Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has made his first coaching hire of the off season by naming Aaron Curry as the team’s inside linebackers coach. Curry arrives as a replacement for Brian Flores, who left Pittsburgh after a one year stint to take the defensive coordinator job with the Minnesota Vikings.
Curry comes to the Steelers from the Seattle Seahawks which has been his NFL home. Seattle drafted him in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft and he has served as an assistant coach with them since 2019. He spent his first two years as an assistant linebackers coach and the last two as a defensive line assistant coach.
Curry got into coaching at the University of Charlotte in 2014 where he coached defensive line and worked with current Steelers Alex Highsmith and Larry Ogunjobi.
- Aaron Curry’s arrival, however, signals the end for another long time Steelers veteran.
Jerry Olsavsky joined Mike Tomlin’s staff in 2010 as a defensive assistant until earning a promotion to inside linebackers coach, a title he held since 2015. Although he retained that title last year after Brian Flores’ arrival, his role with the team appeared to be in doubt.
Jerry Olsavsky at the Steelers South Side training complex. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
Unfortunately for Olsavsky those doubts were well-founded. The team made no announcement of his departure, but his picture and bio disappeared from the team website. Jerry Olsavsky went to the University of Pittsburgh and was the Steelers 10th round pick in the 1989 NFL Draft.
Jerry Olsavsky distinguished himself in 8 starts as a rookie in the place of the injured Hardy Nickerson and topped that off with a blocked punt that helped fuel the 1989 Steelers upset of the Houston Oilers in the Astrodome on New Year’s eve.
Olsavsky earned the starting role during the 1993 Steelers season only to see his knee destroyed in a road game at Cleveland that saw the Dawg Pound pelt him with beer bottles. Overcame that injury and was back on the roster by late 1994, served as a part-time starter for Chad Brown in 1995, started for most of 1996 after Brown moved to outside linebacker to take over for Greg Lloyd, then finished his service to the team in 1997 serving as a backup for Earl Holmes and Levon Kirkland.
Olsavsky lost his wife, Rayme L. Olsavsky, to cancer in 2021 so it is possible that this father of 3 made his own decision to walk away from the Steelers. But the manner in which his departure has been communicated suggests the opposite is the case.
Steelers Make First Free Agency Move
The Steelers also made their first free agency move by extending a one year tender to exclusive rights free agent Christian Kuntz. Kuntz is a product of Duquesne and Chartiers Valley and beat out Kameron Candy for the long snapper’s job during 2021 training camp.
Since then he’s appeared in 34 games for the Steelers.
Most fans probably don’t even recognize let alone know his name. And if you’re a long snapper, that means you’re doing your job.
