in this coaching cycle. A creative and innovative defensive mind, Flores would fit neatly into the Blitzburgh identity and could help make the most of a roster full of expensive, aging defensive stars.<\/p>\n

Jesse Minter, Chargers defensive coordinator (42)<\/p>\n

When Jim Harbaugh bolted for the NFL after his national championship run with the University of Michigan, he took his defensive coordinator, Minter, with him.<\/p>\n

In his first NFL season, Minter coordinated the top NFL defense, as the Chargers limited opponents to a league-low 17.7 points per game. This season, they ranked ninth in points allowed (20.0), fifth in yards per game (285) and fifth in turnovers forced (26).<\/p>\n

Minter comes from a football family, as his dad was the head coach at the University of Cincinnati. He also has familiarity with the AFC North after four seasons as a defensive assistant in Baltimore.<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, Tomlin coached defensive backs at Cincinnati when Minter\u2019s father, Rick, was the head coach. Beginning at 16 years old, Minter formed a relationship with Tomlin that remains to this day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 16 years old in high school and my parents were split up. He came in as the DB coach,\u201d Minter told the reporters in Los Angeles last year. \u201cI was a high school receiver\/ DB. We really just hit it off. He took interest in me, I took interest in him. We\u2019ve had a good relationship ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

An update on Marcus Freeman<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, The Athletic\u2019s Dianna Russini reported<\/a> that the Steelers had internal discussions about Freeman as they contemplated the possibility of Tomlin stepping away. It\u2019s a move that would make sense in many ways. In late December, as speculation swirled that Freeman could make the jump to the NFL, Notre Dame signed its coach to a revised deal that makes him one of the highest-paid in his sport. Freeman also has publicly said he\u2019ll be back in 2026.<\/p>\n

To be clear, the Steelers have not requested an interview with Freeman, to The Athletic\u2019s knowledge. But on Wednesday, Freeman spoke with the media in South Bend, Ind., for the first time since early December and did address the potential of making the jump to the NFL<\/a> at some point. While it may or may not be relevant to this search, his quote is worth noting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know enough about it, and maybe sometime in the future, if it\u2019s the right time and it\u2019s what I think is right for me, then maybe I\u2019ll pursue it,\u201d Freeman told reporters. \u201cI don\u2019t love wasting time thinking about things that aren\u2019t right in front of me. And so I don\u2019t know what I want in however any length of time, how much length of the time. I don\u2019t know. But I know right now that I was convicted and motivated to be the best head coach of the Notre Dame football program as I can be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 For just the fourth time since 1969, the Pittsburgh Steelers will conduct a coaching search. That…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":517036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,1232,1545,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-517035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115897089595878350","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}