Teryl Austin (born March 3, 1965) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach who is the

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

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 club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(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) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

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 club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

in 2018.

Early years

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 northwest o ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

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 from 1959 ...

. Austin played one season with the

Montreal Machine The Montreal Machine were the sole Canadian 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 and 1992. There were also three Euro ...

of the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

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 campu ...

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

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and

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

' 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 Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion f ...

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 Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interco ...

in the

2011 Outback Bowl The 2011 Outback Bowl, a college football bowl game, matched the Florida Gators of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) against the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten. The 25th edition of the Outback Bowl, it was played at Raymond James Stadiu ...

, and head coach

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

'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, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

, and helped lead them to a

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victory over the

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. 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 with 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 ethnic-minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs. It is an example of affirmative action, even though before 2022 there wa ...

," 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 defending Super Bowl 50 champion Denver defeating Carolina in the NF ...

, 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.

References

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