The Pittsburgh Steelers have been known for their share of drama throughout the locker room for many years now. Antonio Brown was the main culprit of these issues at one point in time, and even though he hasn’t played in Pittsburgh since 2018, he is still trying to stir things up whenever he feels like it. In a recent post on X, he went straight after the Steelers’ new wide receivers coach for lying. Brown has been accusing many people of many things as of late, so who knows if this accusation holds any weight.
Brown went after Zach Azzanni, who was hired by the Steelers as their wide receivers coach. There were ideas floating around that he was brought in mainly to handle high-emotion players like George Pickens. Part of that idea comes from Azzanni’s days with the University of Central Michigan, when Azzanni was coaching Brown. Amanda Godsey brought that part up when she reported the hiring in the first place.
The Steelers are expected to hire new WR coach Zach Azzanni.
Azzanni was assistant head coach and wide receivers coach at Central Michigan from 2007-09.
While there, he coached Antonio Brown and was the lead recruiter for AB as well.
— Amanda Godsey (@AmandaFGodsey) February 8, 2024
Brown clearly took exception to his name being thrown out there and did what he does best: cry about things on social media. He believes that Azzanni has only been getting jobs everywhere because of him throwing Brown’s name around, and he wanted to throw that idea out there.
https://twitter.com/AB84/status/1758853319886266651?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1758853319886266651%7Ctwgr%5E0bfeaec570e0d4bf3300cee3ca72e447618af6ce%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.steelernation.com%2F2024%2F02%2F18%2Fsteelers-new-coach-antonio-brown-lies
After leaving Central Michigan, Azzanni bounced around from school to school before settling down with the Tennessee Volunteers for four years. Since then, he was brought in by the Chicago Bears and has continued to coach receivers at the NFL level. He previously had a five-year stint with the Denver Broncos, followed by a one-year stint on the same New York Jets team that lost Aaron Rodgers after one possession.
Steelers’ Hire Of Azzanni Not Welcomed By Brown
Brown originally was going to play for Florida International University, but his scholarship and acceptance to the school were quickly rescinded after an altercation. Brown allegedly chose Central Michigan because of the recruitment efforts of Butch Jones, as opposed to Azzanni, even though Azzanni helped him switch from quarterback to wide receiver.
Brown had issues when it came to the boring stuff about football, like meetings. In fact, there was some unknown event with them that led to him tearing up Azzanni’s office. Paul Velero, another coach at Central Michigan, seemingly described Brown’s emotional issues as bipolar, and Azzanni couldn’t control that aspect of him.
“[He had] issues with emotions: high one day and very low the other. We had to recognize who that was coming through that door that morning and deal with him accordingly.”
On the field, he averaged about 125 touches, 1,243 yards, and 16 touchdowns per season. While most of his touches and yards were in the receiving game, the majority of his touchdowns came from running the ball. Despite Brown’s shortcomings off the field, Azzanni was able to successfully develop Brown as a wide receiver and set him up for his future in the NFL.
While Brown’s off-field issues were unsolvable for Azzanni (as well as Mike Tomlin), he did take a high school quarterback and developed him into one of the greatest wide receivers to ever play. It’s safe to say that Azzanni did have some positive impact on his career, even if he does not believe so. Now, Azzanni is looking forward to taking on the “handler” role for more disgruntled Steelers receivers.
