Pitt football\u2019s next-door neighbors, the Pittsburgh Steelers, went through a significant change in recent weeks with longtime head coach Mike Tomlin stepping down from the organization.<\/p>\n
That led to a coaching search and the eventual hiring of Pittsburgh native Mike McCarthy to lead the Steelers.<\/p>\n
Since then, McCarthy and the Steelers have began to build the rest of its coaching staff and it features several connections across the South Side facility with the Pitt football program.<\/p>\n
It starts at the top with McCarthy. Coming out of college, McCarthy\u2019s second job in coaching came as a graduate assistant with the Panthers from 1989-91 first under Mike Gottfried and then under Paul Hackett. Then, in 1992, he served as Pitt\u2019s wide receivers coach.<\/p>\n
One of the Steelers assistants that McCarthy retained was inside linebackers coach Scott McCurley. A New Castle, Pa. native, McCurley played linebacker at Pitt. He joined the program as a walk-on, but then became a scholarship athlete and lettered four years at linebacker from 1999-2002. He would also serve as a defensive graduate assistant at Pitt before turning to the NFL in 2006 with the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the Steelers reportedly hired two assistant coaches with Pitt connections.<\/p>\n