Word on Thursday morning was that the Steelers were talking to Karl Dunbar about joining their staff as defensive line coach and those conversations obviously went well.
The Steelers announced that Dunbar has been added to the staff on Thursday afternoon. John Mitchell had been the team’s defensive line coach since 1994 and will remain on the staff with the assistant head coach title he gained in 2007.
Dunbar has never coached for the Steelers, but they did draft him in the eighth round in 1990. He didn’t make the team and went on to play with the Saints and Cardinals. He’s coached for the Bears, Vikings, Jets and Bills and shared time on the same staff as Steelers coach Mike Tomlin in Minnesota.
“It’s awesome to be back,” said Dunbar. “This team drafted me out of college. Just to be back and the nostalgia of Pittsburgh, the mystique of Pittsburgh, the workman’s mentality. Hopefully I can bring that to the team. Having the relationship with Mike and some of the coaches on the staff. Knowing Coach Mitchell, who was a coach at LSU when I played. A lot of things he did, I do. I will lean on him to help me get to know the guys in the defensive line room and hopefully make it a great transition.”
Dunbar spent the last two years as the defensive line coach at the University of Alabama.