NFL: Steelers Coaching News – Latest Odds and Predictions For Next Head Coach

• The Pittsburgh Steelers are still deciding who will be the historic NFL franchise’s next head coach
• With the AFC North rival Ravens hiring Jesse Minter, there are now four head coaching jobs left open in addition to Pittsburgh’s
• Many teams are sifting through the same candidates
• What are the latest odds for the next Steelers head coach?

Odds for Next Steelers Head Coach

The Steelers’ Template With Head Coaches

The Steelers have been so stable that in the past 57 years that they have had three head coaches, all hired by the Rooney family.

It’s not simply stability. While it can be risky to take what they did only three other times in 1969, 1992, and 2007 and apply it to 2025, it’s unlikely that Art Rooney II will deviate significantly from what his father Dan and his grandfather Art I did.

The Steelers had fundamental tenets with those coaches:

• They were relatively young
• They had never been head coaches before
• They worked on the defensive side of the ball
• They came from outside the organization

Chuck Noll was 37. He was a relatively obscure defensive assistant for Hall of Fame coaches Sid Gillman with the Chargers and Don Shula with the Colts. He was not a coordinator.

Bill Cowher was 35. He’d been Mary Schottenheimer’s defensive coordinator with the Chiefs and his secondary and special teams coach with the Browns.

Mike Tomlin was 35. He’d had one year as a coordinator with the Vikings under Brad Childress. Before that, he was the defensive backfield coach for the Buccaneers under Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden.

Noll and Cowher are in the Hall of Fame. Tomlin is a likely inductee.

They have never promoted a head coach from within. Pittsburgh passed over legednary Steeler “Mean” Joe Greene in favor of Cowher. Respected offensive line coach Russ Grimm worked under Cowher and was the favorite to replace him, but they hired Tomlin instead.

Both moves were somewhat surprising as Dave Wannstedt, the defensive coordinator of the Super Bowl champion Cowboys, was the favorite to replace Noll. Tomlin came out of nowhere with his preparation and energy to leapfrog Grimm.

The Steelers look for someone who is different from what’s expected. Never have they hired someone else’s retread. While most organizations hire coaches with, at most, a 5-year contract understanding that they will only last that long if they win and the fans and media are happy with them, the Steelers hire coaches with the intention that they will coach the team for 15 years or more.

Another common denominator is that after they left Pittsburgh’s sideline, they never returned to coaching despite being in a reasonable age range to do so.

Noll retired at 59.

Cowher was 49 and though he flirted with returning, never did.

Jay Glazer is reporting that Tomlin, 53, will not only sit out next season, but he doesn’t think he’s coming back at all.

Glazer is close with Tomlin.

Will these basics change in this new era? Or will Rooney II stick to what’s worked? What the Steelers are known for?

The Current Candidates and Their Steelers Fit

Chris Shula

His grandfather, Don Shula, is on the Mount Rushmore of the NFL with the most wins as a head coach in history. Don arguably ran the best team ever, the undefeated 1972 Dolphins.

It can be a blessing and a curse to be the progeny of the best in any endeavor. The expectations are overwhelming. It swallowed up his father, David Shula, who failed in his head coaching gig with the Bengals and never worked in the league again. It certainly didn’t help that the players thought David Shula was a joke.

Imagine a player tugging on Don Shula’s cap like he was an 8-year-old ball boy.

Chris worked his way up the coaching ladder organically, going from an assistant linebackers coach at Ball State, to graduate assistant at Indiana when the Hoosiers were a college football punchline, then a low-level assistant with the Chargers, to an assistant for Sean McVay with the Rams. He’s in his second year as LA’s defensive coordinator and is 60 minutes away from going to Super Bowl LX.

While this checks off some of the Steelers’ historic boxes, this is a big name regardless of his relatively humble coaching roots and they might not want that kind of secondary attention.

Mike McCarthy

McCarthy’s record is eerily similar to Sean Payton’s, but for some reason, he doesn’t get the same level of respect. Both won one Super Bowl when they probably should have won one or two more. The Packers had Aaron Rodgers and the Saints had Drew Brees, both sure-fire Hall of Famers.

McCarthy’s players with the Packers and Cowboys enjoyed playing for him.

He’s experienced and is good with QBs. Any team hiring him should expect that they will win 11-12 games in relatively short order and then probably lose in the playoffs. Like Cowher, McCarthy is from Pittsburgh.

Still, he’s 62 and is a short-term solution who might succeed if the team simply needed someone to stay the course from what’s left behind.

That is not the Steelers as they are currently constituted. They need a QB. Maybe if McCarthy is the man, then Rodgers would return for another season. But is that a good thing? Is that what they need?

There are older players whom the new head coach might need to move on from sooner rather than later, including stars T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward.

Does McCarthy want to deal with being a stopgap and make those tough calls or try to coax another productive year from the vets when there’s not much left in the tank?

Nate Scheelhasse

Scheelhasse was a college QB at Illinois, leading the Big 10 in completions, attempts, completion percentage, yards, and interceptions in 2013. He’s worked under McVay and with Matthew Stafford for two years. Scheelhasse reportedly nailed the Steelers interview.

He’s the ideal age at 35 and has the energy and personality. The only difference between him and previous Steelers HCs is that he coaches offense.

Brian Flores

Flores is getting a standalone post in the near future.

He just signed an extension to stay with the Vikings, presumably if he doesn’t get one of the open HC jobs.

It’s difficult to sell him to the players given how tough he is on them. Flores has his beliefs and does not back down, making it seem as if he’s hard to get along with.

He did work for Tomlin in 2022.

While he’s a qualified candidate, he’s not getting this job.

Steelers Head Coach Pick

The Steelers head coach news is getting substantial attention with an almost conclave-like watch to see when the white smoke appears from the Vatican.

The media is trying to push certain candidates based on what other teams do while offhandedly mentioning as a hedge/caveat that the Steelers’ history is clear on how they hire a new head coach.

They would certainly be fine with McCarthy. Shula is a risk in part because of his lineage.

A name that has not been mentioned but hits all the marks is Titans defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson.

Among the names that have been listed, the understated and likeliest choice given the candidates and circumstances is Nate Scheelhasse.