The Steelers are sitting back and watching as other teams hire their head coaches, but if they want Chris Shula or Nate Scheelhaase, they have no choice. Both coach for the Rams, and Los Angeles is still playing. While they’ve conducted initial virtual interviews, they can’t have formal interviews until next week.
Along with Shula and Scheelhaase, of course, the Steelers have plenty of other candidates. And they are scheduled to meet with some of them, including Brian Flores and Anthony Weaver. Could they agree to terms with one of them in the coming days, with four head coach slots already filled? After all, you can’t start building a coaching staff until you have a head coach. Four teams already have a jump on them.
“If it’s Chris Shula, if it’s Nate Scheelhaase, maybe they’re gonna wait for another week until they can interview them”, Ray Fittipaldo said on the North Shore Drive podcast about the Steelers’ timeline for their head coach search. “Those guys are hot names. I would think at this point, the Steelers aren’t gonna rush through this process. Unless one of these guys this week knocks their socks off in an in-person interview, I would think that they would wait around until Monday the 26th and then get a chance to interview both Shula and Scheelhaase, just to see what they’re all about in-person and get to know them as much as they can”.
That, of course, is in line with what Steelers owner Art Rooney II said, so hardly a surprise. The Steelers are a chronically patient organization, so if they think Chris Shula or Nate Scheelhaase could be their guy, they won’t mind waiting. After all, it doesn’t matter how good your support staff is if you screw up the head coach.
The Steelers are looking for a new head coach, in case you somehow missed it, after Mike Tomlin resigned following a 19-year tenure with the team. He announced his resignation—privately to the team—on the Tuesday after their Wild Card loss. Presumably, he made the announcement as soon as possible to help the team jump on the process sooner than later.
Many are gravitating toward Chris Shula for the Steelers as the grandson of the late, great Don Shula. Currently the Rams’ defensive coordinator, he is actually coaching Carnell Lake’s son. In the past, Pittsburgh has expressed appreciation for the Sean McVay coaching staff—but so does everybody else.
Back in 2019, the Bengals waited until after the Rams won the Super Bowl in order to hire Zac Taylor, because they identified Zac Taylor as their guy. A few years later, he nearly led them to a Super Bowl victory. The Steelers would certainly wait for Chris Shula or Nate Scheelhaase if they felt either could do that for them. Of course, it would be nice if they had a Joe Burrow before they tried. Or at least soon after they tried.
