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Tomlin Keeps Several Of The Steelers Staff In Place


Menudo
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I'm very happy to see that Tomlin has chosen to keep a lot of the Steelers coaching staff in place. This is rare, as usually a coach wants to bring his own people in. I think it will help in the transition to have familiar faces and schemes. The Steelers didn't fire Cowher and despite a poor record, I don't believe that the system is broken, so I'm glad Tomlin isn't coming in trying to fix something that doesn't need repair.

 

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07024/756277-66.stm

 

 

 

Steelers coaching staff: Tomlin tabs Arians as his offensive coordinator

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

 

By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

 

 

 

MOBILE, Ala. -- One day after taking in all the pomp and circumstance that surrounded his appointment as Bill Cowher's successor, Mike Tomlin rolled up his sleeves and went to work as the new coach of the Steelers.

 

A day that began with several meetings and hirings at the team's South Side facility ended nearly 1,000 miles away with more meetings and more hirings, including the people who will run his offense and defense.

 

Tomlin and director of football operations Kevin Colbert flew to Mobile, Ala., via private jet yesterday to scout college players preparing for the Senior Bowl and to meet with the coaches who remain from Cowher's staff. His first objective was to tell Dick LeBeau, the defensive coordinator the past three seasons, he would be retained to run the Steelers' defense, a move Tomlin confirmed during the news conference Monday announcing his hiring.

 

Then, he told Bruce Arians, the team's wide receivers coach, he will be promoted to offensive coordinator -- a position Arians, 54, once held with the Cleveland Browns. Arians will replace Ken Whisenhunt, who became head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

 

"Being back in the saddle and calling plays again is where I want to be," Arians said. "We got a good offensive football team and I want to maintain it and maybe make it a little better."

 

Arians will have at least one other member of the offensive staff to work with -- tight ends coach James Daniel, who is also expected to be retained.

 

But it is LeBeau, 69, who will have very little disruption to the defensive staff. Tomlin is expected to retain all the defensive coaches from Cowher's staff, including both secondary coaches, Darren Perry and Ray Horton, a surprising development for a coach who employed a different defensive scheme with the Minnesota Vikings. All the coaches from Cowher's staff had at least one year remaining on their contracts.

 

Earlier, Tomlin was at the team's complex on the South Side and retained another holdover from Cowher's staff -- conditioning coordinator Chet Fuhrman, who also had a year remaining on his contract.

 

Tomlin needs several other assistant coaches and already has discussed the openings with potential candidates. He has talked to former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Ken Anderson about becoming the team's quarterback coach, apparently replacing Mark Whipple.

 

Anderson, the Bengals' all-time leading passer, has been an assistant coach the past four seasons in Jacksonville, the past three as the Jaguars' quarterbacks coach. Anderson was the Bengals' offensive coordinator at a time when LeBeau was their defensive coordinator and head coach.

 

Also, Larry Zierlein, an assistant offensive line coach with the Buffalo Bills, is a possibility to replace Russ Grimm, who asked the Steelers to release him from his contract after he lost out to Tomlin to become the new head coach. Grimm joined the Arizona Cardinals yesterday as offensive line coach/assistant head coach -- the same title he had with the Steelers -- and will be reunited with Whisenhunt.

 

Zierlein was the offensive line coach at the University of Cincinnati (1997-2000) when Tomlin was the Bearcats' secondary coach and also was the Browns' offensive line coach in 2001-04 when Arians was the offensive coordinator.

 

Arians has been the Steelers' wide receivers coach since he was fired as the Browns' offensive coordinator in 2003. He was also an offensive coordinator at Alabama and Mississippi State, in addition to being head coach at Temple University.

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Concur. It's a good move to retain continuity. The Steelers are a solid team. They just had an off-year. All the things that happened to Roethlisberger were a clear indication that it wasn't going to be their year. Heck, I'd trade a down year for winning the Super Bowl Championship the previous year.

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Maybe we're watching the demise of the Steelers from day one. :D

 

Of course they could always ask Cowher to come back next year if that's true.

 

 

Actually, I think we are continuing to watch the demise of Randall at the Huddle................. :D

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Is it possible that the Steelers asked Tomlin to keep as many coaches as he can, seeing as how there are a few on this list with one year left on their contracts. Pittsburgh never was the type of team (ahem, Washington) to be paying where they did not need to.

 

Anyone recall if something similar happened when Coach Cowher came on board?

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Is it possible that the Steelers asked Tomlin to keep as many coaches as he can, seeing as how there are a few on this list with one year left on their contracts. Pittsburgh never was the type of team (ahem, Washington) to be paying where they did not need to.

 

Anyone recall if something similar happened when Coach Cowher came on board?

 

 

I know I read somewhere the Rooney's suggested keeping some of the current staff but told Tomlin the decision was ultimately his.

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I know I read somewhere the Rooney's suggested keeping some of the current staff but told Tomlin the decision was ultimately his.

 

 

"If you keep them, you'll get a bonus equal to 1/2 of their salary ... it's a good deal for you, Mike, and a good deal for me as I don't have to be paying for two sets of coaches."

 

"Yessir, Mr. Rooney. I think that does make a lot of sense."

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"If you keep them, you'll get a bonus equal to 1/2 of their salary ... it's a good deal for you, Mike, and a good deal for me as I don't have to be paying for two sets of coaches."

 

"Yessir, Mr. Rooney. I think that does make a lot of sense."

 

 

:D Yeah I think it went something like that.

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