Steelers' New Hire Comes With A Sketchy History In The NFL

The Pittsburgh Steelers are going through a transformative phase as an organization. Former head coach Mike Tomlin decided to step down from his role following the end of the 2025 season, and the franchise then announced Mike McCarthy as its new head coach. A new leader at the helm brings a ton of new faces into the fold as McCarthy has been filling out his coaching staff over the last few days. He has even been adding positions onto the coaching staff that the Steelers have not had in recent years, and that includes hiring Steve Scarnecchia as McCarthy's Chief of Staff.

What Scarnecchia will be doing as Chief of Staff is still a bit unclear, but he is expected to serve as some sort of liaison between several different departments within the organization. The way it has been described makes it sound like he will essentially be taking some non-football work off of McCarthy's plate, which could be a good thing. 

Team insider Brian Batko joined 93.7 The Fan on Tuesday, and he was asked about Scarnecchia, his past, and what he will be doing in Pittsburgh.

"Yeah, he's the son of long-time Bill Belichick lieutenant Dante Scarnecchia," Batko said. "He mostly coached the o-line there, he technically won five Super Bowls. The son, not as prominently known. He was on the staff during the Spy-Gate years, but they're not entirely sure when the Spy-Gate stuff started. But I bring that up because he then had an issue with illegally filming a practice when he was with the Broncos and Josh McDaniels. I think he got fired for that, the Broncos got fined, and he admitted to wrong doing."

Steve's father, Dante Scarnecchia, is well known in NFL circles. He was a part of the New England Patriots and the strong dynasty that was created there. Steve was also on the staff for a bit, and Batko noted that it may have been during the years of the Spy-Gate scandal. That is an important note as a similar incident occurred with Steve while he was with the Denver Broncos.

Current Patriots offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, took the role of head coach with the Broncos ahead of the 2009 season. He brought Steve with him as the team's Director of Video Operations. The franchise eventually went under investigation by the NFL for illegally filming a practice of the San Francisco 49ers before the two team's clashed in an international game that took place in London during the 2010 season. Denver lost the game by a score of 24-16.

The Broncos were fined $50,000 for illegally filming the practice, as was McDaniels. Steve reportedly admitted to filming the practice, and he was fired by the organization. It is unclear if Steve was acting on his own jurisdiction or if he was put up to the task by McDaniels or someone else in the building, but the incident certainly tarnished his reputation in the league. 

Steve went to the college level which included a stop at Syracuse, but he eventually returned to the NFL. He was the assistant to the head coach for the Atlanta Falcons from 2015 through 2020. He then was hired as the Chief of Staff for the New York Jets and was with the franchise from 2021 through 2023. Then he returned to Atlanta for the next two seasons, but is now in Pittsburgh as McCarthy's Chief of Staff.

Steelers Made A Risky Hire In Steve Scarnecchia

The Steelers are one of the most well-respected organizations in all of sports, so it is bizarre to see that the franchise would risk that reputation by hiring someone that was so engrained in major controversy. Steve was young and it was early in his career when the incident occurred, so there is a chance he was just the scapegoat for someone more important in Denver, but his resume will always have a black eye.

What do you think of Steve's past? Let us know in the comments below!

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