Though the Pittsburgh Steelers are showing no appetite to increase their coaching staff, the Baltimore Ravens are aggressively adding. The team has brought Chuck Pagano out of retirement to become the Ravens’ senior secondary coach, the team announced Tuesday night. He reunites with head coach John Harbaugh, who hired him in 2008.
At the age of 64, Pagano’s been in the NFL for quite a while. He’s held various roles for various teams before, but his last coaching stint came with the Chicago Bears, which wrapped up after the 2020 season. Now, he’s making a comeback.
Pagano began his coaching journey in college, working with USC, Boise State, Miami, UNLV and Eastern Carolina all at various points. Pagano made the jump to the NFL in 2001. He landed with a different AFC North team, the Cleveland Browns.
Pagano stayed in Cleveland for a few years before heading to the Oakland Raiders in the same role. He’d take a year away from the NFL in 2007, spending it as defensive coordinator for the UNC Tar Heels (and missing Steelers OC Arthur Smith by a season). After, he went to Baltimore for the first time, where he spent four seasons.
Most notably, Pagano was the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2012 to 2017. He compiled a 53-43 during that time in six years with the team, making the playoffs three time. In 2012, he stepped aside for 11 games while battling leukemia, returning for the regular season finale.
Since, he stepped into the media world and was a frequent guest on the Pat McAfee Show offering insight and analysis through the lens of a coach.
This isn’t the first time this offseason we’ve seen an older coach return to the game they couldn’t stay away from. Earlier this week, Pete Carroll, at the age of 73, agreed to become head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. Like Pagano, he took time away from the NFL, before deciding to come back.
Pagano’s hire is also a reminder of the stage in the offseason in which we’re in, and how that might relate to the Steelers. This is the time of the offseason in which the coaching carousel starts to figure itself out. The Steelers themselves had some new developments earlier this week in regards to their staff.
Right now, it doesn’t seem like any of the main cogs on Pittsburgh’s coaching staff are leaving. Yet, there’s still a decent chance we see one or two coaches replaced.
