Steelers talking to Karl Dunbar about defensive line coach job

[RuthlessBurgher]

Steelers talking to Karl Dunbar about line coach job

Posted by Darin Gantt on February 8, 2018, 10:14 AM EST

The Steelers apparently aren’t finished tweaking their coaching staff.

According to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, former Jets assistant Karl Dunbar is “in discussions with the Steelers” to be their defensive line coach.

The Steelers have a defensive line coach at the moment, John Mitchell, who also carries the assistant head coach tag. So he’s either about to be doing something else, or they’re going to re-assign him if the report is true.

Dunbar, 50, played three years in the NFL with the Saints and Cardinals. He has coached for the Bears, Vikings, Jets, and Bills.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/02/08/steelers-talking-to-karl-dunbar-about-line-coach-job/

[feltdizz]

Good news. Joey must be next.

I think anytime Tomlin says everyone is coming back it means change is coming. He just doesn't want to make that announcement at his presser at the end of the season.

[Eddie Spaghetti]

when did porter start coaching the DL?

this would be a replacement for Mitchell

[Slapstick]

Mitchell has talked about retiring for several years now. Maybe it has finally happened...

Dunbar is currently the D Line coach for Alabama...he was Tomlin's D Line coach in Minnesota...

He's a good coach, and the Steelers may get some insight on Alabama players that they may not have had before...

[feltdizz]

when did porter start coaching the DL?

this would be a replacement for Mitchell

If you are referring to my post I’m hoping Joey P is the next to go.

I’m trying to talk it into existence.

[Eddie Spaghetti]

we agree on that at least

[RuthlessBurgher]

Pennlive.com:

Steelers interviewing Karl Dunbar to be John Mitchell understudy: reports

Updated 1:08 PM; Posted 12:41 PM

By Jacob Klinger

PITTSBURGH -- John Mitchell may be getting an understudy.

The Steelers are interviewing fellow Alabama defensive line coach Karl Dunbar to assist Pittsburgh's longtime defensive line and assistant head coach, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

AL.com reported Wednesday that Dunbar was leaving the Crimson Tide, Mitchell's alma mater, to become the Steelers' defensive line coach. Though Art Rooney II left the door open to further staff changes in an end-of-season sitdown with local beat reporters Wednesday, Mitchell, 66, told PennLive midseason that he would not want to retire because of how much he likes the current group of players under him.

Pittsburgh has room for one more assistant on its staff due to Randy Fichtner holding onto the quarterbacks coach role after being promoted to replace Todd Haley as offensive coordinator.

Dunbar, 50, has 11 years of NFL defensive line coaching experience with the Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets and and Buffalo Bills, who he most recently coached with for the 2015 season.

In 1990, Dunbar played under Mitchell, then the LSU defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

Dunbar was selected by the Steelers in the eighth round of the 1990 NFL draft, though he never played for the team. Dunbar did spend four seasons as a pro, appearing for the Orlando Thunder and Rhein Fire of the World Football League as well as the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals.

[squidkid]

Good news. Joey must be next.

I think anytime Tomlin says everyone is coming back it means change is coming. He just doesn't want to make that announcement at his presser at the end of the season.

more than likely it means tomlin has no clue which coaches rooney is going to hire or fire

[Slapstick]

Yeah I’m sure that Rooney picked Dunbar...I’m sure the reason is because he coached for Tomlin in Minny...

[phillyesq]

Just received an alert - Dunbar was hired as the defensive line coach, and Mitchell is staying on as the assistant head coach. Sounds like a situation where Dunbar works under Mitchell for a bit while Mitchell slows down his workload a bit as he approaches retirement.

I like both of the position coaches that the Steelers have added thus far. Solid resumes for both.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Dunbar named defensive line coach

Posted 41 minutes ago

Teresa Varley

Steelers.com

The Steelers named Karl Dunbar defensive line coach; John Mitchell to remain assistant head coach.

The latest change to the Steelers coaching staff is the addition of Karl Dunbar as the team’s defensive line coach. John Mitchell, who held that role since 1994 and was assistant head coach/defensive line since 2007, will remain as assistant head coach.

Dunbar is a former All-SEC defensive lineman from LSU, playing from 1986-89. During Dunbar’s time as a player at LSU, Mitchell was the school’s linebackers coach. His Steelers connections don’t stop there. He was selected by the Steelers in the eighth round of the 1990 NFL Draft out of LSU, but didn’t make the final roster. He did however play three seasons in the NFL, one with the New Orleans Saints (1993) and two with the Arizona Cardinals (1994-95).

Coach Mike Tomlin is familiar with Dunbar as the two worked together on the staff of the Minnesota Vikings. Dunbar was the defensive line coach in 2006 when Mike Tomlin was defensive coordinator.

“It’s awesome to be back,” said Dunbar. “This team drafted me out of college. Just to be back and the nostalgia of Pittsburgh, the mystic of Pittsburgh, the workman’s mentality. Hopefully I can bring that to the team.

“Having the relationship with Mike and some of the coaches on the staff. Knowing Coach Mitchell, who was a coach at LSU when I played. A lot of things he did, I do. I will lean on him to help me get to know the guys in the defensive line room and hopefully make it a great transition.”

He comes to the Steelers with 11 years of experience as a defensive line coach in the NFL. He spent one season with the Chicago Bears (2004), before moving onto the Vikings where he coached from 2006-2011. From there Dunbar went to the New York Jets (2012-14) and Buffalo Bills (2015) defensive lines.

Dunbar also has coached in the collegiate ranks, most recently at the University of Alabama where he was the defensive line coach from 2016-17.

While at Alabama he helped with the development of a dominating defensive front that in 2016 led the nation in rushing defense (63.9 yards per game) and was fourth in sacks (3.60 per game).

His coaching career began on the high school level in his hometown of Opelousas, Louisiana. He then headed to the college ranks when he was the defensive line coach at Nicholls State from 1998-99. From there he returned to LSU to serve as the school’s strength and conditioning coach from 2000-2001, and then to Oklahoma State where he was the defensive line coach from 2002-03. He returned to LSU in 2005 as the defensive line coach.

http://www.steelers.com/news/article-4/Dunbar-named-defensive-line-coach/53216274-c906-474e-a2a7-f46181d8d0c4

[RuthlessBurgher]

With Mitchell, it's more than a title

Posted 36 minutes ago

Bob Labriola

Steelers.com

It's an old title, but the job is one that was created with John Mitchell in mind.

So often in the past, it has been a ceremonial title. At one time, it was bestowed by an NFL team not wanting to lose an assistant coach in a lateral move that probably included a pay raise. Other times it was given to a position coach as recognition for years of faithful service, or sometimes as a way to alert the outside world that he was someone ready to take the next step up the coaching ladder.

Assistant head coach.

Kind of like being the Vice President without the direct line of succession. And in the NFL, the title usually was accompanied by a “slash,” with what follows the “slash” being the guy’s actual job.

For the past 11 years, John Mitchell has carried the assistant head coach title, and in the meantime he was doing what he had been doing for the Steelers since 1994, which was coaching the defensive line. But now, with the Steelers having hired Karl Dunbar to coach the defensive line, Mitchell will become the title he has carried since 2007. He will be Mike Tomlin’s assistant.

“It’s a unique position that requires unique skill-sets and relationships and time spent and understanding,” said Mike Tomlin. “And quite frankly, John Mitchell is the position. His unique service to this organization and the men who have played here, plus his understanding of this organization and its relationship to the community, plus how he can help these guys to grow and have a positive impact on the community all are important elements of this position. And it’s an important element of him being assigned to this position. I know the type of man John Mitchell is. I know he is going to take tremendous pride and detail and attack this new work, and I think it’s going to add value to our cause in some very tangible ways. But I also think there are going to be some great unintended positive consequences of him acting in this role.”

The origin of this job can be traced to college football, with a couple of examples of men currently doing this job being Bob Junko at Pitt and Willie McCorvey at Clemson. It’s usually a guy the head coach respects greatly, maybe a mentor at one time, and typically the assistant head coach is someone who has enough tenure and bonafides to be able to tell the head coach some hardcore truths.

Tomlin envisions Mitchell being a guy who will handle a variety of things, for example the day-to-day management of the staff when the head coach is on the road, either attending the Senior Bowl or the Scouting Combine or Pro Days, or handling Competition Committee business at the NFL Owners Meeting. Or during most of the month of April, when Tomlin spends all day every day in the draft room going over college prospects with the personnel department.

“During the critical first 90 days of each new season, I’m not (available),” said Tomlin. “We have to do a better job of managing and developing and training staff. He will oversee that in my absence.”

Mitchell also will assist Terry Cousin in the player development area, and his experience and contacts within the community will lessen the need for the head coach to have to deal with a lot of minutiae, such as involving himself in vouching for players in the process of buying a car or buying a house or other similar real-life issues. Mitchell and Cousin will form a mini-department designed to meet the needs of current players, and again, it will be Mitchell’s experience and contacts within the community making him the point man.

The assistant head coach also will be charged with adding value and structure to the team’s relationship with former players. Within this task will be the creation of a data base that will include everybody who played even a snap for the Steelers since Tomlin was hired in 2007, and this data base will allow for communication between the team and those players as well as allowing for the possibility of those players communicating with each other. The idea behind this is to allow the Steelers to be in a better position to assist them in their lives beyond their playing days. Connect the dots continually through a guy’s life, so to speak.

And finally, the assistant head coach will be directly involved in community relations as it relates to player participation, and he also will be charged with adding quality to the events that are already on the calendar, with the Rookie Dinner that’s held each year after the draft being just one example.

“We have to do a better job with former players,” said Tomlin. “We’re capable of doing a better job with current players, because the simpler we make their lives the more they’re going to be able to focus on football. John Mitchell has been a part of this community for a long time, so why would anybody on our football team buy a car, or look for a house, or try to buy insurance without stopping by John Mitchell’s office first?”

Now, they won’t.

http://www.steelers.com/news/labriola-on/article-4/With-Mitchell-its-more-than-a-title/a9536c08-2d84-467a-8043-ad9fc9e3c937

[Slapstick]

This is so excellent for Mitchell...from being Bear Bryant’s first black player to being with the Steelers for almost a third of the team’s existence...now the #2 man....

[squidkid]

who knows if this will be an improvement but at least there is some change

[Slapstick]

who knows if this will be an improvement but at least there is some change

Maybe, during the games, because he is no longer concerned with coaching the D Line, he can tell Tomlin when he’s about to F up...