Get to know offensive quality control coach Eric Simonelli, including the best advice he received in coaching.
What got you interested in coaching:
"I went to college as a baseball player and then I tore my labrum, so I stopped playing baseball. I grew up a football fan, so I started volunteering at my Division III college, Wesleyan University, and I was a student coach there for three years and then lucky enough to get in the NFL right after I graduated college."
Who was your coaching inspiration:
"I'd definitely say the person who got me in the NFL was Ben Bloom, he coaches for the Tennessee Titans now. He was my coaching inspiration and gave me the ability to get my foot in the door and be where I'm at today."
What has been your favorite moment in coaching:
"I'd say the first time I experienced a playoff win. I was with the Dallas Cowboys, and we beat Tom Brady in his last game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That was the first playoff win ever in my career. So, I think that was a pretty big highlight."
Best advice you have received in coaching:
"Don't get too high, don't get too low. Just stay steady and even keeled. This is definitely an industry that has a lot of ups and downs as you can see every week during the season. So, the key is to just stay the course and stay in neutral. I think is the best piece of advice I've even given."
Offseason relaxation/reset:
"I love to ski. That's my big thing. I'm a big skier. I've been skiing since I was three years old. So that is my getaway. Go to the mountains, reset and refocus. Nothing beats that for me."
More on Eric Simonelli:
Prior to joining the Steelers, Eric Simonelli was the assistant linebackers coach at TCU in 2025, part of a coaching staff that led the team to a No. 25 ranking in the Associated Press poll and an Alamo Bowl championship.
Prior to his time at TCU, Simonelli spent six years with the Dallas Cowboys in a variety of roles.
He started in 2019 as a football research assistant and was promoted to special teams quality control coach/football analytics under Coach Mike McCarthy in 2020. He spent the 2021 season as the offensive quality control coach/football analytics, before moving to defensive quality control coach/football analytics in 2022, where he has remained ever since.
Simonelli was a student assistant coach at Wesleyan University from 2017-19, and an independent football research consultant for the San Francisco 49ers in 2018.
