Steelers head coach search: Who’s in the running?

This article originally appeared on SteelersNOW.com.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are searching for a head coach for the first time since 2007 and just the fourth time since 1969, as head coach Mike Tomlin resigned on Tuesday.

Steelers president Art Rooney II will lead the search, along with assistance from general manager Omar Khan, and they expect the process to take several weeks. The Steelers can start in-person interviews right away with coaches from non-playoff teams, while they’ll have to wait until Jan. 19 for playoff coaches that don’t make the conference championship game, and until the week before the Super Bowl for those that do.

Rooney said the Steelers will not be constrained in what type of coach they interview, but the last three coaches they’ve hired — two Hall of Famers and one sure to join the others — were all 30-something, first-time NFL head coaches who were most recently NFL defensive coordinators. That’s a pretty strong type, and it happens to be a fairly deep pool of candidates that are similar to the coaches the Steelers have hired in the past.