Mike McCarthy’s coaching staff is officially complete.
The Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday announced a 26-person staff with 20 assistant coaches, four strength and conditioning personnel and a chief of staff. Many of the hires were previously announced by the team, but one late addition was tight ends coach Robert Kugler, a North Allegheny graduate.
Kugler, 33, spent the past two seasons as assistant offensive line coach in New England after previous NFL coaching stints with Carolina and Houston. He helped the Patriots reach this year’s Super Bowl.
His father, Sean, was the Steelers’ offensive line coach from 2010-12.
Kugler attended North Allegheny for his senior year, played tight end and defensive end for the football team and won a state title in 2010. He later started four seasons at center for Purdue.
“When people ask me where I’m from or what I call home, I say Pittsburgh,” Kugler told TribLive prior to Super Bowl LX. “I was there one year, and it was awesome.”
Kugler joins an offensive staff led by coordinator Brian Angelichio that includes Tom Arth (quarterbacks), James Campen (offensive line), Ramon Chinyoung Sr. (running backs), Adam Henry (wide receivers), Frank Cignetti Jr. (senior offensive assistant), Jahri Evans (assistant offensive line), Tim Berbenich (game management/quarterbacks) and Eric Simonelli (offensive quality control).
Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham is joined by Joe Whitt Jr. (assistant head coach/secondary), Jason Simmons (defensive pass game coordinator/defensive backs), Domata Peko (defensive line), C.J. Ah You (outside linebackers), Scott McCurley (inside linebackers), Shawn Howe (defensive assistant) and Pat Reilly (defensive assistant).
Special teams coordinator Danny Crossman is joined by Derius Swinton II (senior special teams assistant).
Mark Lovat is the team’s head strength and conditioning coach. Lovat is joined by Grant Thorne (director of performance integration/sports science), Justus Galac (strength and conditioning assistant) and Abe Munayer (strength and conditioning assistant).
Steve Scarnecchia is the chief of staff, a newly created position under McCarthy.
The Steelers also hadn’t announced the hire of Cignetti, Ah You, Berbenich, Simonelli, Swinton and Howe until Thursday.
• Cignetti, a Pittsburgh native and brother of Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, has coached for 35 years at the NFL or college level. He has served as a coordinator for eight different offenses, including for the Los Angeles Rams in 2015. He ran IUP’s offense last season and had previous coaching stints at Pitt.
In 2018, Cignetti was McCarthy’s quarterbacks coach in Green Bay.
• Berbenich spent the past two seasons as pass game specialist/game management for the Atlanta Falcons. He worked with the Rams offense as an analyst in 2023.
• Ah You worked the past four seasons coaching outside linebackers at Texas Tech.
• Simonelli served the Cowboys in a variety of roles over a six-year stint that largely overlapped McCarthy’s time as coach. He was TCU’s assistant linebackers coach this past season.
• Swinton spent the past three seasons as an assistant special teams coach for the Raiders. He finished this past season as Las Vegas’ interim special teams coordinator.
• Howe joins the Steelers after a five-year stint as an assistant coach at Montana State, most recently as the team’s defensive coordinator.
