{"id":249955,"date":"2026-07-23T02:54:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T02:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/249955\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T02:54:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T02:54:31","slug":"reflecting-on-coaching-journey-patrick-graham-grateful-to-land-in-pittsburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/249955\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting On Coaching Journey, Patrick Graham ‘Grateful’ To Land In Pittsburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Patrick Graham interviewed for the Jacksonville Jaguars head coaching job in 2025 while with the Las Vegas Raiders, but the job eventually went to Liam Coen. In a new ESPN story by Kalyn Kahler, Kris Rhim, and Jason Reid<\/a> exploring issues with how teams apply The Rooney Rule, Graham spoke on his interview experience, claiming he waited 30 minutes at a scheduled dinner with Jaguars executives, but no one showed up as they were finalizing an agreement with Coen.<\/p>\n

While the Jaguars claimed they conducted the interview process \u201cprofessionally,\u201d Graham issued a statement to ESPN in May saying he was glad how the process worked out since it ended up with him in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the interview process with Jacksonville following the 2024 season, I mentioned previously that the communication and transparency could have been better. But I am also glad it worked out for Liam, and I wouldn\u2019t be here in Pittsburgh without that experience. I am grateful to be with the Steelers and excited about the opportunities that lie ahead in 2026 and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham\u2019s experience with Jacksonville is one many minority coaches spoke to ESPN about. With a recent push by Florida Attorney General<\/a> James Uthmeier to investigate The Rooney Rule and the NFL\u2019s diversity practices, the rule has come into focus again and many shared experiences similar to Graham\u2019s.<\/p>\n

In Pittsburgh, Graham will have the chance to make himself a prime head coaching candidate again. He\u2019s working with a defense that has more talent than his previous one with the Raiders, and there\u2019s been plenty of buzz<\/a> about what he could bring to Pittsburgh. If the Steelers defense plays up to its potential, it wouldn\u2019t be a surprise to see Graham get head coaching looks again, ideally with a process much more professional than what he experienced with the Jaguars.<\/p>\n

Despite having a plethora of talent, Pittsburgh\u2019s defense failed to live up to expectations in recent years under Teryl Austin. Graham has experience working under head coach Mike McCarthy, and he could reinvigorate a defense that has the potential to be one of the best in the NFL. While he\u2019s had prior stops as a defensive coordinator with the Raiders, Miami Dolphins and New York Giants, Pittsburgh\u2019s defense should be the most talented he\u2019s coached.<\/p>\n

Graham has been open about his excitement<\/a> for his opportunity in Pittsburgh and coaching a defense for a team that\u2019s historically been strong on that side of the ball. The opportunity with Pittsburgh could very well put Graham in the spotlight as a top assistant coach and head coaching candidate if he can turn the Steelers defense into an elite unit again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Patrick Graham interviewed for the Jacksonville Jaguars head coaching job in 2025 while with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1421,15290,106888,106889,106890,47878,73,75,74,43283],"class_list":["post-249955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-espn","tag-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-jason-reid","tag-kalyn-kahler","tag-kris-rhim","tag-patrick-graham","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-rooney-rule"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}