The Pittsburgh Steelers employed John Mitchell as their defensive line coach, literally, for decades. For about a quarter of a century, not a single defensive lineman passed through the doors of the South Side facility without having gone under his tutelage and learned the draft of the traditional 3-4 defensive end or nose tackle in his model.
That is up until the 2018 season. Last offseason, Head Coach Mike Tomlin hired veteran defensive line coach Karl Dunbar to take over Mitchell’s job as he transitioned full-time into the role of assistant head coach—a title he bore since Tomlin came in in 2007—in an entirely off-field capacity.