Steelers Coaching Candidates

With Mike Tomlin resigning, the Steelers are looking for a new head coach for the first time since 2007. In case you're wondering, yes, I wrote about the Steelers hiring Mike Tomlin back then since this blog is old! There is a lot of speculation about potential candidates to be the fourth head coach of the Steelers since 1969. I'm here to add to that speculation! Some of these people listed below are legitimate candidates. Some are not. In any event, I hope that you enjoy this.

(The picture above is from a much younger Mike Tomlin when I compared his expression to a Game of Thrones character.)

Many people are clamoring for someone associated with the Indiana University football team to take over in Pittsburgh. While you probably believe that I'm writing about current IU coach Curt Cignetti, who turned arguably the worst major football program in college football history into a national championship contender and someone born in Pittsburgh, worked at Pitt, and got his first head coaching job at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), I'm looking at someone else. 

Antwaan Randle El 

Randle El is one of the best players in IU history, but he also played five seasons for the Steelers. More importantly, he served as an offensive assistant in Tampa for two years (and got a championship as a coach when the Buccaneers won Super Bowl LV), held the wide receiver coaching position with the Detroit Lions for 4 years, and is now the wide receivers / assistant head coach for the Chicago Bears. He's a winner and has had success in all of coaching stops. El Yeah!  Oh, he also did this.

Hines Ward

Currently, the Associate Head Coach and Wide Receivers Coach at Arizona State University. He previously worked for the Steelers, Jets, and at Florida Atlantic University. A 3-7 record as the head coach for the XFL's San Antonio Brahmas is a little concerning. Oh, he also did the thing in the video above.

Danny Smith

Big Gum has been patient, lurking in the background of the NFL. They have a stronghold in baseball, where major league dugouts universally have large containers of gum. Big Gum may feel that the time is right to make its mark in America's biggest sport. The poster person to represent Big Gum is clearly Danny Smith. He's also from Pittsburgh and graduated from Central Catholic High School.

Cam Heyward

The Steelers could make history by becoming the first team in the modern NFL to have its head coach also be an active player. And who better to do that than Cam Heyward. Seems highly regarded and well respected by his teammates. He's a leader. Curly Lambeau and George Halas were successful in both roles with the Packers and Bears respectfully in the 1920s. Let's try it again for the 2020s! (Tom Landry and Dan Reeves were both players / assistant coaches, and they both did pretty well too.)

Larry Foote

Current run game coordinator / outside linebacker coach for Tampa. Definitely seeing a trend of former Steelers who go to Tampa to coach. More importantly, I get to share this picture again!

Byron Leftwich

Former Steelers QB who won a Super Bowl as the offensive coordinator in Tampa (again!). He deserved to be a head coach then. It seems like he worked for Deion Sanders at the University of Colorado last season, but he’s not listed as part of the coaching staff on Colorado's website, and there were reports that he may have been a volunteer. For once, the internet is not really clear on if or when he was employed at Colorado.

Joey Porter, Sr.

Thanks to drawing a personal foul penalty on Adam "Pacman" Jones, he helped the Steelers win a playoff game against the Bengals. (Many people may remember the two personal foul penalties to essentially seal the game for the Steelers, but the entire last few minutes of this game were absolutely bonkers.) 

(Sorry - You have to watch the video of the end of the January 2016 Steelers-Bengals playoff game on YouTube. Won't let me embed it here.)

Cedrick Wilson

I have no idea what Wilson is up to, but I feel like he needs to be included here since he was also a wide receiver on the Super Bowl XL winning team with Ward and Randle El. Don't want him feeling left out.

Ryan Clark

He's good on TV. While that means absolutely nothing, he and Pittsburgh broadcasting legend Sally Wiggin seem to have mutual admiration for each other, so that counts for something.

Bill Cowher

Bring back the Hall of Fame coaching legend from retirement. Plus, if he wins a Super Bowl in the first few years, we can all say that he won with Tomlin's players!

Am I missing other legitimate candidates? Absolutely. Is it more fun to write a post about people with Pittsburgh ties? Also absolutely!  Here We Go!

2025 Pittsburgh Pirates Predictions Recap

We're about a week into 2026 and a few days after the thrilling Steelers-Ravens game, so now is the perfect time to, um, see how everyone did with their 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates predictions! Yes, the baseball season has been over for 2+ months and the Pirates season ended 3+ months ago, but one of the questions below centered around 2025 in its entirety, so that's why you're getting this now. While I'll give a summary of the questions and results, this is the season predictions post from last March.

1. What do you expect from Paul Skenes this season?

So Skenes is awesome. On the surface, Skenes' 10-10 record seems to show like he had an average year. In reality, Skenes was the best pitcher in the National League and won the Cy Young award thanks to an ERA of 1.97, a WHIP (walks and hits divided by innings pitched) of 0.95, and 216 strikeouts in 187.2 innings. That's the best ERA in baseball, best WHIP in the National League, and tied for second in the NL in strikeouts. Just dominant. 

Pretty much everyone thought he would be great though some believed he would be better than others. Nubyjas, Noah, and Andrew predicted he would be a Cy Young candidate, and James wrote that it would be disappointing if he didn't win the award. Jim R. predicted 2nd in the Cy Young voting and maybe he would have been if there was one Cy Young award for all of baseball, though my rant on this is best suited for another time.

2. Who will lead the Pirates in home runs?

The answer was Oneil Cruz with just 20. Ethan, Noah, Jim R., and 1992 were all correct though went higher on the overall number. Saxboy just wrote Oneil.

3. Will Derek Shelton get fired and when?

James predicted that Shelton would get let go in September, and Josh thought during the season. Jim R. simply wrote fired. Shelton actually got fired on May 8, 2025.

4. Will Paul Skenes and Livvy Dunne get engaged in 2025?

Yes, I waited to publish this post just to see if Skenes would propose to Dunne before midnight on December 31st. He did not. Instead, Skenes shaved his mustache! 

Ethan, Noah, and Jim R., and Saxboy all predicted no. 

5. Who is your surprise/breakout player for the Pirates this season?

The answer was probably Isaac Mattson. He was drafted out of Pitt in the 19th round of the 2017 draft by the Angels and reached the majors in 2021 pitching all of 4 games for the Orioles. Mattson then pitched in 3 games for the Pirates in 2024. So coming into 2025 with 9 & 2/3 major league innings pitched, there were no expectations for Mattson. He ended up solidifying the bullpen, particularly after David Bednar got traded, with a 2.45 ERA in 47.2 innings pitched. 

Other nominees: Dennis Santana (picked by Saxboy!) Jared Triolo (his September was amazing), and Braxton Ashcraft. Jim L. gets a partial credit for predicting Spencer Horowitz who had a solid season.

Ethan and 1992 both predicted someone from the bullpen, but picked Kyle Nicolas. who regressed some this year with a 4.74 ERA and 1.37 WHIP in 38 innings. (Noah picked Nicolas too.)

6. Will any of the Dodgers, Mets, or Braves not make the playoffs?

So the Mets and Braves failed to reach the postseason. The Dodgers won a thrilling World Series. 

Nubyjas thought a difficult NL East would be problematic for the Braves or Mets. James, Ethan, Jim L., and 1992 all thought the Mets would miss the postseason. Josh and Andrew predicted that the Braves would miss the playoffs. Only Jim R. and Saxboy were wrong in thinking that all three teams would reach the playoffs.

7. What's your overall prediction for the Pirates?

Well, the Pirates finished with a disappointing 71-91 record and last in the NL Central. No one thought they would be THIS bad. Josh was closest in predicting a 74-88 record.

So now we're not that far away from spring training. By acquiring Brandon Lowe and signing Ryan O'Hearn, there is some optimism heading into the season, but that's for a future post. The next prediction might be if I do one of these posts again for 2026!

Thanks to everyone for participating!