Feeling right at home
Former Steelers DL Dunbar now tackles things as assistant coach
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
When Karl Dunbar was hired as the Steelers defensive line coach in February, he recognized plenty of the faces he saw around the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. They were team employees who have been around since his playing days in Pittsburgh.
The building itself, however, was much less familiar.
When the Steelers drafted Dunbar out of LSU in 1990, the team operated out of Three Rivers Stadium, where Dunbar recalls watching baseball from the dugout with his then-position coach Joe Greene.
The Steelers wouldn’t move into their current complex on the South Side until 10 years later. Fortunately, Dunbar said his long-standing ties to the Steelers, the smallworld nature of the NFL and established veterans such as Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt have eased the transition to his new surroundings.
“This South Side [facility] wasn’t even here when I was here,” Dunbar said, addressing the media for the first time since being hired in February.
“This is real nice. They’ve done a real good job, and just the continuity of the people here and the people in the staff makes me feel real comfortable.”
His connections to the Steelers coaching staff run deep. Dunbar was teammates with inside linebackers coach Jerry Olsavsky for the Steelers. John Mitchell, who served as the Steelers defensive line coach since 1994 before moving to an administrative role as assistant head coach this season, coached him at LSU.
After playing three years in the NFL, Dunbar has spent 11 seasons coaching in the league in addition to working at the collegiate level. He led the defensive line at Alabama the past two years.
“He sees things a little differently; it’s fresh,” Heyward said. “We’re just learning different things. We all are.”
Dunbar inherits a line lacking in depth but with impressive and experienced top-end talent.
Along with Heyward and Tuitt, defensive tackle Javon Hargrave has impressed in his first two seasons with the Steelers, and defensive end Tyson Alualu is entering his ninth year in the league.
“I can sleep good at night,” Dunbar said. “You have some guys who have been in some wars.”
Dunbar said he’ll learn a lot more about his players when they put the pads on at training camp, but that’s not the only reason he’s looking forward to heading to Latrobe later this summer. His Steelers training camp was held at Saint Vincent College, just like it is today.
It’s another example of why Dunbar has felt at home with the Steelers, even if he hasn’t been around much in recent years.
“I kept some of my Steeler ties,” Dunbar said.
Dunbar is pleased with Tuitt’s recovery from a bicep injury, and he was also impressed by him playing 12 games last season despite being injured in the first week against the Cleveland Browns.
“Everybody likes a tough guy,” Dunbar said. “Guys who can play through injury — when it’s not something that’s going to hurt him permanently — that’s what you love to see.”
That toughness led Dunbar to agree with Tuitt’s declaration that he could take on a lion, though the coach was less willing to bet on his own chances.
“Good for him, I’m not fighting one.” Dunbar said. “Yeah, he can take one. He might be able to take two.”