Chuck Noll was the Pittsburgh Steelers most successful coach, but the Rooneys almost missed out when they came to replace Bill Austin in 1969.
The previous year, Austin coached the Steelers to just two victories and Art Rooney decided it was time to move on and not renew his contract. Austin’s three years as head coach produced eleven wins with twenty-eight defeats. Bizarrely, the Steelers manage to play out a tie in each of his three seasons.
Since the time in 1933 when Rooney put a franchise in Pittsburgh, the Steelers had resided in the NFL wilderness.