{"id":743260,"date":"2026-02-10T20:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/743260\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T20:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:58:13","slug":"mike-mccarthy-is-hiring-plenty-of-familiar-names-is-that-concerning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/743260\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike McCarthy Is Hiring Plenty Of Familiar Names. Is That Concerning?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mike McCarthy\u2019s new Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff features plenty of his old friends. Most of the list are names he\u2019s worked with before, whether in San Francisco or Dallas. Perhaps fitting given McCarthy\u2019s own close connections to Pittsburgh. He spent 2000 in New Orleans with Steelers\u2019 GM Omar Khan and Assistant GM Andy Weidl. McCarthy, of course, is a Pittsburgh native.<\/p>\n<p>Is that a concern? Or should that be expected? The best comparison this head coaching cycle is to John Harbaugh, who was quickly scooped up by the New York Giants after being let go by the Baltimore Ravens after 18 years. Does he follow the same trend?<\/p>\n<p>Using this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/giants\/onsi\/news\/giants-add-two-more-assistant-coaches-to-john-harbaughs-staff\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Giants\u2019 coaching tracker from Sports Illustrated,<\/a> here are the names Harbaugh has brought on board. We\u2019ll note the name, role, and if the coach has ties to Harbaugh (defined as coaching for him before or a clear family connection), if the coach was retained from the previous staff, or if there isn\u2019t a surface-level connection<\/p>\n<p>Tim Kelly<br \/>\nOffensive Role \u2013 Retained<\/p>\n<p>Charlie Bullen<br \/>\nDefensive Role \u2013\u00a0 Retained<\/p>\n<p>Willie Taggart<br \/>\nRunning Backs \u2013 Yes<\/p>\n<p>Dennis Johnson<br \/>\nDefensive Line \u2013 Yes<\/p>\n<p>Chris Horton<br \/>\nSpecial Teams Coordinator \u2013 Yes<\/p>\n<p>Dennard Wilson<br \/>\nDefensive Coordinator \u2013 Yes<\/p>\n<p>Matt Pees<br \/>\nAssistant Linebackers \u2013 Yes<\/p>\n<p>Adam Schrack<br \/>\nRunning Backs Quality Control \u2013 Yes<\/p>\n<p>Brendan Clark<br \/>\nDefensive Backs Quality Control \u2013 Yes<\/p>\n<p>Noah Riley<br \/>\nFootball Analyst \u2013 NA<\/p>\n<p>Megan Rosburg<br \/>\nAssistant to the Head Coach \u2013 NA<\/p>\n<p>Donald D\u2019Alesio<br \/>\nDefensive Pass Game Coordinator\/Secondary Coach \u2013 Yes<\/p>\n<p>Chad Hall<br \/>\nReceivers \u2013 Retained<\/p>\n<p>Grant Newsome<br \/>\nAssistant Offensive Line \u2013 No<\/p>\n<p>Matt Nagy<br \/>\nOffensive Coordinator \u2013 No<\/p>\n<p>Matt Robinson<br \/>\nAssistant Defensive Line \u2013 Yes<\/p>\n<p>Greg Roman<br \/>\nSenior Offensive Assistant (Possible Run Game Coordinator) \u2013 Yes<\/p>\n<p>Mike Bloomgren<br \/>\nOffensive Line \u2013 No<\/p>\n<p>Addison Lynch<br \/>\nDefensive Backs \u2013 No<\/p>\n<p>Of the 17 I\u2019m including (I\u2019m excluding Riley and Rosburg since I don\u2019t count those positions in my yearly coaching size studies), 10 have an obvious tie. Nine of them coached with Harbaugh before, while the 10th, Matt Pees, is the son of former Ravens\u2019 defensive coordinator Dean Pees.<\/p>\n<p>Three coaches were retained, while four had no direct ties. However, it\u2019s worth noting that Grant Newsome played and coached under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, John\u2019s son. Still, I won\u2019t count it in the \u201cYes\u201d column even if I reasonably could.<\/p>\n<p>How does that compare to McCarthy\u2019s group? <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersdepot.com\/2026\/02\/pittsburgh-steelers-coaching-staff-tracker-updating\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Of the reported or confirmed hires,<\/a> 11 have ties: OC Brian Angelichio, RBs Coach Ramon Chinyoung, WRs Coach Adam Henry, OL Coach James Campen, Assistant OL Coach Jahri Evans, Senior Offensive Assistant Frank Cignetti Jr., Offensive QC Eric Simonelli, DC Patrick Graham, DL Coach Domata Peko, DBs Coach\/Assistant HC Joe Whitt Jr., and DBs Coach\/Pass Game Coordinator Jason Simmons.<\/p>\n<p>Two were retained, QBs Coach Tom Arth and ILBs Coach Scott McCurley (in fairness, both have ties to McCarthy), while five had no obvious ties: linebacker Coaches CJ Ah You and Shawn Howe, defensive assistant Patrick Reilly, and special teams coaches Danny Crossman and Derius Swinton II. Like New England, I\u2019m not counting Steve Scarnecchia as McCarthy\u2019s Chief of Staff\/personal assistant.<\/p>\n<p>So to truly compare:<\/p>\n<p>Year<br \/>\nMcCarthy<br \/>\nHarbaugh<\/p>\n<p>Total Coaches<br \/>\n18<br \/>\n17<\/p>\n<p>Connections<br \/>\n11<br \/>\n10<\/p>\n<p>Retained<br \/>\n2<br \/>\n3<\/p>\n<p>Non-Connections<br \/>\n5<br \/>\n4<\/p>\n<p>Connection %<br \/>\n61.1%<br \/>\n58.8%<\/p>\n<p>Nearly identical figures. McCarthy and Harbaugh are assembling a staff of people they\u2019ve worked with before.<\/p>\n<p>Does that mean it\u2019s the right strategy? Not necessarily. Just because Harbaugh is doing it doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s the right decision. However, it\u2019s proof that longtime coaches like McCarthy and Harbaugh, 18 years with head NFL jobs, have a wide network of connections and lean on them in putting together the coaching staff. There\u2019s value in that. Guys you know, trust, and will align with your vision and approach. No guesswork of how that d-coordinator thinks and operates. McCarthy already knows.<\/p>\n<p>The risk is the \u201cgood \u2018ol boys\u201d club. McCarthy hiring the guys he\u2019s comfortable with and knows, without doing much that\u2019s innovative or cutting-edge, for a franchise that could use a refresh.<\/p>\n<p>Time will tell which was right. But McCarthy\u2019s approach to his first Pittsburgh coaching staff is no surprise. He\u2019s hardly alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike McCarthy\u2019s new Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff features plenty of his old friends. Most of the list are&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,2909,7866,56,57,691],"class_list":{"0":"post-743260","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-john-harbaugh","10":"tag-mike-mccarthy","11":"tag-new-york-giants","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-trending"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116048344192618501","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}