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hawaiiansteel
02-04-2012, 10:01 PM
The Forgotten Offensive Coodinator Candidate

February 3rd, 2012


Two weeks are gone, and the Steelers have yet to hire a replacement for departed offensive coordinator Bruce Arians.

And it appears that Mike Tomlin isn’t in a hurry to do so – which is against his norm.

Since Tomlin put together his initial staff in 2007, he has either had to hire or promote a coach five times.

Usually, Tomlin has moved quickly to fill the vacated position.

It took only eight days for Sean Kugler to be named as offensive line coach to replace Larry Zierlein, and 14 days for Al Everest to officially take over the special teams for Bob Ligashesky.

The only time Tomlin had to hire a coordinator, it took him one day to promote Arians from receiver coach.

The longest period of time Tomlin waited to fill a position was last year when it took him 29 days to replace Ray Horton with Carnell Lake as defensive backs coach.

Today (Feb. 3) marks day No. 14 since Arians’ contract wasn’t renewed, and it appears that it will still be a while before a replacement is in place.

Now, Tomlin has brought in Jim Caldwell and Todd Haley for courtesy interviews with other names like Hue Jackson and Alex Van Pelt floating around as possible candidates as well as current quarterback coach Randy Fichtner.

But as longer the search drags on, another name has to be strongly considered – Kirby Wilson.

As we all know, Wilson was critically injured when he suffered burns on 45 percent of his body and smoke inhalation after his house caught fire while he was sleeping on January 6.

Wilson has been in the hospital ever since and has had numerous surgeries, however, has been getting better, and recently started physical rehabilitation.

Tomlin would love to have Wilson run the offense, but his health has complicated things.

The question is, can the Steelers afford to wait for Wilson?

Sure they can, but only to a degree.

With any new coach, and especially one as important as offensive coordinator, there is a transition period needed.

However, when it is a candidate who has more than 20 years of experience coaching including the past five on the Steelers’ staff, that transition period isn’t as critical as it would be for somebody coming in from the outside.

Let’s face it, if it is either Wilson or Fichtner who takes over, the offense isn’t going to be drastically different. Sure, there will be some tweaks, but nothing that can’t be worked out during the spring even though the new CBA has extended the offseason by five weeks.

With 10 OTAs (down from 14), three mandatory minicamp practices and now only nine consecutive weeks of off-season workouts permitted, that is still plenty of time to “tweak” an offensive system.

And that provides plenty of time for Tomlin to wait for Wilson, or at least get a better grasp if he will have any chance to return to the team by the spring.

If it becomes apparent that Wilson won’t be ready, they have a safety net in place with Fichtner.

As noted before, the longer there isn’t an offensive coordinator in place, the better chance there is for an in-house replacement to be named, and a better chance for Wilson to get the job.

by Mark Kaboly

http://blog.triblive.com/steel-mill/201 ... candidate/ (http://blog.triblive.com/steel-mill/2012/02/03/the-forgotten-offensive-coodinator-candidate/)

Chadman
02-04-2012, 10:20 PM
If they really want Kirby Wilson as the OC- why not appoint him, and promote Fitchner to QB Coach/ Assistant OC and let Fitchner start prepping until Wilson comes back?

Shoe
02-04-2012, 11:06 PM
If AR2's edict is to return to a blue-collar offense, all I hope is that our OC is more Norv Turner (DAL) than Marty Schottenheimer. That is, run/pass balance.

But when push comes to shove, a realization that the pass can (and should, in a lot of situations) set up the run... not ALWAYS the other way around. It's why we flipped the tables on the Colts that one year, when we upset their apple cart. It's why we've had so much success since then.

pfelix73
02-04-2012, 11:21 PM
Yep. Been thinking about this guy for a while now..Tomlin could be waiting to see how he recuperates....

:tt1

Captain Lemming
02-05-2012, 01:00 AM
If AR2's edict is to return to a blue-collar offense, all I hope is that our OC is more Norv Turner (DAL) than Marty Schottenheimer. That is, run/pass balance.

But when push comes to shove, a realization that the pass can (and should, in a lot of situations) set up the run... not ALWAYS the other way around. It's why we flipped the tables on the Colts that one year, when we upset their apple cart. It's why we've had so much success since then.

It worked so well because Cowher's Steelers still had the reputation as a team that WANTED to run the ball.

Despite the fact that we came out throwing in those games OUR ABILITY AND REPUTATION as a team with a great run game made throwing the ball EASY in those playoffs.

Ben under Arians NEVER looked as good in the playoffs as he did that year and Ben was a kid with the least explosive set of receivers in his career. If teams played us like they do today, as a team that was dependent on the pass, it would have been much more difficult.

Taken in the context of the entire season, the run did indeed set up the pass.

D Rock
02-05-2012, 01:10 AM
The Forgotten Offensive Coodinator Candidate

February 3rd, 2012


Two weeks are gone, and the Steelers have yet to hire a replacement for departed offensive coordinator Bruce Arians.

And it appears that Mike Tomlin isn’t in a hurry to do so – which is against his norm.

Since Tomlin put together his initial staff in 2007, he has either had to hire or promote a coach five times.

Usually, Tomlin has moved quickly to fill the vacated position.

It took only eight days for Sean Kugler to be named as offensive line coach to replace Larry Zierlein, and 14 days for Al Everest to officially take over the special teams for Bob Ligashesky.

The only time Tomlin had to hire a coordinator, it took him one day to promote Arians from receiver coach.

The longest period of time Tomlin waited to fill a position was last year when it took him 29 days to replace Ray Horton with Carnell Lake as defensive backs coach.

Today (Feb. 3) marks day No. 14 since Arians’ contract wasn’t renewed, and it appears that it will still be a while before a replacement is in place.

Now, Tomlin has brought in Jim Caldwell and Todd Haley for courtesy interviews with other names like Hue Jackson and Alex Van Pelt floating around as possible candidates as well as current quarterback coach Randy Fichtner.

But as longer the search drags on, another name has to be strongly considered – Kirby Wilson.


by Mark Kaboly

http://blog.triblive.com/steel-mill/201 ... candidate/ (http://blog.triblive.com/steel-mill/2012/02/03/the-forgotten-offensive-coodinator-candidate/)


Here's a summary for you all that don't want to read it...

Tomlin is always in a rush to hire new coaches. Except right now - he has waited 14 days so far to hire a new OC.


His other five hires included:

1 day
8 days
14 days
29 days

and an unmentioned amount of time



By: Mark Kaboly



REALLY?!?! Tomlin's hires have taken anywhere from a day to a month. He's halfway in between those two right now.

EVERYTHING IS SO DIFFERENT! I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!!!!

steelblood
02-05-2012, 10:20 AM
I wish Kirby the best. But, this guy was just in a medically induced coma. I think allowing him to remain at RB coach is the best thing for everyone. He can take his time recovering.

Keyplay1
02-05-2012, 11:33 AM
If they really want Kirby Wilson as the OC- why not appoint him, and promote Fitchner to QB Coach/ Assistant OC and let Fitchner start prepping until Wilson comes back?

That would make too much sense. They won't do that.

This Kirby Wilson for OC idea has been bandied about here and there with the primary reason being this is causing the delay in the Steelers naming someone.

I suppose anything is possible.

I think that simply giving Tomlin some practice at hiring coaches is just as plausible a theory as the one offered here.

Oh btw: Just so this post is not entirely worthless here is a little tidbit about the two teams playing for the WC today:

New York Giants:

Rushing: Total yds------Att------Avg-------PPG

-----------1427/32-----411/22--3.5/32-----24.6/9

Passing--4734/5-------589/6---8.4/3-------24.6/9

What a coincidence. The rushing and passing attempts add to exactly 1000. Would that not be then be a 58.9% pass to run 41.1% ratio. [Not sure if that is correct.]

New England Patriots:

Rushing

----------1764/20-----438/17--4.0/21-----32.1/3

Passing-5084/2------- 612/3---8.6.2-------32.1/3

That would be a 58.3% to 41.7 pass to run ratio??

Pittsburgh Steelers [WTHeck why not?]

Rushing

----------1903/14-----434/19--4.4/9-----20.3/21

Passing-4054/10-----539/19--8.0/5-----20.3/21

That comes out to 55.3% to 44.7%. Seems closer than some people project??

These stats are in line with the post. They give some insight into the Offensive coordinating concepts of the teams I suppose. I have no comments but there is one thing that lends itself to a shot of sarcasm in there. Notice the NE Pats ran the ball 438 times and the Steelers only ran the ball 434 times. Hmm! Had we only ran the freaking ball just 5 more measly times---------

Oh one more thing: Rumor has it that Kemo is taking a course in Advanced Offensive Coordinating at Carnegie Mellon University. He is my longshot pick for the OC job 4-5 years down the road. Progress reports will be made on this periodically.

Finally: Consider the preceding paragraph scratched. I was going to inquire if some fans found it tasteless or out of bounds and then I would erase it but I am doing it voluntarily. I think the reason for this sarcastic crap is that I'm really teed off at this whole OC search thing. As far as I know a lot of the fans favorite to get a chance here was Tom Clements. It is doubtful now that he was even contacted in the first place. So for some reason now this whole procedure and all this speculation is becoming very humorous to me resulting in these mindless mini-rants.

feltdizz
02-05-2012, 01:12 PM
courtesy interviews?

practice hiring coaches?

It sounds like the Pittsburgh media doesn't like Tomlin. I wonder why?

PSU_dropout43
02-05-2012, 01:47 PM
courtesy interviews?

practice hiring coaches?

It sounds like the Pittsburgh media doesn't like Tomlin. I wonder why?
Need some tin foil? :lol:

7 UP
02-05-2012, 01:50 PM
Tomlin should take his time. The most important thing here is to make the right hire. I dont care how long it takes. Not having a OC lined up at the beginning of February is not going to affect us one bit in June. No reason at all to rush something so important. If Art 2 would have rushed the interview process back in 07 we would never have hired Tomlin.

By the way I am totally against hiring in house on this one. I think we need a fresh way of thinking, and new ideas. Im afraid if we stay in house we will get more of the same.

Mister Pittsburgh
02-05-2012, 03:21 PM
courtesy interviews?

practice hiring coaches?

It sounds like the Pittsburgh media doesn't like Tomlin. I wonder why?

Cause Tomlin is racist. :tt2

Discipline of Steel
02-05-2012, 03:29 PM
By the way I am totally against hiring in house on this one. I think we need a fresh way of thinking, and new ideas. Im afraid if we stay in house we will get more of the same.

That is my concern too, but i believe the Rooneys will continue to help guide us back to a running game.

feltdizz
02-05-2012, 04:31 PM
courtesy interviews?

practice hiring coaches?

It sounds like the Pittsburgh media doesn't like Tomlin. I wonder why?

Cause Tomlin is racist. :tt2

I actually think it's because he speaks in cliches and doesn't give them enough raw meat...