Steelers Hire Western Pa. Native as Strength and Conditioning Coach

Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers have hired Phil Matusz to be the team’s next head strength and conditioning coach, according to the club’s official website.

Matusz was most recently the strength and conditioning coach at Boston College under head coach Jeff Hafley. Hafley left BC to become the defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers earlier this offseason. New Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien had already announced his intention to bring in his own strength and condition staff.

A Greenville, Pa. native, Matusz, spent four seasons at Boston College, helping to develop NFL players like A.J. Dillon, Zion Johnson, Zay Flowers, Hunter Long and others. In this year’s draft, guard Christian Mahogany will join that group.

At Boston College, Matusz also worked with Dino Tomlin, the son of Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. Dino transferred from Maryland to Boston College in 2022 and worked with Matusz for each of the last two seasons.

Before BC, Matusz spent six seasons as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Ohio State and two years as the head strength and conditioning coach at his alma mater, Villanova.

The Steelers moved on from head strength and conditioning coach Marcel Pastoor last month. Pastoor had been the team’s head strength and conditioning coach since 2021, and had been with the team for 23 years overall.

The only holdover on the strength staff will be longtime strength and conditioning coordinator Garrett Giemont. In addition to Pastoor, the Steelers also moved on from assistant Rodain Delus and intern Tyler Judkins.

Justus Galac has been hired to replace Delus as the assistant strength and condition coach. Galac spent the last two seasons as the assistant strength and conditioning coach at Temple. He had been with the Steelers for one season as the assistant strength and conditioning coach in 2021. Before that, he was the head strength and conditioning coach for the New York Jets from 2012-20. Galac also worked at Villanova from 2005-11.

The Steelers have also filled a new position on the strength and conditioning staff, hiring Roderick Moore as sports science coordinator. Moore is following offensive coordinator Arthur Smith to Pittsburgh from his staff on the Atlanta Falcons, where Moore spent three seasons as assistant strength and conditioning coach.

Moore was a strength and conditioning coach at Tennessee from 1997-07 and FIU from 2007-12 before working in the commercial fitness sector for companies like Cybex, Bilt, Catapult Sports, Sparta Science and Vald, according to his LinkedIn page.

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