Steelers Set to Replace Long-Time Assistant Coach: Report

The Pittsburgh Steelers officially announced the hire of Aaron Curry as the team’s new inside linebackers coach. But the Steelers already had an inside linebackers coach in Jerry Olsavsky.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac reported on February 22 that the Steelers will not retain Olsavsky in a different role on the coaching staff. Olsavsky had spent 22 seasons in the Steelers organization.

“Olsavsky, 55, who played nine seasons with the Steelers after being a 10th-round draft choice from Pitt in 1989, has been the team’s inside linebacker coach since 2015,” Dulac wrote. “Previously, he served as a defensive assistant on Mike Tomlin’s staff from 2010-2014.

“But the Steelers on Monday hired Curry, a former first-round draft choice and defensive assistant with the Seattle Seahawks, to coach their inside linebackers, forcing out Olsavsky.”

With the departure of Olsavksy, the Steelers have lost three defensive coaches this offseason. Steelers senior defensive assistant Brian Flores left to become defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings and assistant head coach John Mitchell retired.

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Curry Set to Replace Olsavksy, Not Flores

In addition to serving as a senior defensive assistant, Flores was linebackers coach for the Steelers in 2022. So when the news first broke that Pittsburgh was hiring Curry, it seemed natural to believe he would somewhat be a replacement for Flores.

Instead, the Steelers announced on February 22 that Curry was being hired as inside linebackers coach. Olsavsky had been in that role for the last eight seasons.

But Olsavsky’s connection to the Steelers dates back much further than that. As Dulac noted, the Steelers drafted him at No. 258 overall in the 1989 NFL Draft. He spent nine seasons with the Steelers as a player, starting 37 games, including a career-high 13 contests in 1996.

Olsavsky remained in the Pittsburgh area after he played his final NFL season with the Baltimore Ravens. To begin his coaching career, Olsavsky spent time at his high school in Youngstown, Ohio and at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

He then coached linebackers at Youngstown State from 2003-09. Olsavsky joined the Steelers coaching staff as a defensive assistant in 2010 and then became inside linebackers coach in 2015.

Olsavsky was part of two Steelers teams that won the AFC Championship in 1995 and 2010. But the team lost each of the Super Bowl appearances after those seasons.

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Steelers Hire Curry as Inside Linebackers Coach

The loss of a long-time coach, especially with other coaching departures, can be initially stunning. But change can also be a good thing.

The Steelers haven’t had elite play on a consistent basis from their inside linebackers since Ryan Shazier suffered his horrific injury in 2017. Perhaps Curry is the man to change that fortune in Pittsburgh.

In 2021, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll described Curry as a “coach on the rise.”

Like Olsavsky, Curry played in the NFL, but the two linebackers took very different paths. While Olsavsky was a late-round pick, Curry entered the league as the No. 4 overall choice for the Seahawks in 2009.

But Curry lasted just two full seasons in Seattle. He finished his career with the then Oakland Raiders. In total, he played in 48 NFL contests, starting 39 of them in four years from 2009-12.

Curry retired from the league after he didn’t make the New York Giants roster out of training camp in 2013.

Shortly thereafter, Curry began his coaching career. He has three years of NFL coaching experience, all of which were with the Seahawks.

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