{"id":748505,"date":"2026-02-13T05:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T05:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/748505\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T05:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T05:07:14","slug":"how-does-mike-mccarthys-coaching-staff-compare-to-mike-tomlins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/748505\/","title":{"rendered":"How Does Mike McCarthy’s Coaching Staff Compare To Mike Tomlin’s?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike McCarthy\u2019s new-look Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff is officially in place.<\/a> Just two on-field coaches were retained from Mike Tomlin\u2019s staff in the franchise\u2019s biggest single-season turnover since 1992, when Bill Cowher kept just one coach from Chuck Noll\u2019s staff \u2013 longtime RBs coach Dick Hoak.<\/p>\n

So how does it compare to Tomlin\u2019s? Quality is subjective and to be determined. If Pittsburgh finds success, McCarthy hit home runs. If the Steelers struggle, fire them all. That\u2019s the sentiment.<\/p>\n

We can compare them in quantity. Since 2022, we have been examining coaching staff size not just in Pittsburgh but league-wide. Using that previous information, here\u2019s how McCarthy\u2019s 2026 group compares to the 2022-25 staffs under Tomlin.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind the \u201ctotal coaches\u201d column adds in the head coach and is the reason why the Offense\/Defense\/Special Teams columns are one shy of the total. Also, to stay consistent with our past studies, we\u2019re only counting on-field positional coaches, not the strength & conditioning staff, nor am I counting chief of staff Steve Scarnecchia.<\/a><\/p>\n

Off. Coaches
\nDef. Coaches
\nST Coaches
\nTotal Coaches<\/p>\n

Mike McCarthy (2026)
\n10
\n8
\n2
\n21<\/p>\n

Mike Tomlin (2025)
\n10
\n7
\n1
\n19<\/p>\n

Mike Tomlin (2024)
\n10
\n7
\n1
\n19<\/p>\n

Mike Tomlin (2023)
\n10
\n7
\n1
\n19<\/p>\n

Mike Tomlin (2022)
\n9
\n7
\n1
\n18<\/p>\n

Compared to 2025, McCarthy has increased the staff size by two. Like Tomlin, he has 10 offensive assistants although McCarthy himself is an offensive coach who will call the plays. McCarthy has one more defensive coach than Tomlin. Given that Tomlin himself is a defensive-minded coach, that tracks. And McCarthy has two special teams coaches, something Pittsburgh hasn\u2019t had in official title since the 2011 season.<\/p>\n

Overall, a slight increase.<\/p>\n

How does that compare to McCarthy\u2019s staffs with the Dallas Cowboys? Let\u2019s check that out.<\/p>\n

Off. Coaches
\nDef. Coaches
\nST Coaches
\nTotal Coaches<\/p>\n

Mike McCarthy (2026)
\n10
\n8
\n2
\n21<\/p>\n

Mike McCarthy (2024)
\n11
\n9
\n3
\n24<\/p>\n

Mike McCarthy (2023)
\n11
\n10
\n2
\n24<\/p>\n

Mike McCarthy (2022)
\n9
\n8
\n2
\n21*<\/p>\n

*Assistants are one number shy. In my first year of the study, there were some unspecified offense\/defensive coaches I did not include in either category, meaning the table didn\u2019t always align.<\/p>\n

McCarthy\u2019s staff is smaller than his final two years in Dallas. One fewer offensive, defensive and special teams coach compared to 2024.<\/p>\n

We won\u2019t conduct our league-wide comparison until later in the offseason, when all coaching staffs are settled and publicly updated. But based on 2025\u2019s edition, the Steelers are still likely to come in below average. Last year, the average NFL staff had 23.9 total coaches: 11.4 on offense, 9.3 on defense and 2.3 on special teams. Rounding down for all, Pittsburgh has one fewer on offense and defense and the same defensively.<\/p>\n

By 2025\u2019s standards,<\/a> 21 coaches in 2026 would tie for last in the NFL. We\u2019ll see exactly where that number comes in for the new-look group, but it\u2019s almost certain Pittsburgh will rank at or near the bottom. Still, 21 coaches would put them closer in-line with NFL norms and averages than they were during Tomlin\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike McCarthy\u2019s new-look Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff is officially in place. Just two on-field coaches were retained from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,7866,1255,6,520,57,2360,426,691],"class_list":{"0":"post-748505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-mike-mccarthy","10":"tag-mike-tomlin","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers","16":"tag-trending"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116061591647058266","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748505","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=748505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748505\/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=748505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}