Randy Fichtner


Early years

Fichtner, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, was a standout football player at Meadville Area Senior High School in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He chose to attend Purdue University, playing defensive back for the Boilermakers. His father is Ross Fichtner, who played quarterback for Purdue, and then played defensive back for the Cleveland Browns.

Coaching career

College

Fichtner began his coaching career as a graduate assistant, serving with Michigan, USC, UNLV, and Memphis from 1986–1987, 1988, 1989, and 1990–1993 respectively. He earned the position of wide receivers coach and recruiting director at Purdue in 1994, serving for two years before moving to Arkansas State to become the offensive coordinator from 1997–2001. Under Fichtner's tutelage, quarterback Cleo Lemon flourished, setting numerous school records for passing and total offense. Fichtner returned to Memphis in 2001 to serve as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, instituting a new, highly effective spread offense that set school records for total offense. The new system allowed the teams to amass prolific offensive statistics, totalling over 5,000 yards in both 2003 and 2004 to rank in the top ten for both yardage and scoring, as well as supporting the development of quarterback Danny Wimprine and running back DeAngelo Williams.

Pittsburgh Steelers

In 2007, Fitchner was hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers as their wide receivers coach under head coach Mike Tomlin, replacing the promoted Bruce Arians. He was instrumental in the development of the Steelers young wide receiver corps, mentoring Santonio Holmes to multiple 1000-yard seasons and a Super Bowl MVP award as well as supporting the growth of emerging wideouts Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders, and Antonio Brown. In 2010, Fichtner was promoted to quarterbacks coach, replacing Ken Anderson after Anderson's retirement. On January 18, 2018, Fitchner was promoted to offensive coordinator while retaining his role as quarterbacks coach following the non-renewal of Todd Haley's contract with the team, announced by Mike Tomlin the previous day. On January 15, 2020, Fitchner was moved to the offensive coordinator role following the Steelers' hiring of Matt Canada as quarterbacks coach.