Shawn Howe — Montana State Athletics
The Pittsburgh Steelers are set to hire Montana State defensive coordinator Shawn Howe as their outside linebackers coach, as first reported by Montana Sports.
Howe has been at Montana State since 2021, rapidly rising up the ranks for the Bobcats. He started out as defensive line coach and run game coordinator, became co-defensive coordinator in 2024 and full defensive coordinator in 2025.Â
He coached five All-American defenders in his time at Montana State, and the Bobcats won the Big Sky conference in three of his five years in Bozeman, twice losing in the FCS National Championship Game, to by a field goal to North Dakota State in 2024 and in overtime against Illinois State last year.
A Dallas, Oregon native, Howe attended Rocky Mountain College and has spent most of his career in the west. He got started at RMC as outside linebackers coach, then moved to NC State as an assistant defensive line coach, Memphis as a defensive graduate assistant, Tennessee as a strength and conditioning assistant, USC as an assistant defensive line coach and Humboldt State as a defensive line coach.Â
He became a coordinator for the first time, along was an assistant head coach title, for then-Division II Dixie State from 2015-17. In 2018, he moved to Coastal Carolina as a defensive line coach, and then returned to USC from 2019-20 as a defensive analyst before taking the Montana State job.
With the Steelers, Howe will replace Denzel Martin, who held that role since 2020. The Steelers also interviewed Texas Tech outside linebackers coach C.J. Ah You for the position before settling on Howe. Both Ah You and Martin also interviewed with the Dallas Cowboys for their vacanct position.
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