Teryl Austin (born March 3, 1965) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach who is the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He was previously the defensive coordinator for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

from 2014 to 2017 and the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

in 2018.

Early life

Austin was born in

Sharon, Pennsylvania Sharon is a city in western Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city, located along the banks of the Shenango River on the state border with Ohio, is about northeast of Youngstown, about southeast of Cleveland and about northwe ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

from 1984 to 1987, where he was a four-year letterman and three-year starter. He played in the 1987

Bluebonnet Bowl The Bluebonnet Bowl was an annual college football bowl game played in Houston, Texas. A civic group was appointed by the Houston Chamber of Commerce Athletics Committee in 1959 to organize the bowl game. It was held at Rice Stadium (Rice Univ ...

. Austin played one season with the

Montreal Machine The Montreal Machine were the sole Canadian (and non-U.S.-based North American) team in the World League of American Football (WLAF), a springtime developmental professional league set up by the National Football League (NFL) that played in 1991 ...

of the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

in 1991.

Coaching career

Austin then began a career in coaching, landing a position as a graduate assistant at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

in 1991. In 1993, he accompanied fellow Penn State assistant Jim Caldwell to Wake Forest where he served as secondary coach. Nittany Lions Well-Represented on Super Bowl XLIII Teams
," Penn State Department of Sports Information (January 21, 2009). Retrieved February 11, 2010. Austin went on to serve on the coaching staffs at

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

and

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

before joining the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

' staff in 2003, helping Seattle advance to

Super Bowl XL Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2005 Seattle Seahawks season, Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers season, Pittsburgh S ...

in 2006. He joined the Arizona Cardinals coaching staff as coach of defensive backs in 2007. In 2009, he helped the team reach

Super Bowl XLIII Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champions Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

, where the Cardinals would lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl. On February 12, 2010, it was announced that Austin had been hired as the defensive coordinator for the Florida Gators.Robbie Andreu,
UF makes Austin hire official
," ''Gainesville Sun'' (February 12, 2010). Retrieved February 12, 2010. His tenure as defensive coordinator ended following the Gators' 37–24 victory over the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

in the 2011 Outback Bowl, and head coach

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is an American Sports commentator, sportscaster and former college football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green F ...

's resignation in December 2010. On January 26, 2011, it was announced that Austin had been hired as the secondary coach for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

, and helped lead them to a

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

victory over the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

. On January 16, 2014, it was announced that Austin had been hired as the defensive coordinator for the

. With Austin calling the defensive signals, the Lions finished second in the NFL in points against and total yards against, leading the franchise to an 11–5 record and wild card playoff berth. Following the end of the Lions season, Austin interviewed the Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, and San Francisco 49ers for vacant head coaching jobs. Austin was scheduled to interview with the Denver Broncos but withdrew from consideration. In the

2015 NFL season The 2015 NFL season was the 96th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL), and the 50th in the Super Bowl era. To celebrate the 50th season of the Super Bowl, a gold-plated NFL logo and other various gold-themed promotions w ...

, the Lions record fell to 7–9 and the defense dropped to 18th in total yards against and 23 in total points against. Despite this, Austin was still considered a top head coaching candidate and interviewed with the Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles and Tennessee Titans. Austin later said that he felt of the jobs he interviewed for following the 2015 season, that he felt that only two were "...like a legitimate job interview. Like I had a legitimate shot at the job." When asked if he felt the other interviews were just to satisfy the NFL's "

Rooney Rule The Rooney Rule is a National Football League policy that requires league teams to interview Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic-minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs. Initially, the program mandated ...

," he did not disagree with the statement. Following the

2016 NFL season The 2016 NFL season was the 97th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL) and the 51st of the Super Bowl era. The season began on September 8, 2016, with the defending Super Bowl 50 champion 2016 Denver Broncos season, Denve ...

, Austin interviewed with the Los Angeles Rams and San Diego Chargers. After missing the 2017 NFL playoffs the Lions fired head coach Jim Caldwell. Following Caldwell's dismissal, Austin interviewed with the Lions for the vacant head coaching position. On January 11, 2018, it was announced that Austin had been hired as the defensive coordinator for the

. On November 12, 2018, Teryl Austin was relieved of his duties as defensive coordinator after the Bengals defense became the first in NFL history to give up 500+ yards in 3 straight games, against the Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and New Orleans Saints, respectively. On January 8, 2019, it was announced that Austin had been hired as the Senior Defensive Assistant/Secondary for the Pittsburgh Steelers. On February 9, 2022 he was promoted as the defensive coordinator for the Steelers after the retirement of Keith Butler.

References

External links

Pittsburgh Steelers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Teryl 1965 births Living people Arizona Cardinals coaches Baltimore Ravens coaches Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Cincinnati Bengals coaches Detroit Lions coaches Florida Gators football coaches Michigan Wolverines football coaches Montreal Machine players NFL defensive coordinators Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Sportspeople from Sharon, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Mercer County, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Panthers football players Pittsburgh Steelers coaches Seattle Seahawks coaches Syracuse Orange football coaches Wake Forest Demon Deacons football coaches