Pittsburgh Steelers assistant coach Teryl Austin traveled a long road to come back home.

A native of Sharon, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh's new senior defensive assistant/secondary coach's nomadic, 28-year career would take Austin to four different colleges before he jumped to the pros with the Seattle Seahawks in 2003 and Arizona Cardinals in 2007, where he became one of the league's more respected defensive coaches.

He spent this past season with the Cincinnati Bengals, a division rival of his hometown team before Marvin Lewis fired him in an attempt to save his own job.

Said Austin about his departure with the Bengals (as DC last year):

“It happens. I don’t ever doubt myself as a coach and what I can do and the way I coach and how I teach people. That stuff happens. It’s a tough business. I had a tough year. And luckily I get a chance to rebound this year, and I’m looking forward to it.”

On the Steelers' staff, Austin is reunited with Tom Bradley as they share duties as secondary coaches. Bradley broke Austin into coaching, getting him his first job on Joe Paterno's staff at Penn State.

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There may be no bigger challenge than coaching the Steelers secondary, the most underperforming part of the team since the departures of Troy Polamalu and Ike Taylor. They have not had a Pro Bowler since Polamalu made it in the 2013 season and no Pro Bowl cornerback since Rod Woodson 22 years ago.

Austin welcomes the challenge, though, because he is finally home again.

“This place means a lot to me,” Austin said. “It’s exciting to be back.”