The Pittsburgh Steelers have had three head coaches since Chuck Noll was hired in 1969. After Noll retired following the 1991 season, Bill Cowher was named the team’s head coach. However, another candidate at the time for the job was Steelers defensive line coach “Mean” Joe Greene. According to Merril Hoge on Episode 5 of Ben Roethlisberger’s Footbahlin podcast, Dan Rooney didn’t hire Greene because he thought it wouldn’t be fair for Greene to be compared to Noll.
Hoge said that as a captain, Greene asked him to talk to Art Rooney about the players’ interest in having Greene become the next head coach.