Mike McCarthy is close to a deal with an offensive coordinator. The Steelers are nearing an agreement with Brian Angelichio, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac reports.
Only connected to the Pittsburgh OC position during this year’s cycle, Angelichio has been Minnesota’s tight ends coach for the past four seasons. He also served as pass-game coordinator during that span. Angelichio has a past with McCarthy, coaching Packers tight ends from 2016-18. While ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler notes the Vikings made an effort to retain Angelichio, the allure of an OC role will be too enticing to turn down.
A Tuesday report pointed to Angelichio being the favorite for this role. This came after Scott Tolzien — a former Packers QB and Cowboys assistant under McCarthy — removed his name from consideration. Tolzien is returning to the Saints, clearing a path for Angelichio to land his first OC opportunity at 53.
An NFL assistant since 2012, Angelichio does have a Pittsburgh past. He served as Pitt’s tight ends coach from 2006-10. After a year at Rutgers, Angelichio followed Greg Schiano to the NFL as Buccaneers tight ends coach. He then served in that capacity for the Browns, Packers, Washington and Panthers from 2014-21. The Vikings hired him for the same role but added a pass-game coordinator title as well. But Angelichio will move up after a 14-season span coaching tight ends.
Previous Steelers OC Arthur Smith had been among the TEs coaches to display upward mobility from that role, but Angelichio had not been interviewed for an OC post since 2023. The Cowboys and Ravens interviewed him during that offseason, but no OC meetings came in 2024 or ’25 for the long-running assistant. Kevin O’Connell has fared well in Minnesota, however, and this marks a coaching tree branch for the 2024 Coach of the Year.
Angelichio’s most notable work as a tight ends coach came when Gary Barnidge produced a 1,043-yard season to lead the Browns in receiving in 2015. Barnidge had not eclipsed 200 yards before that unexpected age-30 breakout. He oversaw T.J. Hockenson‘s transition to Minnesota in recent years, with the trade acquisition reaching 960 yards in an injury-shortened 2023 season. Angelichio’s past with McCarthy is probably a bigger factor in this hire than intermittent success with tight ends, however.
McCarthy is set to call plays in Pittsburgh, establishing Angelichio as his top game-planning lieutenant. This marks a major change for the Steelers, whose OCs have called plays for ages — as Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin were all defensive-minded HCs. The Steelers have not sported a top-10 offense since Antonio Brown‘s 2019 departure, but they did rank 16th and 15th in scoring during Smith’s two seasons calling the shots. Smith is heading to the college ranks, set to become Ryan Day’s next OC at Ohio State.