Steelers Lose Long Time Strength Coach Marcel Pastoor After He Shared Heartwarming Goodbye Message To Steeler Nation

Pittsburgh Steelers Strength and Conditioning Coach Marcel Pastoor has announced that he is moving on from the team that he has called home for 23 years. Pastoor posted on his LinkedIn account that he is hoping to spend more time with his family.

Pastoor was promoted to the head strength and conditioning coach position three years ago, taking over for Garrett Giemont who got a promotion of his own. Giemont, who joined the Steelers in 2007, was named the senior strength and conditioning coach. 

Steelers Coach Marcel Pastoor Sends Heartfelt Message To Steeler Nation

On his LinkedIn post, Pastoor thanked the Rooney family, as well as the other coaches and staff. He also voiced appreciation for the men who mentored him, Giemont and Chet Furman. Furman was the conditioning coordinator during Pastoor's first decade with the team. Pastoor even joked in his goodbye message that he and "Gie" as he calls him, were practically married because they spent so much time together. 

"Steelers Nation, thank you so much. Starting at the top, whatever you heard about the Rooney family, you don't even know half of it. They truly are amazing people. I cannot be grateful enough to them, and would do anything ever asked for the Rooney Family, and for Coach Cowher and for Mike Tomlin. True leaders in all regards. To all the players, thousands and thousands that I have seen come through here, I cannot list them all. I can't say who was in my top 10, top 100, top 250. The relationships I have made with them is what this job is all about. My strength coach role was the second role I had with players. Having the personal connection, having an office for them to confide in me, trust me with whatever they had going on in their life. It was all about trust... and again, I don't know where I would be in life without this amazing organization," wrote Pastoor.

He was always visible, out working with players. You would see Pastoor at every training camp, sometimes even helping the quarterbacks. He was well known for his ability to throw the ball around a bit and Pastoor helped players like quarterback Ben Roethlisberger work on their arm. He also helped other skilled players such as wide receivers and tight ends work on their catching. He was even seen with the special teams units practicing snaps and kickoffs. 

Before coming to Pittsburgh, Pastoor was with the Washington Commanders (then Redskins) and worked as a volunteer assistant strength coach at Radford University. He earned his undergrad degree at Virginia Tech and obtained a master's degree at the Univerity of Pittsburgh. 

While the players always speak highly of the training staff, the team did earn low marks in the NFLPA's survey. The survey said that the facility is very small and understaffed. The players had to rely primarily on Pastoor or Giemont. The organization got a 73 percent acceptance rate of the team having enough strength coaches, which tied them for last in the league.  

The love of those two coaches was evidenced in the survey's next category where they rate the coaches they have available on knowledge and experience. Both Giemont and Pastoor earned high marks with the team being awarded an A- in this category. The Steelers' strength coaches ranked 17th in added to player success and for having a positive impact on performance. This meant that 93 percent of players said that the Steelers' strength staff provided individual strength and conditioning plans that led to player success.  

Pastoor said he plans to stay local because he has children involved in activities and sports in Pittsburgh. He is open to entertaining all ideas and would even consider a career change. This is the second coach to leave the team since the season ended. Glenn Thomas, who was an offensive assistant, recently took a position at the University of Nebraska as their quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator. 

Pastoor certainly leaves behind big shoes to fill. 

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