The Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Tuesday that they had hired former Kansas City Chiefs offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. to be their next offensive line coach and that hiring means that the vacant special teams coach position is the only one that is left to be filled.
The Steelers were granted permission on Monday to interview Danny Smith, the special teams coach of the Washington Redskins, and now Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette is reporting on his blog that LSU assistant Thomas McGaughey is also under consideration for the position.
Prior to joining the LSU coaching staff in 2011 McGaughey served as the assistant special teams coordinator with the New York Giants from 2007-10, during which time the franchise ranked among the most productive in the NFL. During his career, McGaughey has coached for eight years in the NFL, two years at the collegiate level and he spent one season in NFL-Europe, all according to his LSU bio page.
The link back to the Giants is now not a surprising one as Bicknell was also on the staff of the Giants as an assistant prior to taking the job with the Chiefs. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has a lot of respect for Giants head coach Tom Coughlin and he has obviously consulted with him over the course of the last few weeks.
The Steelers special teams coaching vacancy is a result of Amos Jones leaving to become the special coach of the Arizona Cardinals after apparently not having his contract renewed after the 2012 season.
