Pittsburgh Steelers’ preseason game against the Packers turned in their favour as they ended up with a 28-9 victory. However, behind the scenes, head coach Mike McCarthy and Co. were dealing with an emergency.
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“We were really challenged last night. Our ace, you know, Steve Scarnecchia, you just had a medical situation that he was attended to,” McCarthy said on the Pat McAfee show. “So, he’s my chief of staff, and he’s the guy that’s in charge of everything, especially the little things. So, it was, you know, a challenging, you know, opportunity for us as a coaching staff, football operations.
“… There was a lot of running around, frankly, behind the scenes and making sure we had everything buttoned up, and you’re trying to do what’s best for our football team, our program.”
McCarthy had said after the game that they were dealing with an “adversity” in the staff. It remains unknown what medical problem Scarnecchia faced.
He joined McCarthy’s staff this year after serving in the same role with the Atlanta Falcons last year and the New York Jets from 2021 to 2023. He is the son of reputed New England Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia. Steve has been in the league for the past 16 years as a coach.
Scarnecchia is the first Chief of Staff in Steelers history. He works closely with Mike McCarthy and helps keep the coaching staff organized.
A lesser-known fact about him is that he started in video, not coaching. Scarnecchia joined Syracuse in 2011 as the football team’s video coordinator. He handled game and practice video, helped with social media and online recruiting, and worked on technology for the football program, according to his bio on the Steelers website. He also spent a season in NFL Europe in a similar role.
Scarnecchia has spent a lot of time in the video team of NFL and Division I college football teams. His first stint in football operations came in 2013, when he became Syracuse’s director of football operations. He helped manage the team’s budget, travel, bowl plans, camps, game-day duties, and team events.
That experience makes him an important part of Mike McCarthy’s staff.
For now, the Steelers have not shared more details about Scarnecchia’s medical situation. Hopefully McCarthy is able to give us an update during the next media availability, and that he is healthy enough to return for Pittsburgh’s next preseason game against the New York Jets on August 22.