The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the most highly regarded organizations in all of sports. They have been one of the most successful franchises in the history of the NFL, which in turn has resulted in the team having one of the largest fanbases. Many coaches and other figures throughout the football world have a ton of respect for Pittsburgh, and new wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni is one of them. Azzanni coached Antonio Brown at Central Michigan, and Brown recently told a story of Azzanni being obsessed with the Steelers.
Brown and Azzanni were both at Central Michigan from 2007 through 2009, Azzanni went to Florida in 2010 and Brown entered the NFL Draft where he was selected by Pittsburgh. In Brown’s rookie season with Pittsburgh he wasn’t much of a factor on offense as he only caught 16 passes, but he was Pittsburgh’s primary return man. The Steelers would end up making Super Bowl XLV in Brown’s rookie season. In a recent interview with DJ Vlad, Brown spoke about what it was like to make the big game in his rookie year while also sharing a story about Azzanni.
“You know, championship culture like the Steelers. One of my receiver coaches, Zach Azzanni, he coaches in the NFL now but you know he always used Hines Ward and the Steelers as an example of a good organization that had a championship culture, that played the receiver position right. For me it was like, my coach always said the Steelers and now I was going.”
Azzanni was talking about how great Hines Ward and the Steelers organization are back when he was coaching Brown between 2007 and 2009, and now he finds himself earning a job with the coveted organization. Another fun crossover between Azzanni, Brown, and the Steelers is that many fans wanted the Steelers to reach out to Ward for their vacant wide receiver coach position. Pittsburgh never even interviewed or talked to Ward, and eventually decided on hiring Azzanni.
Ward has shown a strong desire to be a coach, as most recently he was the head coach of the San Antonio Brahmas in the XFL and UFL. Ward even spent some time as a coaching intern with the Steelers during the 2017 season before joining the New York Jets as an offensive assistant.
Since last coaching Brown in 2009, Azzanni has made many stops on his way to Pittsburgh. The highest ranking he ever held at the collegiate level was with Western Kentucky in 2011 where he was the offensive coordinator and wide receiver coach. He got his first shot with the NFL in 2017 when he joined the staff of John Fox with the Chicago Bears as their wide receiver coach. He has since held that same position with the Denver Broncos from 2018 through 2022, and then with the Jets in 2023.
While being coached by Azzanni at Central Michigan, Brown was named an All-American twice and was all-conference in every year of his college career. Azzanni was the coach who originally gave Brown the opportunity to come to Central Michigan and tryout as a walk-on. Azzanni now has an opportunity to replicate the same success he had with Brown with the likes of George Pickens and Diontae Johnson.
Azzanni brings an appreciation for the success and history of the Steelers organization, and it’s legendary players who wore the black and gold. He now has his chance to represent the Steelers. The way he spoke of Pittsburgh to Brown when he was coaching him at Central Michigan, this sounds like it would be Azzanni’s dream job. Hopefully he is able to succeed while developing the current receivers on the Steelers roster.
