For the third time in in the last five seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers will open a season with a new wide receivers coach. Since the death of Darryl Drake in the summer of 2019, the Steelers have not been able to find that stability in a wide receivers coach, going through the likes of Ike Hilliard and Frisman Jackson, who both lasted just two years each.
Now though, as the overhaul of the offensive coaching staff in Pittsburgh has come to fruition, the Steelers appear to have that stable leader for a much-maligned wide receivers room. That would be longtime NFL wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni.
Azzanni was officially announced as the Steelers’ wide receivers coach on Friday after spending the 2023 season with the New York Jets, helping Garrett Wilson record a career-high in receptions.
But after the Jets made the surprising move to hire former NFL wide receiver and longtime wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson, Azzanni was let go. He landed on his feet with the Steelers though, and brings a very strong resume to the table, while also having a coaching style and philosophy that fits quite well with new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
Azzanni is just 47 years old, but he’s been coaching wide receivers in the NFL and the collegiate level for 26 years. He has experience in abundance, and based on comments from previous receivers he’s worked with, he’s a demanding, no-nonsense coach that focuses on the little things day after day, upholding a standard at the position.
He might not be the big hire fans wanted, that being specifically former Steelers’ wide receiver Hines Ward. But based on a deep dive into Azzanni’s resume, coaching style and success he’s had, he seems like a very good hire for the Steelers now and into the future.
Let’s get to know Zach Azzanni.
BACKGROUND AND COACHING EXPERIENCE
Azzanni, 47, was born in St. Louis, Missouri on August 10, 1976 but eventually moved to Michigan, where he lived in Utica, Michigan in part of Shelby Township. Azzanni attended Eisenhower High School and graduated in 1994 before spending the next five seasons at Central Michigan as a wide receiver.
With the Chippewas, Azzanni was a 6-foot, 170-pound receiver that wore No. 84. While with Central Michigan, Azzanni decided to enter into coaching. He graduated with a degree in Sports Management in 1999 and then turned to the coaching ranks, getting his start at the collegiate level as a wide receivers coach at Valparaiso, spending the 1999 and 2000 seasons with the Beacons before then moving to Bowling Green as a graduate assistant under Urban Meyer.
Azzanni was a graduate assistant with Bowling Green for the 2001 and 2002 seasons. Then, Meyer left for the Utah job for the 2003 season, but Azzanni was hired as the wide receivers coach by new Bowling Green head coach Gregg Brandon, spending 2003-2006 with the Falcons.
In his time with Bowling Green as the wide receivers coach, he worked Cole Manger, who broke out in a big way. Manger hauled in 99 passes for 1,138 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2003 under Azzanni, helping the Falcons go 11-3 on the season, and then hauled in 77 receptions for 746 yards and four touchdowns.
Ironically, during his time at Bowling Green, Azzanni saw his receivers on the receiving end of passes from future Steelers’ draft pick Omar Jacobs, whom the Steelers selected in the fifth round of the 2006 draft. While at Bowling Green, Azzanni oversaw five receivers that eventually went on to sign pro contracts, and in that 2004 season his receivers broke school records.
After a successful stint at Bowling Green, Azzanni returned to his alma mater of Central Michigan for the 2007 season as the assistant head coach and wide receivers coach. There, he had arguably his biggest impact.
Back with the Chippewas, Azzanni had a hand in developing two of the program’s best receivers. in Bryan Anderson and Antonio Brown. It all culminated in a monster 2009 season as Anderson established an NCAA record with a catch in 53 consecutive games. Brown was right behind him with a streak of 40 consecutive games with a catch. Anderson and Brown combined for 49 career touchdown receptions, which at the time tied them for the top active duo in the country for combined touchdown receptions.
Due to the performances of Anderson and Brown in the 2009 season, Azzanni was named college football’s Best Wide Receivers coach by FootballScoop.com, really putting him on the map of the college game.
Brown, of course, went on to be selected in the sixth round of the 2010 draft by the Steelers and put together a Hall of Fame caliber career on the field. Anderson signed an undrafted free agent deal with the Patriots in 2009, but never panned out. He was inducted into the CMU Hall of Fame in 2022.
Following three years with Central Michigan, Azzanni started to move up the ladder at the college level. He reunited with Meyer at Florida in 2010 as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach. That season, Azzanni was on the same coaching staff as current Steelers’ defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, who was the DC for the Gators in 2010. Azzanni worked closely with former Steelers’ 2012 draft pick Chris Rainey that season, too.
Azzanni lasted just one season at Florida before moving to Western Kentucky for the 2011 season, working under head coach Willie Taggert as the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. That season though, Azzanni’s offense struggled, scoring just 22.9 points per game, which was 89th in the country.
That tough season saw Azzanni last just one year with the Hilltoppers. He then jumped to Wisconsin for the 2012 season as the wide receivers coach, working under head coach Bret Beilema. It was another one-year stop in Madison for Azzanni as he then made the move to Tennessee, landing with the Volunteers as recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach under Butch Jones, a position he held for two season from 2013-14. Then, from 2015-16 he was the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach.
During his time with the Vols, Azzanni helped see Marquez North earn Freshman All-SEC honors in 2013, setting a freshman record for the program. He also helped develop the likes of Jauan Jennings, Pig Howard, Jalen Hurd, Josh Malone and recruited Marquez Callaway to Tennessee, coaching him in the 2016 season. Callaway signed a reserve/futures contract with the Steelers in January.
After the 2016 season, Azzanni left Tennessee and jumped to the NFL level, landing with the Chicago Bears under head coach John Fox as wide receivers coach in 2017. In Chicago, Azzanni worked with the likes of Kendall Wright, Markus Wheaton and Kevin White that season in Chicago. But the Bears went just 5-11 under Fox, leading to staff changes.
Undeterred by his one year in the NFL, Azzanni stayed at the professional level and landed with the Denver Broncos for the 2018 season under head coach Vance Joseph. Despite some changes that came in the years ahead in Denver, Azzanni stuck around through three different coaching staffs, helping develop the likes of Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy and Tim Patrick at receiver for the Broncos, while also overseeing the tail end of Emmanuel Sanders’ tenure in the Mile High City.
After six seasons in Denver, Azzanni followed Nathaniel Hackett to New York to coach the Jets’ wide receivers last season, but was ultimately replaced.
Now, he’s in Pittsburgh, bringing a ton of experience and success to the table for a young receivers room.
COACHING PHILOSOPHY
As a former receiver himself, one that was undersized and largely overlooked from a skills standpoint, Azzanni focuses on the little things and the effort.
For Butch Jones, whom Azzanni coached under for four seasons at Tennessee, what you see on tape from the receivers under Azzanni’s guidance is exactly who he is as a person: tough, great chemistry, attention to details and willing to do the little things to win.
“When you press play on a Zach Azzanni-coached wide receiver corps, it’s going to be a group that’s tough, that blocks, that has great brotherhood and unit chemistry in that room,” Jones said of Azzanni, according to a Denver Post article from September 2022. “They’re going to be students of the game, they’re going to own their fundamentals and they’re going to own their details.
“(Beyond that), Zach has a unique quality about himself where he can be very demanding because he knows what great looks like, but also, people gravitate towards him because they can feel the passion, the knowledge and the genuine care factor that he has.”
Throughout his time in the collegiate ranks and then the NFL, Azzanni has had some very tough, physical receivers that have been quite successful. He’s also had some receivers that might not mix it up as blockers all that much, but have developed nicely as route runners. Sutton in Denver certainly comes to mind, a the work Azzanni has done with Patrick has been rather eye-opening.
The development of guys at Tennessee and even Central Michigan is quite impressive, too.
It’s hard to top developing Antonio Brown into a freshman All-American and a draftable NFL player that went on to dominate at the next level.
It comes back to the standard he upholds and how demanding he is at the position.
“He coaches us really hard, but that’s helped me develop rapidly from OTAs until now,” said former Broncos’ receiver Jalen Virgil, who made the Broncos as a UDFA in 2022.“He was on me all the time at the first, but since it’s always ‘standard over feelings’ with him, that helps us weed out being emotional about getting coached up and just focus on getting better.”
That standard over feelings line from Virgil is the one to circle, especially in Pittsburgh.
The Steelers very obviously had some issues with attitude and effort in the receivers room during the 2023 season from the likes of Diontae Johnson and George Pickens that certainly generated quite a bit of unwanted attention. It wasn’t just last season though. The attitude and effort have been issues for the pair throughout their NFL careers.
Bringing in a guy with the experience of Azzanni signals a change from what the Steelers have done in the past. Frisman Jackson had just three years experience in the NFL as a receivers coach in Tennessee and Carolina before landing with the Steelers. Ike Hilliard had eight years of experience in the NFL, but only 10 years total experience as a coach.
Azzanni blows them out of the water with his experience, having coached receivers for 25 years. He has a proven track record, too.
He’s demanding, wants his players to focus on the little things, such as being technical in their releases, hand placement from a blocking perspective and taking advantage of every single rep in practice like it is game-like. That can wear on players throughout the course of a season, but no former receiver has said a bad word about Azzanni.
That includes Emmanuel Sanders, who stated that he butted heads with Azzanni early on before coming to love the wide receivers coach.
“It’s changed a lot,” Sanders said of his relationship with Azzanni to The Athletic in August 2019. “Obviously last year we butted heads, him coming from the college ranks to the NFL and how he wanted his meetings to run. But really, it’s about trying to win. You got two guys who are really the same type of guys, so we found a way to make it work. And when I say that, I don’t mean it in a light way of saying that we only work together because we have to; I really have a fond love for him.
“A lot of people don’t know, but coach is not going to be at practice the next two days because his mother just passed away. I feel for him. He walked off the field today and I almost wanted to cry. That’s the type of love I have for him. I got a lot of love for him. The guy made me a better player last year. He made me refocus and revamp, and I’m forever thankful for that.”
Sanders bounced back from a tough 2017 season to then have a strong 2018 season under Azzanni and then continued to play well in 2019 before being traded to the San Francisco 49ers. He then played two more seasons in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints and Buffalo Bills, refocusing under Azzanni and extending his career.
HOW HE FITS UNDER ARTHUR SMITH
Based on his coaching philosophy of being very demanding, upholding a standard over emotions and expecting his receivers to block, be tough and physical and do all the little things to win, it’s as if Azzani was made to coach under Arthur Smith.
Now he’ll get that chance.
Azzanni’s coaching style seems like a great fit under Smith. Remember, Smith’s focus as a coach is to play the best player and not coddle the stars. That’s been the case with Azzanni, who does not care what guys are making. It’s all about how they are playing. He only cares about winning, not internal team politics.
Smith is big on teammates showing off effort to make blocks downfield for teammates. He consistently calls those blocks by receivers to spring running backs for big runs “RBIs” or “assists” and emphasises just how key they are to making a play work. Azzanni, too, places a huge emphasis on blocking at the position, something the Steelers have gotten away from a bit in recent years under Hilliard and Jackson.
That’s going to change now with Azzanni in the fold under Smith.
The no-nonsense attitude and only playing the best guys that help the team win is all that matters for Azzanni, and that aligns with Smith. We’ll see how it meshes with the talent on the roster at the position currently, but one thing is clear: the Steelers appear aligned from OC to WRs coach from a philosophical standpoint for the first time in a long time.
