John Mitchell

Playing career

Mitchell played on both the offensive and defensive lines at Eastern Arizona. Although Mitchell originally was a bit nervous about the reception he would receive at Alabama, as well as the amount of playing time he could garner, his family encouraged him to return home and accept Bryant's scholarship offer. Besides his family's encouragement and Bryant's assurances that his race would not be a problem, He started all 24 games in his two seasons at Alabama, during which time the team compiled a 21–3 record and won two Southeastern Conference championships. In 1972, Mitchell became the first African-American to be named a co-captain at Alabama. The same year he was named an All-American by the American Football Coaches Association. Although he played primarily defensive end in college, he was once again considered undersized to fill that role in the pro game; the 49ers wanted to make him a linebacker.

Upon being cut by the 49ers, Mitchell chose to close the book on this playing career even though he may have been able to pursue an opportunity in the fledgling World Football League, saying, "I had a chance, whatever happened, good or bad, and I figured a guy's got to work someday." When he asked coach Bryant for help in finding a campus job to make ends meet while he worked on his graduate degree, Bryant instead offered him a full-time coaching position. In giving up his law school plans to accept the offer to coach defensive ends, Mitchell became the first African-American assistant coach for the Crimson Tide. Over each of the next two seasons, they matched that 11–1 record, added two more SEC titles and finished inside the top-five in the polls. drafted in the 10th round of the 1976 NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys and selected as one of two defensive ends on the All-time Alabama team named by Sports Illustrated in 2006.

Arkansas

In early 1977, Mitchell accepted a position coaching defensive ends at the University of Arkansas under Lou Holtz, after deciding the move was "at least horizontal". Following his first season with the Razorbacks in which the team went 11–1 and beat second-ranked Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, Holtz gushed,

In 1994, he moved on to become the defensive line coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers under Bill Cowher, replacing Steve Furness. He's been with the Steelers ever since, making him the club's longest tenured coach, and one of the longest serving coaches with his current team in the NFL. With the arrival of Mike Tomlin in 2007, Mitchell replaced Russ Grimm as the team's assistant head coach while retaining his responsibilities in coaching the defensive line.

The Steelers led the league in stopping the run four times in the first fifteen years of Mitchell's tenure (through 2008). Aaron Smith (once), Brett Keisel (once) and Joel Steed (once). The team as a whole has also had tremendous success during Mitchell's tenure, making the playoff eleven times and reaching the AFC Championship Game eight times in his first 18 years. They've also made it to four Super Bowls, winning the championship in 2005 and again in 2008.

In Super Bowl XL in February 2006, the Steelers faced a tough test in slowing Seattle Seahawks All-Pro running back Shaun Alexander who ran for 1,880 yards and scored an NFL record 28 touchdowns in the regular season behind an offensive line that featured All-Pro linemen Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson on the left side. The defensive line would need to slow down the Seahawks running attack to keep the Steelers in the game, a challenge which Mitchell took personally. The players came through holding Alexander under the 100-yard plateau and most importantly preventing him from scoring, which was crucial to a Steelers win.

Mitchell coaches in a quiet and cerebral style which he picked up from the first head coach under who he worked, saying with typical understatement, "Coach Bryant wasn't a screamer, and I noticed he had some success." He has further described his approach to coaching thusly:

This style and the results it has brought have earned Mitchell the respect of his peers in the NFL. Clarence Brooks coaches defensive linemen for the Steeler division rival the Baltimore Ravens and thus meets the Steelers at least twice a year. Brooks assessed his counterpart saying, When I wonder how good a coach a guy is, I watch his players, watch how they play, watch how they respond to adversity, watch what they do, watch how they play techniquewise. And forever his guys are always sound techniquewise, always play very hard, look like they're disciplined in drills.

Personal life

Mitchell lives with his wife, Joyce, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the couple have no children.