The Pittsburgh Steelers have a rich coaching history with only three head coaches since 1969. Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Mike Tomlin have all won championships in Pittsburgh. The Steelers have produced multiple Hall of Fame players, but none of them have earned NFL head coaching opportunities, although they have expressed interest in coaching and even been employed as position coaches by the Steelers and other NFL organizations.
(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, right, stands with Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Greene, left, during the NFL football team's training camp session in Latrobe, Pa. Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010.
Joe Greene spent his entire Hall of Fame playing career with the Pittsburgh Steelers and has often been credited with being the heart of the Steelers dynasty. After a very brief stint in broadcasting, Greene went to work for Noll as the defensive line coach in Pittsburgh. He was one of the only coaches to survive the famous purge of 1988 and he coached with the legend until he retired in 1991.
Greene asked Merrill Hoge if he would suggest to Dan Rooney that he would make a good head coach after Noll’s retirement. Hoge recalled the reaction of the man credited with creating the ‘Rooney Rule’ on a recent episode of Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger:
“Merrill, I’m not going to do that to Joe,” Rooney said to Hoge. “Joe will always be compared to Chuck, everybody’s gonna get a character shot, but not like Joe will get compared to Chuck. To do what Chuck did, just to match it won’t be enough.”
Greene left the Steelers to join the Miami Dolphins after he was passed over and spent four years with the Dolphins before moving on to the Arizona Cardinals where he spent eight seasons working with them before retiring from coaching. Greene was one of the best defensive players of all time, spent 16 seasons coaching and never got a chance to be a coordinator, never mind a head coach.
Rod Woodson is a Hall of Fame defensive back who played 17 seasons in the NFL. Woodson is at worst a top-five defensive back in NFL history, and he expressed interest in coaching when he retired from the NFL. He ended up coaching for the Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, and Oakland Raiders as a cornerbacks coach until 2017.
Woodson has been out of coaching since 2017 and he advanced a theory in an interview in 2022 with TMZ as to why he couldn’t get a job coaching:
“I think having the gold jacket and having that respect walking in the room,” Woodson told TMZ Sports. “Sometimes other people don’t want that in the room, and I’m not a real alpha where I want somebody’s job. I just love talking ball. I think it'll be more difficult for Hall of Famers to get in it and stay in it, just for the fact that most of the coaches don't like that respect leaving that room or that area and going to somewhere else.”
Woodson has been given a second chance at coaching with the XFL and the Vegas Vipers. He was named as one of the eight head coaches of the spring football venture. It will be interesting to see if this job is a springboard for him, like the Jackson State job, was a springboard for Deion Sanders.
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Steelers' Rod Woodson.
Woodson is 57 years old and while he is older than most candidates, his cache as a player if paired with success in the XFL could make him an interesting candidate going forward. The national media is hyper-focused on the new Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, but the XFL has a former Hall of Fame player who wants to coach, but has not been able to get a job as a position coach. That story is being virtually ignored.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been pioneers in creating opportunities for minority coaches. The organization has struggled in developing defensive secondary talent over the last decade and it begs the question of why they did not reach out to Woodson as at least a consultant. If he proves to be an outstanding coach in the XFL, is it just another wasted opportunity to have a strong voice on the Pittsburgh coaching staff?
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Are you rooting for Woodson to get off to a good start with the Vegas Vipers Saturday afternoon? Please comment below or on my Twitter @thebubbasq.
