A Quick Look At the Pittsburgh Steelers Coaching Staff

Coach Mike Tomlin has finished reshaping the Steelers 2007 coaching staff. We won't know how good this staff is for a few months, but it should be fun speculating about it until then. Without a doubt, Bill Cowher's biggest strength as a coach was the people that he put around him, and the trust he had in their ability to coach. To be successful, Mike Tomlin will need to do the same. In my opinion, he's choices have been a mixed bag. Perhaps his BEST moves were the MOVES he didn't make.

With the draft ringing in the future, it will be interesting to see how well Coach Tomlin and his staff evaluate their talent, and get set preparing for the new season. With that being said, let's take a quick look at the coaching staff, and what to expect from each.

Offensive Line Coach--Larry Zierlein--Zierlein takes over for the departing Russ Grimm. This, to me, wasn't a good move at all. In Zierlein, the Steelers hired the former Cleveland Browns offensive line coach (2001-2004). Now, I don't know about you all, but the Browns offensive line over the past few years hasn't been something that leads me to believe we need to hire their former coach. Granted, the Steelers have more talent in their line, but it's certainly a line in flux. Many will point to the slow start to the offensive line's inability to protect Ben Roethlisberger, and failure to figure out how to open up a hole for Willie Parker. This move doesn't exactly inspire me to think the line is going to improve greatly. Maybe Tomlin sees something that I don't.

Running Backs Coach--Kirby Wilson--Wilson comes over from the Arizona Cardinals, and before that, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You see the Cardinals, and immediately want to jump the gun and say this was a bad pick. Obviously, Wilson was hired first and foremost, because of his relationship with Tomlin at Tampa. That units back weren't exactly awe-inspiring either, although they did win a Super Bowl with Wilson at the helm of the Backs. If you look further back, you see that Wilson helped set the tone for several backs when he was the coach at New England and Washington. Both teams had solid ground games, and good backs that Wilson helped develop. I think Wilson may turn out to be a decent coach for Pittsburgh, but one to watch.

Defensive Line Coach--John Mitchell--There's really nothing that needs to be said here. Mitchell has been the line coach for the past 14 years, and is the longest tenured coach for the Steelers. This is a solid coach, who develops good defensive linemen year after year.

Special Teams Coach--Bob Ligashesky--I've already talked a bit about Ligashesky's hire in the past, and even though I'm not high on this hire, there is a wild card that I'll get to in a second. Ligashesky is a Pittsburgh native, but his tenure with St. Louis is certainly FAR from stellar. Yes, the Rams have had a history of aweful special teams units, and they DID have spots of good things happen last year, but inconsistency did in Ligashesky. I'm not high on this hire, but do think Special Teams might be okay. Why?....

Assistant Special Teams Coach--Amos Jones--Jones enters his first year of NFL coaching as Bob Ligashesky's assistant coach. This can only be a good thing. The Special Teams unit NEEDS help across the board, so, the more the merrier. Hiring Jones, in my opinion, offsets Ligashesky. Of course, Jones could prove to not be a solid coach (doubtful), which could MULTIPLY the Steelers issues, but overall, the tandem of Lig and Jones should be an improvement over last year.

Defensive Backs Coach--Ray Horton--It's always hard to know what will happen when you promote an assistant to the regular coach. Horton will be doing just that. It was relatively evident that Darren Perry was a bit overwhelmed for the job, even with Horton as the assistant, so the question must be asked, Can Horton handle the job? I don't know. It doesn't seem promising however. We'll see if Horton can step out of the Perry patterns, and get this unit to be more that Troy Polamalu and a bunch of hacks.

Wide Receivers Coach--Randy Fichtner--I'll let Tony talk a bit about Fichtner, not that he's biased or anything. Yo Tony, he hooks us up with nosebleed seats to ANY game, and I'll start pushing him for Tomlin's job. In all seriousness, Fichtner is another one of those guys that Tomlin worked with for a bit, and came back to once he got the Steeler gig. It's his first NFL job, but he's been an offensive coach for years, and a good one. At Memphis, Fichtner has been nothing short of spectacular. In 2004, Memphis was a top ten offensive unit in the country. In 2005, his top 2 QB's went down. What did he do? He moved his Wide Receiver to QB, and watched him go 5-2 as a starter. I think he can handle the Wide Receivers gig. My only question is, "Should he have been named the QB coach insteand?"

Tight Ends Coach--James Daniel--Again, this is a returnee from Cowher's staff. For those that don't know, Daniel helped develop Alge Crumpler for Atlanta before his tenure with Pittsburgh. He's done a fantastic job with the TE's for Pittsburgh, of course, including Heath Miller. A solid keeper for Tomlin.

Linebackers Coach--Keith Butler--As hard as I've been on the linebackers for the Steelers, they've been the steadiest unit on the team for the past 5 years. Butler's been the coach the entire time. Butler is a good developer of "Steeler Linebacker's," and is a friend of Tomlin's from their gig together at Memphis. You have to believe that Tomlin has to thank Butler a little bit, for getting this job.

Quarterback's Coach--Ken Anderson--I've already talked about Anderson as well. Even though I'm not CRAZY about the hire, it does bring a seasoned NFL coach into the mix, which is what Roeth may need at this stage of the game. Anderson has an incredible playing pedigree, and has helped develop some moderate talent into good quality QB's. Will he be a steadying influence on Roeth? God, he's a former Bengal QB. He'll be lucky if Porter doesn't rip his head off during drills. I do think he's an improvement over Whipple.

Defensive Coordinator--Dick LeBeau--LeBeau, of course, returns, and will be the steadying influence of this team. I believe that LeBeau will "add" to his already fantastic defense by beginning to throw the 4-3/Cover 2 into the mix. LeBeau's defense, which has confused opposing offenses for 20 years, will continue to be the strength of the team. LeBeau, having Tomlin's defensive mind added, certainly will continue to prosper.

Offensive Coordinator--Bruce Arians--This is another hire that many might scratch their heads about when they see that he used to be the Coordinator for the Browns. Of course, those seasons were the Browns most productive offensive seasons since 1999. Arians is a brilliant offensive mind, who Whisenhunt wanted to command his troops, and for good reason. Don't forget, for as talented as Peyton Manning is, he has Arians to thank for much of his success when Arians was his QB coach. I think we'll see good things from this offense this year, and much more success. Roethlisberger will be given a GOOD CHANCE to continue to improve.

Overall, I'm not really sure where the Steelers coaching staff will stand. The old stand-bys are good coaches. The rehires from within seem to be good coaches. There seems to be potential in a couple of Tomlin's hires. ALL THE COACHES have more experience than Tomlin. He didn't hire a bunch of rookies. Will this staff be as good as Cowher's from the past? I have a feeling it will be.

The Steeler Family Tree starts with Noll, says Tony Duncy....so I suppose the question then becomes, "Does that mean Tomlin is really a Noll disciple?" I don't need to go through the Coaching Tree to show you why (If I do, go back and do your homework before you say you're a Steeler fan).

"My philosophy is really out of the 1975 Pittsburgh Steelers playbook," said Dungy during media interviews while at Super Bowl XLI. "That is why I have to laugh when I hear 'Tampa 2'. Chuck Noll and Bud Carson - that is where it came from, I changed very little. Coach Noll just believed in fundamentally sound football, a lot of zone defense, getting fast guys who flew around to the ball and were well disciplined, and that is my background. That really hasn't changed in 30 years....and that's where my coaching philosophy really started. Coach Noll was a teacher. I can remember coming off the field making mistakes in critical, critical situations and Coach would say: What was your thought process out there? What were you looking at? What were you keying? And that's what I needed as a player to help me zero in on my job and not necessarily somebody who was just going to breath down your throat. That was my training and background. I felt if I ever got a job, that's the way I was going to do it. I grew up under Coach Noll and he was that way. We went to four Super Bowls in Pittsburgh eating dinner with our families at night so I knew you could do it and win."

It does beg the question did the Steelers take this into account when they hired Tomlin? You have to think they did. The Indianapolis Colts certainly have Noll to thank for their Superbowl journey. Take a look of that coaching picture of Noll, with defensive coordinator Tony Dungy and offensive coordinator Tom Moore. Wow, Dungy looks just as young now, and Moore looks just as old then.