Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

[PSU_dropout43]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

MarkKaboly_Trib Mark Kaboly
The more people I talk to and there is no denying that even some #Steelers players feel Todd Haley hire came from the top. #JustSayin
9 minutes ago

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

MarkKaboly_Trib Mark Kaboly
@jimwexell -- doesn't seem like a good fit. Tomlin surrounds himself with yes men. Don't think Haley is one of those.

I don't do the whole Twitter thing...did Mark Kaboly write this or did Jim Wexell?

#@RuthlessBurgher@# is @#Confused#@

[Steelgal]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

MarkKaboly_Trib Mark Kaboly
@jimwexell -- doesn't seem like a good fit. Tomlin surrounds himself with yes men. Don't think Haley is one of those.

I don't do the whole Twitter thing...did Mark Kaboly write this or did Jim Wexell?

#@RuthlessBurgher@# is @#Confused#@

I believe Kaboly was tweeting it to Wexell, so it written by Mark.

Honestly I've been following Kaboly for quite some time and his tweets were okay, until Haley got hired. I can understand a person not agreeing with it, but he won't let it die. Kind of like a newer poster here.......

[_SteeL_CurtaiN_]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

There’s no indication, but it’s hard to believe Rooney did not deliberately handle the matter as he did.

I just reread this. [/quote]

Bob Smizik is like the other 99% of the media, he longs for the days of two newspaper towns where each and every sports fans hung on your every word. Now he is reduced to a regurgitation speculation spewing machine.

As far as his attitude, wasn't there another coacvh around here wwho liked to yell alot with spittle flying all over the place?

[feltdizz]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

MarkKaboly_Trib Mark Kaboly
@jimwexell -- doesn't seem like a good fit. Tomlin surrounds himself with yes men. Don't think Haley is one of those.

I don't do the whole Twitter thing...did Mark Kaboly write this or did Jim Wexell?

#@RuthlessBurgher@# is @#Confused#@

I believe Kaboly was tweeting it to Wexell, so it written by Mark.

Honestly I've been following Kaboly for quite some time and his tweets were okay, until Haley got hired. I can understand a person not agreeing with it, but he won't let it die. Kind of like a newer poster here.......

Does Haley have a history of abrasive behavior towards the media?

[aggiebones]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

Arians wasn't a Tomlin hire in the first place. He was saddled with him and got some level of comfort with him. Tomlin wasn't ever going to call offensive plays.

To say he emasculated Tomlin is to say, you don't like Rooney or Tomlin and are trying to make up some rift.

Tomlin knows who the boss is, he's not stupid. And Rooney is no hard case to bring things down on Tomlin like that. Arians is a leftover guy. It was time to make a move. Going into this year, we HAD to keep Arians because there was no offseason to bring in a new OC and we had just gone to the Super Bowl.
Don't believe everything you read about Rooney pushing out Arians before this season, its not true and doesn't make sense. They gave him another season due to the lockout.

[feltdizz]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

Arians wasn't a Tomlin hire in the first place. He was saddled with him and got some level of comfort with him. Tomlin wasn't ever going to call offensive plays.

To say he emasculated Tomlin is to say, you don't like Rooney or Tomlin and are trying to make up some rift.

Tomlin knows who the boss is, he's not stupid. And Rooney is no hard case to bring things down on Tomlin like that. Arians is a leftover guy. It was time to make a move. Going into this year, we HAD to keep Arians because there was no offseason to bring in a new OC and we had just gone to the Super Bowl.
Don't believe everything you read about Rooney pushing out Arians before this season, its not true and doesn't make sense. They gave him another season due to the lockout.

The emasculation of Tomlin sounds much better than common sense...

[NorthCoast]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

The only thing Tomlin needs to learn is the art of obfuscation. Say something like "we will review everyones performance over the coming weeks and decide what, if any, changes need made". That is typical coachspeak that should be used at the end of every season.

[PSU_dropout43]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

@MarkMaddenX Mark Madden
Read @Dejan_Kovacevic column. He gets it. Art2 taking over. Tomlin has been reduced 2puppet. Steelers becoming wut u always laughed at.#3pm

[Slapstick]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

Oh, Mark Madden is going to chime in with an Anti-Rooney rant?

No way!!!

[Oviedo]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

@MarkMaddenX Mark Madden
Read @Dejan_Kovacevic column. He gets it. Art2 taking over. Tomlin has been reduced 2puppet. Steelers becoming wut u always laughed at.#3pm

Madden is what we always laughed at. Maybe someone should cue him in that his schock jock act got old about a decade ago.

[calmkiller]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

Personally I think everyone is blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Hes no longer with the team. That is all that really matters. We have a new OC. Does it honestly matter how the old OC left?

[hawaiiansteel]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

Monday February 13, 2012

Rooney II's meddling with Tomlin's staff is very un-Steelers-like

By Mike Freeman | CBSSports.com National NFL Insider



The extreme silence from Tomlin (right) suggest he's not too happy about Rooney's decision.

This is what we know about a story that continues to grow and may not go away anytime soon.

We know Mike Tomlin has appeared in two Super Bowls, winning one. He's one of the best young coaches in the NFL. We know that Tomlin wanted offensive coordinator Bruce Arians back. Multiple league sources confirm a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report that Tomlin told his staff Arians was returning. Arians, I am told, then informed friends around the league of the same news.

This is also what we know. The president of the Steelers, Art Rooney II, overruled Tomlin on keeping Arians. Sources confirm this as well. We also know that no one on the Steelers has denied any of this and they've had plenty of opportunity. There's been nothing but extremely loud silence from Tomlin in particular.

Now, in the future, my guess is Tomlin will play the good soldier and at some point say everything is cool. Yet no one will believe Tomlin, and now this has become one of the bigger stories of the offseason.

It's a story that has been lost amid the never-ending post-Super Bowl analysis and the ongoing questions about whether Peyton Manning's neurons are firing properly. It's huge nonetheless. These are the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the all-time classiest franchises in the history of sports. Steelers owners don't publicly overreact. Steelers owners don't force their Super Bowl winning head coaches to make staff changes (allegedly). When speaking with NFL team officials, no one can remember the last time a highly successful coach was forced to make staff changes by the team's owner (allegedly). That's because I'm fairly certain it has never happened in recent league history.

League types aren't the only ones with questions about this entire situation. The Pittsburgh media is equally puzzled.

Part of this story is about Tomlin, but another aspect could be a shift in how Steelers ownership handles its business. I don't believe the founding father of the organization, Art Rooney, would have done this to Tomlin. I know Dan Rooney. I'm certain he wouldn't. The Steelers have had three coaches in 43 years. That's a remarkable track record of stability, perspective and patience.

Not all of those years have been perfect. There have been cracks in the Steeler veneer, but not like this. The current owner of the team, Art Rooney II, has made Tomlin appear weak by forcing changes on his staff.

Rooney II by many accounts is a good man like the Rooneys before him, but there might be a little Jerry Jones in him. Rooney was quoted after the season ended as saying he wanted quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to "tweak his game." Not sure what that means, but Roethlisberger has Super Bowl appearances and is one of the elite throwers in the sport. Just can't see John Mara telling Eli Manning to tweak his game.

Not only was Arians apparently forced out (remember he retired, but only days later was hired by Indianapolis) but the Steelers hired Todd Haley to replace him. Haley is a combustible presence, and he doesn't have the approval of Roethlisberger. At least not yet.

The Steelers were fine. They were stable. They didn't need to make these moves. They weren't 4-12 last season; they went 12-4. The only thing that stopped them was a gimpy Roethlisberger and the fact Tim Tebow exposed Troy Polamalu's occasionally clumsy pass covering skills. That's it. The offense wasn't the problem. The Steelers could have easily won a Super Bowl this year with Arians. Adding Haley into the mix is like tossing a stick of dynamite into a placid lake.

"I've gotten a lot of calls and texts and emails from people around the league, both good and bad about him," Roethlisberger told the Post-Gazette. "Everybody has an opinion, as we all know, and they're letting me know what their interaction with him was -- good, bad and indifferent. I've heard a lot of things, and I'm looking forward to meeting him and forming my own opinion."

Wow, that's quite the endorsement.

Again, I expect Tomlin at some point to publicly endorse the release of Arians and hiring of Haley once he meets with the media and they're allowed to ask questions. Tomlin's performance will earn him at least a Golden Globe. He'll beat out Clooney. No, this isn't a Steeler civil war but it sure does seem like things aren't very civil.

[url="http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/17245562/rooney-iis-meddling-with-tomlins-coaching-staff-is-shockingly-unsteelerslike"]http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/1724 ... eelerslike[/url]

[fezziwig]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

Let me ask you poster this, " does anyone view Tomlin any less than before ?

I think the media is trying to create its own story as they have always tried. The media runs from true stories but, they'll stir the pot on small subjects.


I say "No" I still have the same respect for Tomlin as always. In fact, Tomlin would have been on my $hit list had keep retained Arians. I have gained more respect for Art II. And I gained more respect prior with Art II when, back at the end of 2003 he said and very hostile like too, " we've addressed all the needs I
m. ready to win the Super Bowl. " You could tell he was pissed that Cowher wasn't getting the job done and with that, I knew this Steeler team is more than just business for Art the 2nd.
I see it now with this Arians release. Art II isn't stupid. He can see our offenses over the years have had the weapons but have come up short so many times. Everyone talks this is a passing league, a put points on the board league but, with all the talent that we have and have had, Arians can only rack up yardage and fieldgoals.
Heck, the Arizona Super Bowl shouldn't have been so dramatic if, the Steelers didn't settle for a couple of fieldgoals. I understand that the defense has to do their part too but, we always have a top defenses and as I said and you all know, this league is now set up to score points.

Nope, I have no less respect for Tomlin but, I have a heck of a lot more for Art rooney II.

[feltdizz]

Re: Smizik: Art II emasculates Tomlin

I can't wait to see this new offense...