Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith took his name out of consideration to be the head coach at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina, and per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, UNC wanted Smith.
In his news and notes column ahead of Week 14, Fowler wrote that Smith was considered the “prime target” for the UNC head coaching opening, and he also believes Smith’s chances to become an NFL head coach again are “pretty good.”
“That Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith conveyed his happiness in Pittsburgh despite having talks with North Carolina, his alma mater, about its recently opened job suggests his chances to become an NFL head coach might be pretty good. From what I heard, the Tar Heels were high on Smith, who was considered the prime target. This makes me think that his stint in Atlanta will be viewed favorably in the next year or two as the NFL carousel spins. Smith won 21 games in three seasons with four different starting quarterbacks — none of whom are starters right now,” Fowler wrote.
Smith’s done a great job with Pittsburgh’s offense, and it’s a group coming off its best game of the season, with 520 total yards of offense, 414 of which came through the air. As Fowler notes, Smith was plagued by poor quarterback play during his first stint as a head coach with the Atlanta Falcons, and now Smith is showing the offense he’s capable of running with legitimate quarterback options.
He’s already been linked to the Chicago Bears vacant head-coaching opening, and we know the New York Jets had interest in bringing him in last offseason in an offensive assistant role. However, it’s a completely new administration in New York with both head coach Robert Saleh and GM Joe Douglas having been fired, so that likely isn’t something to read too much into with this year’s carousel.
Losing Smith would be a blow for the Steelers, who haven’t had an offensive coordinator of his caliber in years. After suffering through the Matt Canada era, Smith has at least improved Pittsburgh’s offensive output and made the Steelers fun to watch for the majority of the year on offense. The Steelers likely recognize that if they lose Smith, they’re probably not going to have a candidate as experienced available to them, and hiring a new coordinator after just one year of Smith and changing parts of the scheme wouldn’t be ideal.
We’ll see how things play out over the next few months, but it sounds like there’s a very real chance that Smith could earn himself a head coaching job this offseason. If Smith does leave for a head coaching job, he’d be the first Steelers coordinator to do so since Ken Whisenhunt following the 2006 season, when he was hired by the Arizona Cardinals.
