Assistant coaches Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan were effectively eliminated from consideration for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive coordinator job by head coach Mike Tomlin in his end-of-season press conference. Prior to his comments to that effect, however, they got an endorsement from RB Jaylen Warren.
Faulkner, the Steelers’ running backs coach, acted as interim offensive coordinator after Matt Canada was fired. Quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan assumed the play-calling responsibilities during games. Sullivan also has prior coordinating experience at the NFL level. Their players appreciated what the two did to get the offense going late in the season.
Asked if he would like to see them continue in 2024 in the roles they ended with at the end of the season, Warren said, “Yeah, I would like for them to continue”, via the team’s website. “I thought they did a pretty good job with it. You could tell they left everything on the line. They were willing to do whatever it took for us”.
Faulkner is the only position coach Warren has known since entering the league in 2022. He has always had praise for him and credited him for taking more risks in the larger role. Likewise, Faulkner has long been complimentary of his hard-nosed running back.
But it remains to be seen if Faulkner will even be on the coaching staff in 2024. Tomlin confirmed that he will not be making the decision on hiring a new offensive coordinator alone. Art Rooney II and Omar Khan will likely have a more objective approach to candidates who want to bring in their own staffs.
Faulkner has been with the Steelers since 2019, all as running backs coach prior to his promotion to interim offensive coordinator. Sullivan was hired in 2021 and has spent those three years as quarterbacks coach.
But most new coordinator hires in most organizations not only want to but get to revamp their staff. The Steelers have not hired an outside coordinator since Todd Haley in 2012 so it’s been more than a decade since they last faced that prospect.
Nothing actually changed at the time, however. The entire offensive assistant staff from the previous season remained, at least for Haley’s first season. Several changes were made a year later, some by the coaches’ choice. Offensive line coach Sean Kugler accepting a college head-coaching job is one example. Wide receivers coach Scottie Montgomery also accepted a promotion to return to Duke, his alma mater, as offensive coordinator.
It’s impossible to know what the fate of the Steelers’ assistant coaching staff is until we know who the offensive coordinator is. We might get some idea of it as the list of candidates continues to emerge. So far, the only name that we know of is Los Angeles Rams assistant Zac Robinson.
