Long-time Pittsburgh Steelers Head Strength and Conditioning coach Marcel Pastoor is leaving the team, he announced on his LinkedIn account Tuesday afternoon. He spent 23 years with the Steelers organization and apparently is leaving to spend more time with his family.
In a lengthy goodbye, he wrote:
In the post, he thanked the Rooney family and the front office for their support. He also mentioned longtime conditioning coordinator Garrett Giemont, hired by the team in 2007. Pastoor became the team’s head Strength and Conditioning coach three years ago, replacing Giemont, who was retitled to Senior Strength and Conditioning coach. He was a fixture at training camp and legitimately had a great arm, sometimes used to simulate “kickoffs” during special teams periods.
He helped Ben Roethlisberger get stronger as a rookie, this 2004 Sports Illustrated article noting that the two worked closely together.
“It’s important to get your core strong because you do so much twisting and rotating when you’re throwing,” says Roethlisberger, who has worked to strengthen his midsection since his high school days in Findlay, Ohio. Steelers assistant strength and conditioning coach Marcel Pastoor now trains Roethlisberger up to three times a week, concentrating on the QB’s abdominals, obliques, hip flexors and lower back.”
Pastoor graduated from Virginia Tech before completing his Master’s degree at Pitt in 2003. Prior to being hired by the Steelers, he interned with Washington in 1998 while serving as a volunteer coach at Radford University from 1999 to 2001.
Pastoor noted that he intends to stay local, and it doesn’t appear he’s jumping to another NFL organization. He ended the post saying he “will bleed black and gold forever.”
Pittsburgh will have to find his replacement. Rodain Delus is currently the team’s Assistant S&C coach but has only been with the team for a handful of years.
To date, Pastoor is the second known coach inside the Steelers’ organization to depart. Offensive Assistant Glenn Thomas left after one year with Pittsburgh, taking a job at Nebraska. It’s the second year the team has had a longtime member of its conditioning and medical staff leave. After the 2022 season, Head Athletic Trainer John Norwig retired after 32 years with the Steelers. He was replaced externally by Gabe Amponsah.
