The Pittsburgh Steelers are interviewing three more candidates for assistant roles on the staff, according to a report by Noah Strackbein of FanNation. Those three candidates are Matt Baker, Mateo Kambui, and Phil Matusz, who all seem to be interviewing for different spots on the coaching staff.
The most notable name here appears to be Matusz, the head strength and conditioning coach at Boston College. One obvious connection there is that Mike Tomlin likely has been able to get an inside look at what Matusz does, given his son, Dino, played at Boston College. But Boston College has done well to produce some pro prospects under his guidance, including guys like Hunter Long, Zion Johnson, Zay Flowers, and others. In this draft, more players like Christian Mahogany should join the group. The Steelers moved on head strength and conditioning coach Marcel Pastoor last month. In addition, they moved on from assistant strength and conditioning coach Rodain Delus.
However, Baker and Kambui have connections to new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Kambui was the assistant offensive line coach with the Falcons this past season but spent time as part of the Martin Briscoe Coaching Fellowship with the Denver Broncos from 2021 to 2022. It is unknown what capacity the team is looking to add Kambui to, but wide receiver coach Frisman Jackson and offensive assistant Matt Tomsho were dismissed. Meanwhile, offensive assistant Glenn Thomas took a job with Matt Rhule’s staff at Nebraska. As of now, they do not have an assistant offensive line coach opening with Isaac Williams still on the staff.
Meanwhile, Baker spent time as the special teams assistant last season with the Falcons under Smith, but has an extensive background in offensive coaching. He was the offensive coordinator at John Carroll, and before that took a spot at Western Michigan to become the quarterbacks coach. 2023 was Baker’s first season coaching at the NFL level, but it seems possible that the team is looking to add him into one of those offensive assistant roles.
Last week, it was reported that the Steelers are interviewing Los Angeles Chargers passing game specialist Tom Arth, Jets wide receivers coach Zach Azzani and Titans passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Charles London for an open job to become assistant roles that could become pass game coordinator titles. So, the staff seems to be expanding, but they have two offensive assistant jobs open in addition to wide receivers coach.