Reports recently surfaced connecting Steelers OC Arthur Smith with a head coaching vacancy at the University of North Carolina. In his first season with the team after losing his head coaching job with the Atlanta Falcons, he would surely like to get back behind the big desk again.
And other reports indicate that he might have interest in this college job. But that would be a mistake on the part of Arthur Smith, says Mike Florio. Appearing on 93.7 The Fan yesterday, he was asked about the rumors around him and if the move made sense.
“No. Not for North Carolina. A bigger school, higher-level program, like West Virginia—something like that? Yes. But no, I don’t think it makes sense, and I don’t think [Smith]’d want to do it”, Florio said. “I’m sure he’d be flattered by it and it’s good to see that he’s rehabilitated himself to a certain extent. But I think that he’s smart to stay where he is”.
Since the Steelers hired him, Arthur Smith has said all the right things. He has been particularly adept at paying deference to the hierarchy, never trying to answer questions like a head coach. Smith has even gone so far as to imply, even express relief over not having the head coach’s burdens. At least for now.
But you know that’s going to change, assuming that was ever true in the first place. I have every belief that Arthur Smith wants to be a head coach again, I just don’t know if he wants to be a head coach in college. I could see him wanting to stay in the NFL, rather than chasing around college recruits.
Either way, though, Smith’s tenure with the Steelers so far as helped him. Florio believes these recent rumors about the University of North Carolina reflect that, and more. “It’s more proof that [the Steelers] made the right hire last year when they brought him in”, he said.
Florio believes Arthur Smith is doing what his predecessors in Pittsburgh have not. He is getting the most out of players like George Pickens, he said, even if the points at times remain elusive. He also praised Smith’s handling of the quarterback situation, starting with a completely new room.
“When [Smith] got hired, people were like, why would you want the guy that got hired by the Falcons?”, Florio said about the initial reaction to the Steelers’ move to bring him in. “Well, he was good enough as an offensive coordinator to get a head coaching job”.
But frankly, there’s still a lot of season left, and the Steelers’ offense is heading in the wrong direction. It seems at times that Arthur Smith is trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Overall, he has certainly outdone his immediate predecessors. But I’m not sure there are too many Steelers fans left who wish Smith was the head coach right now.
