John Mitchell announced his retirement from coaching on Wednesday, bringing an end to 29 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers in his half-century on the football sideline.

“I’m not sure that I can offer sufficient praise and admiration for Mitch as both a man and football coach,” said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin in a release from the NFL team. “Mitch has been a central figure in the success of the Pittsburgh Steelers for nearly three decades. He has coached some of the best players in this franchise’s illustrious history, and each one of them, to a man, would tell you their success was a direct result of not only Mitch’s coaching acumen, but also his mentorship, leadership and character.

“Those traits were most evident when he chose to attend the University of Alabama. Mitch’s path not only changed his life, but the lives of so many others. It’s impossible to truly measure his impact on the game, but I’m eternally grateful for the 16 years we worked together and wish him and (his wife) Joyce the absolute best in retirement.”

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A Mobile native and Williamson High School alumnus, Mitchell became the first African American to play varsity football at Alabama in 1971 after coach Paul “Bear” Bryant convinced Eastern Arizona’s two-time Junior College All-American to join his home state’s Crimson Tide instead of going on to Southern Cal.

In his second season, Mitchell was a team captain and earned All-American recognition from the American Football Coaches Association as a defensive end.

The next season, he started his coaching career, spending four years at Alabama.

“I wanted to go to graduate school, law school, and I called coach Bryant,” Mitchell told the Steelers’ official website. “I told him I wanted to go to graduate school, but since I didn’t have the money, I wanted to talk to him about getting a job around the Athletic Department, anything I could do to earn money and go to school. He told me to come see him.

“I can remember it like it was yesterday. Coach Bryant had a nice big office. He was at his desk with his glasses on his nose, and he never looked at me. He said, ‘If I offer you a full-time job on my staff, would you take it?’ I’m 20 years old. I just got through playing for him six months ago. I’m standing there, he’s not looking at me, and he says again, ‘If I offer you this full-time job, will you take it?’ I said, ‘Yes, sir.’ He groomed me to be a football coach.”

After Alabama, Mitchell had college jobs with Arkansas, Temple and LSU and also coached linebackers for the Birmingham Stallions in the original USFL.

After working as LSU’s defensive coordinator in 1990, Mitchell moved to the NFL as the defensive-line coach on Bill Belichick’s staff with the Cleveland Browns from 1991 through 1993.

Mitchell joined the Steelers as defensive-line coach in 1994 and spent the 24 seasons in that capacity. In 2007, he added the title of assistant head coach and had served in that role exclusively for the past five seasons.

“Everything I do as a coach came from coach Bryant – everything,” Mitchell said. “When I was on his staff, I had the chance to ask him a lot of questions that as a player you wouldn’t ask. He taught me how to become a coach. My players I coached here know because I talked to them about him. …

“In my 24 years coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line, the things that I coached were the things that I learned at Alabama. I would tell my players that the things we’re going to do here are not things John Mitchell thought about when he was lying in bed. These are things that were taught to me when I was at the University of Alabama. We had a lot of success. If you believe in them and work hard, you’ll have success.”

Mitchell is a member the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame, Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and National Junior College Athletic Association Foundation Hall of Fame.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.