The Pittsburgh Steelers have their head coach situation all squared away with a solid hire in Mike McCarthy. Pittsburgh’s fourth head coach since 1969, McCarthy has not been sitting on his hands since being handed the reins. He has been proactive in rounding out his coaching staff.
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McCarthy moved on from both embattled coordinators quickly. OC Arthur Smith went to Ohio State, and DC Teryl Austin was also handed his walking papers. McCarthy replaced them with two coaches who previously worked under him with the Green Bay Packers: DC Patrick Graham and OC Brian Angelichio. McCarthy has hired nine other new coaches for his staff, but perhaps one of the few he retained could end up being the most crucial.
At least, that’s what Steelers great Ben Roethlisberger believes. While most of Mike Tomlin’s stale coaching staff was pushed out, quarterbacks coach Tom Arth, who has been with the team since 2024, was kept on by the new regime. Big Ben thinks that’s huge, having gotten to know Arth a bit more last year on the golf course.
“One of the few people that they kept was Tom Arth, quarterback coach. I like this move,” Big Ben said on the Channel Seven podcast. “This is a smart move, I got to golf with Tom last year. I really like him, like his passion.”
The Steelers reportedly told Aaron Rodgers recently that they need him to decide on returning within the next month, essentially before free agency begins. As Pittsburgh sports reporter Andrew Filliponi pointed out, that’s a “far cry” from last year, when Rodgers was allowed to wait until June to sign for the Steelers.
Because of that, as Roethlisberger says, keeping Arth on is a great move. Specifically for the development of the 2025 sixth-round pick, Will Howard. The former Ohio State Buckeye could get a chance to win the job if Rodgers does call it quits.
“I think it’s a smart move in the sense that you’re not exactly sure what’s going to happen at quarterback,” Big Ben said, adding,
“I think a bigger deal is the development of Will Howard. You have Tom in there who has probably worked really close with Will over the last year, helping him… He’ll have a full-year relationship with Will, which will help with the transition from McCarthy.”
With all of the new faces on the coaching staff, it would definitely be beneficial for a young QB like Howard to have some consistency and familiarity at the QBs coach spot. And as Big Ben pointed out, if Rodgers does come back, Arth would serve as a nice “buffer” between the QB and McCarthy, as their relationship remains murky.
