NFL Exec Predicts Steelers OC Arthur Smith to be 2025 HC Target After Rejecting UNC

One NFL coach is expected to be a top target for a head coaching position in the 2025 season.

Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith reportedly declined an opportunity to coach his alma mater, North Carolina, but is eager to take on the role of an NFL head coach once again, according to The Athletic's Mike Sando.

The current offensive coordinator has helped Russel Wilson and the Steelers turn their season around, sitting 9-3 and in first place in the AFC North.

The former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons from 2021 to 2023, now in his first season as the Pittsburgh Steelers' offensive coordinator, is making a strong case for a return to a head coaching role.

"I think Arthur Smith will be a candidate for a head-coaching job," another exec said, per Sando. "I think we are going to see the second-time head coach come back in vogue."

In 2006, the Tar Heels graduate joined the football program as a graduate assistant, but he has no desire to return to Tar Heel and give up his NFL career just yet.

"I appreciate it, love that place. But that's not my focus," Smith told reporters after a preliminary call with North Carolina, according to ESPN's Ian Rapoport. "I've got one of the best jobs in football right now. There's a lot to be said too about (how you) can't put a price on personal and professional happiness, which I have here."

Smith's head coaching prospects may depend on the success of Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn, who followed a similar trajectory to Smith's.

Quinn, the former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons from 2015 to 2020, was fired alongside general manager Thomas Dimitroff after an 0-5 start to the 2020 season. He then stepped down to a defensive coordinator position with the Dallas Cowboys.

Finding success in Dallas, Quinn earned a second chance as a head coach, much like Smith is now poised to do.

"There are quite a few guys who fell out of favor — Matt Nagy being one, Arthur Smith being another — who maybe were tied to the wrong quarterback in their previous stops and will say, 'Look at what I've done as an offensive coordinator in my new place,'" Sando said.