List of Pittsburgh Steelers head coaches

Current head coach Mike Tomlin, during the 2007 season

The Pittsburgh Steelers franchise has had 16 head coaches throughout its history. Founded as the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1933,[1] the name was changed to the Steelers prior to the 1941 season to celebrate the city's heritage of producing steel.[2] Joe Bach served two separate terms as head coach and Walt Kiesling served three separate terms. During the 1943 and 1944 seasons, due to the amount of players who fought in World War II, the Steelers combined their team with Philadelphia and Chicago, respectively.[2] During these seasons, Steelers' coach Walt Kiesling shared coaching duties with Greasy Neale and Phil Handler,[3] who have not been included within this list.

Struggling for much of the franchise's early years, the team's first season with more wins than losses was coached by Jock Sutherland in 1942.[2] In 1947, under Sutherland, the Steelers played their first playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles.[2] Ten of the 16 head coaches spent their entire professional coaching careers with the franchise, including John McNally, Walt Kiesling and Chuck Noll, who have also been voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.[4] One of only four men to coach the same team for 23 years, Chuck Noll retired in 1991.[2] With Bill Belichick, Noll is one of only two coaches to win four Super Bowls. Bill Cowher, who was Noll's replacement, coached the Steelers to their fifth Super Bowl victory, in 2005. The Steelers' sixth Super Bowl win came in Super Bowl XLIII, while head coached by Mike Tomlin,[2] the team's current head coach.[5]

Key

# Number of coaches[6]
GC Games Coached
W Wins
L Loses
T Ties
Win% Winning percentage
† Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach
‡ Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player
^ Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the NFL Commissioner
* Spent entire NFL head coaching career with the Steelers

Coaches

Note: Statistics are updated through the end of the 2015 NFL season.

Jock Sutherland coached the Steelers from 1946–1947
Coach Bill Cowher during the 2006 season
# Name Term Regular season Playoffs Awards Ref./
Notes
GC W L T Win% GC W L Win%
Pittsburgh Pirates
1 Forrest Douds* 1933* 11 3 6 2 .333 — [7]
2 Luby DiMeolo* 1934* 12 2 10 — .167 — [8]
3 Joe Bach* 1935–1936* 24 10 14 — .416 — [9][a]
4 John McNally ‡* 1937–1939* 33 7 25 1 .318 — [10]
5 Walt Kiesling ‡* 1939–1940* 22 3 16 3 .136 — [11][12] [b]
Pittsburgh Steelers
6 Bert Bell ^ 1941 2 0 2 — .000 — [13]
7 Aldo Donelli 1941 5 0 5 — .000 — [14]
— Walt Kiesling ‡* 1941–1944* 35 13 20 2 .394 — [b] [c]
8 Jim Leonard* 1945* 10 2 8 0 .200 — [15]
9 Jock Sutherland† 1946–1947 23 13 9 1 .591 1 0 1 .000 [16]
10 John Michelosen* 1948–1951* 48 20 26 2 .435 — [17]
— Joe Bach* 1952–1953* 24 11 13 — .485 — [a]
— Walt Kiesling ‡* 1954–1956* 36 14 22 — .388 — [b]
11 Buddy Parker 1957–1964 104 51 47 6 .520 — [18]
12 Mike Nixon 1965 14 2 12 — .143 — [19]
13 Bill Austin 1966–1968 42 11 28 3 .282 — [20]
14 Chuck Noll †* 1969–1991* 342 193 148 1 .566 24 16 8 .667 UPI AFC Coach of the Year (1972)
Maxwell Football Club NFL Coach of the Year (1989)[21]		 [22]
15 Bill Cowher* 1992–2006* 240 149 90 1 .623 21 12 9 .571 AP NFL Coach of the Year (1992)
Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (1992)
Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (2004)[21]		 [23]
16 Mike Tomlin* 2007–present* 144 92 52 — .639 11 6 5 .545 Motorola NFL Coach of the Year (2008)[24] [25]
  • a Bach's full coaching record with the Steelers is 48 regular season games coached with a record of 21–27 and a W–L percentage of .438.
  • b Kiesling's full coaching record with the Steelers is 90 regular season games coached with a record of 30–55–5 and a W–L percentage of .353.
  • c In 1943 the Steelers combined with the Philadelphia Eagles to form the "Steagles", and Walt Kiesling shared the head coach position with Greasy Neale. In 1944 the Steelers combined with the Chicago Cardinals to form "Card-Pitt", and Walt Kiesling shared the head coaching position with Phil Handler.

See also

References

  1. ↑ NFL.com. "NFL history 1933". NFL.com. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Steelers' History" (PDF). Pittsburgh Steelers. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  3. ↑ "Walt Kiesling". ProFootballhof.com. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  4. ↑ "Hall of Famers by Franchise". ProFootballHOF.com. Archived from the original on 2008-04-12. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  5. ↑ Dulac, Gerry (2007-01-18). "Tomlin, 34, is NFL's rising coaching star". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  6. ↑ A running total of the number of coaches of the Steelers. Thus any coach who has two separate terms as head coach is only counted once.
  7. ↑ "Jap Doud Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  8. ↑ "Luby DiMeolo Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  9. ↑ "Joe Bach Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  10. ↑ "Johnny McNally Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  11. ↑ "Walt Kiesling Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  12. ↑ "Hall of Famers by position". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
  13. ↑ "Bert Bell Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  14. ↑ "Aldo Donelli Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  15. ↑ "Jim Leonard Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  16. ↑ "Jock Sutherland Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  17. ↑ "John Michelosen Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  18. ↑ "Buddy Parker Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  19. ↑ "Mike Nixon Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  20. ↑ "Bill Austin Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  21. 1 2 "NFL Coach of the Year Award". HickokSports.com. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  22. ↑ "Chuck Noll Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  23. ↑ "Bill Cowher Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  24. ↑ "Fans pick Tomlin as NFL coach of the year". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  25. ↑ "Mike Tomlin Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-03-20.

External links

Franchise
Stadiums
Culture
Lore
Rivalries
Media
Division championships (21)
Super Bowl appearances (8)
League championships (6)
Retired numbers
Numbers no longer issued
Hall of Fame members
Current league affiliations
Seasons (83)

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, March 04, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.