After retiring as the general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers in May 2022, ending a 22-year run with his hometown team, Kevin Colbert remains quite busy.
Not only is he still active with the organization, helping retired players take the next step into their post-football life, he has recently added a new role to his list of responsibilities, this time outside of the organization.
Colbert, on a recent appearance on the North Catholic Athletics Podcast, revealed that he is a consultant for North Catholic under Reverend Charles Bober.
“When he was named the interim president, he asked me to be part of his transition team. And what I just try to do is assist him as best I can because he’s very busy with obviously being the pastor of such a huge parish,” Colbert said regarding his new role as consultant for North Catholic. “And it’s my pleasure and honor to be able to help him here because he’s doing everything for the right reasons.”
Colbert played a key part in the search for North Catholic’s new football coach for the 2023 season, too. North Catholic hired Chris Rizzo, giving the Trojans an experienced coach and a Pittsburgh-area native to replace the great Pat O’Shea. Colbert helped North Catholic find Rizzo, a Bethel Park native, in Arizona.
The hiring of Rizzo and the search for him is one that Colbert, a North Catholic graduate, compares favorably to what he did back in 2007 with the search for Mike Tomlin. That one worked out quite well.
“We did the same thing with Coach Rizzo. We knew the values of North Catholic. We understood Coach Rizzo’s values and we thought that was a good match,” Colbert said. “So I think that’s a big, big part of it. The X’s and O’s, sure, that’s obviously of some importance, but it’s not the most important because this person has to be able to lead. And sometimes if they haven’t been in that position, you don’t know, and you just try to make an educated guess.”
That culture and being able to lead are things that Colbert knows quite well from overseeing the Steelers for 22 years, working hand in hand with Hall of Fame coaches like Bill Cowher and Tomlin. It’s what helped him put together his own potential Hall of Fame career as an executive and is now helping him in his role not only with North Catholic but also within the Steelers’ organization still, serving as a leader and culture setter for post-playing days Steelers.
