Welcome to Steelers Takeaways!

First off, can you let mw know what you’ve been up to since your playing days?

I worked for AT&T for 33 years as a sales and marketing exec before I retired. I coached high school football as well. I coached in Houston for four years – we went to three state championships and won two of them. That was the same high school where Gary Kubiak played quarterback.

After that I moved to Georgia and coached my two younger sons – my older son is 34 and was the top player in Texas at his position at the time. The other two I coached played  college football. I also do some strength and training coaching for kids and work as a substitute teacher.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Defensive Lineman Bret Shugarts, 1987”

First, can you let me know how you got into coaching and your role at Campbell University?

It’s an interesting story. My last two years in the NFL I was training with Trent Guy. His kid – Trent Jr. – he was one of the fastest kids on the nation and ran track and later went to Clemson.

Well, when I retired in 2007 Trent would call me every week at 5:30 am on the way to work to tell me about different high school coaching jobs. His dream was for me to be a football head coach and for him to coach track at the same school. We were close – and football and track help each other out a lot.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Running Back Dee Brown, 2003”

First off, what brought on the signing with the Steelers – how did they find out about you and bring you in?

I know they saw film of me and liked that – and I did well in my pro day. After the draft I had a couple of teams call with interest in signing me and I picked the Steelers.

Why Pittsburgh?

Coach Dunbar is a really good coach and they’ve had a lot of successful defensive linemen there. I thought it would be a good opportunity too come in and learn from him and the players there and do well. They called me actually two days after my pro day and told me they were interested in drafting me late in the draft or signing me as an undrafted free agent. They said there were some unknowns about me, coming from a small school, but they liked my athleticism.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Steelers Defensive Lineman Jay Nyamwaya”

First, can you let us know what you’ve been up to since your playing days?

I coached for a while – I think that came as second nature for me. I always wanted to stay part of the sports world – no matter at what level. I’m willing to pay my dues – it’s a different mindset from playing though.

I feel like I’ve got something I want to pursue. I’m back at Abilene Christian getting my degree. It’s not just about the coaching – it’s about investing in kids’ lives. I was taught that it’s more than just about football when I was at ACU. Now, this is like a second life for me.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Offensive Lineman Trevis Turner, 2011”

First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your playing days?

We had Tuesdays off when I was in Pittsburgh – on those days I worked at Merrill Lynch  – learning the family business. After football I went to New York and worked at Lehman Brothers for a few years, then opened up my own firm in Ohio – Blue Ridge Capital here in Ohio. My wife and I met in high school in this area so we decided to move back.

Was the post-football adjustment difficult for you?

It’s funny – until I got to the NFL I thought college football was the coolest thing. The NFL was the furthest thing from my mind – I never thought about playing football professionally. When I was done at Michigan I thought about the NFL then – but I didn’t want to be like those guys who hang round the sport and play in Canada and NFL Europe. I didn’t want that.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Defensive Lineman Grant Bowman, 2004-2005”

I’m sure you’ve gotten plenty of calls since you announced your retirement?

I call it a graduation from scouting. All the calls and mentions on social media and really humbling articles – it’s made me tear up. It’s been something else – who would have thought that an area scout could have this notoriety! I’ve had some deep calls – getting into people’s headspace on what I meant to them.

But I tell people – it’s never been about me. It’s about the team. When it’s about you it’s about ego.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Steelers Scout Mark Gorscak, 1995-2023”

First, can you let me know what you’ve bene doing with yourself since playing – including your coaching career?

Well, after retiring I moved to Florida – I’m getting used to playing a lot of golf now. I was still coaching at RMU actually when I bought my place – I knew when coaching was over I’d park it here.

Who helped shape the way you coached – your approach?

A lot of people. I had good coaches since high school and I had Tom Coughlin as a coach in college. My head coach from college was Frank Maloney – he just passed away. I always got along with my coaches – especially those that got involved.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Safety, Bill Hurley, 1980”

First, tell me a bit about what you’ve been doing since your pro football days?

Basically, after my release there I did a little stint with Trump’s team in New Jersey, then went to the Chicago Blitz and played in Canada some too. Then I just said I was done.

I came to North Carolina and started at a manufacturing job and worked my way through there. I’m now a VP at the Hanes division of Leggett & Platt, managing their bedding group. I’ve been here now for over 32 years now.

We also have a 15-year old son my wife and I adopted – he’s a good kid – likes to wrestle. We’re going to start teaching him how to drive soon, so I’m dreading that!

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Linebacker Guy Ruff, 1982”

First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your playing days and how hard was the post-NFL adjustment for you?

I’ve been in management – a lot of leadership and management in the jobs I’ve had. I was a manager then general manager at Ashley Home Stores then at Geico.

I’m not gonna lie. It wasn’t something I just rolled into, life after football. I played football since I was six years old. Some say you graduate and get your degree and you have it all mapped out from there and planned out, but my mindset was football. I didn’t think about tomorrow. There wasn’t a fairy tale ending after football to the nine-to-five life.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Defensive Back Greg Lee, 1988”

First off, what was the process like getting to the Steelers?

It’s started of great. I got my physical in and passed that, did the drug test and bloodwork….checked off all those boxes.

It was all quite a process. I started off after the draft as an undrafted free agent with the Colts. It was a good opportunity and I thought I had a good rookie mini-camp, but they released me. They told me they had concerns about my shoulder. I had surgery on it last April and they thought I could be a risk, medically. I never had a problem with it though so that was a shock to me.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Steelers Wide Receiver Cody Chrest”