The Pittsburgh Steelers have added Gregory Bowser II to their coaching staff. Bowser is part of the NFL’s Bill Walsh Fellowship Program aimed to help minority coaches receive NFL opportunities. Bowser made the announcement himself on his Twitter/X account Monday morning.
While fellowship programs can vary, it’s likely Bowser will be on-hand with the team during training camp but not throughout the regular season.
Bowser currently serves as the Assistant Defensive Line Coach at Missouri Southern, primarily working with the defensive ends. He was hired earlier this year. Prior to the Missouri Southern job, he worked for UL-Lafayette in a variety of roles including a quality control coach, outside linebackers coach, and working with the offensive line in 2023.
A walk-on, Bowser played defensive line at McNeese State. His father was a standout defensive lineman for LSU in the 1980s. There could be some connections to defensive line coach Karl Dunbar. Not only did Dunbar also play d-line in the 80s, his son attended UL-Lafayette in the mid 2010s. While that came before Bowser was hired, perhaps there’s still some sort of relationship or connection.
Per the NFL’s website, the Bill Walsh Fellowship creates opportunities for coaches while giving teams flexibility with their hirings:
“Designed as a vocational tool to increase the number of full-time NFL minority coaches, all 32 NFL clubs participate each year. Specific aspects of the program — including hiring, compensation and coaching duties — are administered on a club-by-club basis.”
Last year, the Steelers had at least three coaches brought on through the program. To date, Bowser is the first one we know, though there could have been others working with the team during OTAs or more added to assist in running training camp, which kicks off next week.
