Mike McCarthy is adding yet another assistant with Pittsburgh ties — Frank Cignetti Jr. And yes, Cignetti is also related to Indiana Hoosiers football head coach Curt Cignetti.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac reported Monday the Pittsburgh Steelers are hiring Frank Cignetti Jr. to their offensive staff. He previously served as Pitt and IUP offensive coordinator.
He is the older brother of Curt, who led Indiana to a 15-0 record and the College Football Playoff National Championship during the 2025-26 season.
The Cignetti family is from Pittsburgh. Frank has experienced multiple coaching stints for both Pitt and IUP. He also has 11 seasons of NFL experience, one of which was as Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach under McCarthy in 2018.
Frank worked under McCarthy with the New Orleans Saints from 2000-01 as well. Frank was the Saints quarterbacks coach while McCarthy served as offensive coordinator.
Since 2020, Frank has been an offensive coordinator at the college level.
It’s unclear which role he will fill with the Steelers. But McCarthy retained Tom Arth as quarterbacks coach, and the Steelers are interviewing other candidates for offensive coordinator.
Therefore, the safe assumption is Frank is joining the Pittsburgh staff as some other offensive assistant.
Steelers Hiring Frank Cignetti Jr. to Offensive Staff: Report
The Cignetti family has a very strong coaching background. Frank Cignetti Sr. served as the IUP head coach from 1986-2005. He led the Division II program to two conference championships.
IUP is located in Indiana, Pennsylvania, which is about 60 miles east of Acrisure Stadium in downtown Pittsburgh.
The Steelers new offensive assistant coached under his father at IUP from 1990-98. Frank Jr. filled assistant roles on both offense and defense. In 1997, he had his first offensive coordinator opportunity.
Curt served as IUP head coach from 2011-16.
Frank Jr. received his first NFL coaching opportunity with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1999. He began forming his relationship with McCarthy the following season with the Saints.
From 2007-17, Frank Jr. was quarterbacks coach for the San Francisco 49ers, then St. Louis Rams, and New York Giants before reuniting with McCarthy in Green Bay. In 2015, Frank Jr. was Rams offensive coordinator.
After working in Green Bay, Frank Jr. was the offensive coordinator at Boston College under new Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley from 2020-21. Frank Jr. returned to Pitt to be offensive coordinator from 2022-23.
He was then IUP offensive coordinator in 2025.
It will be interesting to see what role he fulfills under McCarthy with the Steelers. But he’s another experienced offensive assistant with strong western Pennsylvania ties.
The fact his brother just led Indiana to the national championship only adds to the intrigue of the hire.
Mike McCarthy Filling Steelers Staff With Pittsburgh Coaches
McCarthy is from Pittsburgh and attended Bishop Boyle High School. One of his first coaching jobs was also at Pitt.
So it’s not at all surprising a lot of assistants on his first Steelers staff have connections to Pittsburgh.
Cignetti is just one example. The special teams coordinator the Steelers are expected to hire, Danny Crossman, played at Pitt in the late 1980s. Defensive assistant Jason Simmons played for the Steelers from 1998-2001.
The other new Steelers assistants who don’t have Pittsburgh ties largely have McCarthy connections in other ways.
Steelers Depot’s Joe Clark sees Cignetti filling a role that might not have previously been on the team’s coaching staff under Tomlin.
“He could serve as a senior offensive assistant or some new title that the Steelers haven’t previously had,” wrote Clark.
Mike McCarthy Hiring Curt Cignetti Relative to Steelers Coaching Staff: Report