{"id":509058,"date":"2026-03-07T10:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T10:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/509058\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T10:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T10:27:08","slug":"the-forgotten-member-of-the-steelers-retained-by-mike-mccarthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/509058\/","title":{"rendered":"The Forgotten Member Of The Steelers Retained By Mike McCarthy"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new head coach means a new coaching staff. Turnover was aplenty for the Pittsburgh Steelers this year. Mike McCarthy changed out nearly every member of the coaching staff. The two who stayed had ties back to him. Quarterbacks Coach Tom Arth, who once played under McCarthy in 2006, and Inside Linebackers Coach Scott McCurley, who is as close to McCarthy as one can be without sharing a last name.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a third name who stayed on staff \u2013 Director of Player Development Darrel Young. He\u2019s not a true on-field coach the way Patrick Graham or James Campen are, but he\u2019s an important piece of the organization. And it seems like he\u2019s sticking around.<\/p>\n

After McCarthy\u2019s coaching staff was fully unveiled, Young\u2019s name remains on the team\u2019s website.<\/a> His name follows Chief of Staff Steve Scarnecchia near the bottom of the coaching page. For additional confirmation, Young\u2019s personal LinkedIn page still shows him as a present-day member of the team.<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s role is a little bit of everything. He\u2019s a liaison of sorts, helping players with anything that might fall between the cracks. A newly signed player trying to find an apartment, for example. Before the team reports to St. Vincent each training camp, Young takes the rookies on a tour of the campus to get them familiar with the lay of the land before the pads come on.<\/p>\n

When Derrick Harmon arrived in Pittsburgh after becoming the Steelers\u2019 first round pick in 2025, it was Young who gave him a tour of the city.<\/a><\/p>\n

Shortly after his 2021 hire, we spoke with Young as he explained his role.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMy mission is to serve, equip, empower. Three words. That sums up it all. The reason I live by that is because I\u2019m always here to serve these guys. I oversee the rookie programming\u2026I\u2019m responsible for building that out for the Steelers. Anything that has to do with the player off the field that\u2019s going to help in their personal and professional development, that\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Steelers\u2019 2025 media guide details it another way.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung works with players to adjust to life during and after their NFL careers. He focuses on developing rookies as they navigate through the Steelers University life skills program, which promotes best practices for success on and off the field. He also provides career support for those seeking to advance their interests off the field and transition to life after football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young first appeared on Mike Tomlin\u2019s radar during the 2018 Pro Bowl, a game Tomlin coached and Young worked. Young walked up and introduced himself. Sharing an agent helped the two reconnect when Young interviewed for and got the Steelers\u2019 job three years later.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a role not as obvious as offensive coordinator. But Young takes care of everything about playing in the NFL that doesn\u2019t happen on the field. A player with a clear mind is going to play better than one who is distracted by anything in his personal life. To the outside eye, whether or not Young stayed might feel immaterial. But keeping continuity of someone so connected with the players, young and old, is important.<\/p>\n

Since Young sits in-between a coach and a front office member, it\u2019s fair to wonder if McCarthy had authority to make a change. But it feels likely that if McCarthy felt so strongly about making a change, one would\u2019ve happened. McCarthy ostensibly preferred he stay, making Young the third and forgotten assistant to survive the transition from the Mike Tomlin era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new head coach means a new coaching staff. Turnover was aplenty for the Pittsburgh Steelers this year.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[231106,140989,349,1321,99,3795],"class_list":["post-509058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-darrel-young","tag-mike-mccarthy","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports","tag-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}