At some point all good things come to an end. How does that statement relate to the Pittsburgh Steelers on this June Tuesday? Well, according to Chris Bradford of The Beaver County Times, Steelers wide receivers coach Richard Mann confirmed earlier in the day that 2017 will be his final year in the NFL.
“This is it,” Mann said after the first day of Steelers mandatory minicamp, according to Bradford. “This year, for sure. Oh yeah, I’m gone. I’m on the clock. Told (Mike Tomlin) that. I just turned 70. That’s it for me. I’ve had enough.”
Mann, who became the Steelers wide receivers coach in 2013, is an Aliquippa native. He has long been regarded as a coach that is a stickler for details and a good teacher of technique. Prior to arriving in Pittsburgh, Mann coached on the staffs of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins, Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Cleveland Browns and the old Baltimore Colts. In total he has now spent approximately 33 years in the NFL.
According to an old bio, Mann originally began his NFL coaching career as a receivers coach with the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts from 1982-1984. With the Colts, he worked under Frank Kush, his college head coach at Arizona State. Mann also coached on the collegiate level at the University of Louisville from 1980-1981 and Arizona State from 1974-1979 as wide receivers coach.
Mann was also once a three-year starter at flanker and tight end for Arizona State from 1966-1968. He began his coaching career at his prep alma mater of Aliquippa High School from 1970-1973. A member of the Aliquippa Hall of Fame since 1982, Mann is also a member of the Beaver County (PA) Hall of Fame.
At least Mann has one more season left in him and hopefully it will end with him being part of a Super Bowl championship team. He has a solid stable of wide receivers to work with this season and that group now includes the team’s 2017 second round draft pick, USC product JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Mann has had some health-related issues over the course of the last few seasons so it’s not overly surprising he’s decided that 2017 will be his final season as an NFL coach.
