LaCanfora reports we have hired...

[Iron Shiek]

Re: Steelers find their new offensive line coach

I don't know anything about the new offensive line coach, but his track record is unimpressive, to say the least. I was hoping for either an up and coming coach or somebody with a solid track record, and it looks like we got neither.

When Tomlin hired Larry Z, he had a similarly unimpressive track record (I think it was the Browns and Bills that he had worked for). The excuse then (and it was reasonable) was that the desirable candidates were gone b/c the Steelers were hiring late in the process.

Perhaps this guy will offer a different philosophy or blocking scheme, but I'm not a big fan of bringing in people with no track record of success who worked for losing teams.

The guy has been here less than 24 hours and it appears from other articles that he made a mess in Buffalo serviceable. Why don't we give him a chance to prove himself before we start the "fire Kugler" threads.

You above all others should recognize he is "innocent until proven guilty."

Yeah...as long as he didn't have anything to do with the decisions that led them to have like 3 rookies starting because they dumped all their meaningful talent, I'm cool with it.

And considering that line had about as many NFL starts combined as 5 of us here on the board, they didn't do a bad job. Plus didn't help that they fired their OC a week before the season. He was really working with some dire circumstances. And how does anyone really know he wasn't a sought after coach. Just because you've never heard of him? He very well may be an up and comer. But I guess his worth will be seen next year on the field. I'll give him a chance.

Hey Kugel, icks-nay on the orn-pay.

[Slapstick]

Re: LaCanfora reports we have hired...

Sean Kugler

Offensive Line; born August 9, 1966, Lockport, N.Y.
Offensive line Texas-El Paso 1985-89. No pro playing experience.

Coaching Experience:
Texas-El Paso 1993-2000
Detroit Lions 2001-05 (Asst. Offensive Line/Tight Ends)
Boise State 2006
Buffalo Bills 2007-2009

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: LaCanfora reports we have hired...

Let's hope that we can follow up one former Bills' assistant coach hiring...



with another...

[Pittsburgh]

Kugler new o-line coach

Kugler to become new offensive line coach for Steelers
Thursday, January 14, 2010
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Former Buffalo Bills offensive line coach Sean Kugler has agreed to become the new offensive line coach for the Steelers, replacing Larry Zierlein, the Post-Gazette has learned.

Kugler has met the past two days with Coach Mike Tomlin at the Steelers South Side facility and is in the process of officially signing a contract with the organization. He was part of a Bills coaching staff that was let go after the regular season.

Zierlein and special teams coordinator Bob Ligashesky were fired by Tomlin after the season.

Read more: [url="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10014/1028260-66.stm#ixzz0cbRZDtBk"]http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10014/10 ... z0cbRZDtBk[/url]

[MeetJoeGreene]

Re: Kugler new o-line coach

Too bad his first name isn't Freddy.

[SteelStallion]

Re: LaCanfora reports we have hired...

Cacth what Chris Petersen of Boise sais about him:





[url="http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/bobsmizik/default.aspx"]http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs ... fault.aspx[/url]

[phillyesq]

Re: Steelers find their new offensive line coach

I don't know anything about the new offensive line coach, but his track record is unimpressive, to say the least. I was hoping for either an up and coming coach or somebody with a solid track record, and it looks like we got neither.

When Tomlin hired Larry Z, he had a similarly unimpressive track record (I think it was the Browns and Bills that he had worked for). The excuse then (and it was reasonable) was that the desirable candidates were gone b/c the Steelers were hiring late in the process.

Perhaps this guy will offer a different philosophy or blocking scheme, but I'm not a big fan of bringing in people with no track record of success who worked for losing teams.

The guy has been here less than 24 hours and it appears from other articles that he made a mess in Buffalo serviceable. Why don't we give him a chance to prove himself before we start the "fire Kugler" threads.

You above all others should recognize he is "innocent until proven guilty."

I made this post before the thread was merged, and before I saw the articles about some of what he did in Buffalo. Definitely my bad with the hasty post.

[sd steel]

Re: LaCanfora reports we have hired...

I just found out that one of my good friends, who I coach popwarner and little league with is good friends with Sean Kugler and they played on the same line at UTEP under Andy Reid. Small world....I will see if I can get any info on him.

[Chadman]

Re: LaCanfora reports we have hired...

Sounds like a decent option for the OL. If he can make gravy out of the ingredients he's handed here- all well & good.


Defintaly like what that Meredith guy said (Bills player) about Kugler changing the scheme to suit the players- it should allow young guys to contribute right away if he constructs a system to suit their skills.

Plus, with his shaved head & goatee- he kinda looks a little like Chadman..

[costanza2k1]

Re: LaCanfora reports we have hired...

another note on Kugz, he was also responsible for converting Jason Peters from a TE to an All Pro OT...

[costanza2k1]

Re: LaCanfora reports we have hired...

[url="http://steelers.com/article/116924/"]http://steelers.com/article/116924/[/url]

Kugler’s qualities showed up on tape
Thursday, January 14, 2010
By BOB LABRIOLA
Steelers.com

For coaches, as it is for players apparently, the eye in the sky does not lie.

Mike Tomlin often has made the point that the football team is defined by what it puts on videotape, that he allows the tape to talk to him in the course of making decisions. What the videotape showed him was that Sean Kugler was the right man for the job as the Steelers offensive line coach.

Kugler, who will enter his ninth season as an NFL coach, signed a contract with the Steelers on Thursday, and he will replace Larry Zierlein.

“We have to be world championship caliber, and I felt we needed an upgrade in the production at the position,” said Tomlin about his decision to make a change there. “A lot of times those changes include players and coaches, and it’s a necessary part of this business.”

The ugly part of the business is something with which Kugler became familiar during this past season. As the offensive line coach of the Buffalo Bills, Kugler went through a season that redefined the word “unsettled” when it came to the offensive line, and the team still produced a 1,000-yard rusher in Fred Jackson.

“It starts first and foremost with his tape,” said Tomlin about what impressed him about Kugler. “He coached in the midst of some adversity up there in Buffalo this year, and I was really impressed with his tape. He started two rookie guards – Andy Levitre and Eric Wood – and both of those guys played well, you saw their personality on tape. They were finishers, they appeared to be technically sound, they knew what to do. Then there was a revolving door of injuries and so forth.”

To detail the revolutions of that door, here’s a start:

Bills coach Dick Jauron decided to trade starting left tackle Jason Peters, and then he cut veteran Langston Walker, who was supposed to start at right tackle, a week before the season started.

Kugler had to replace those two veterans with a left tackle in Demetrius Bell who was a seventh-round pick two years ago without an NFL start in his career, and with a right tackle in Brad Butler who hadn't played the position regularly since his college days at the University of Virginia.

Butler tore his ACL in Week 2. Bell was injured in Week 3 and then again in Week 10 whereupon he landed on the injured reserve list.

The Bills started seven different tackle tandems through the course of the season and nine different offensive line combinations over 16 games. Their starting tackles during the season included Kirk Chambers, who originally was cut by the Bills when the roster was reduced to 53 in early September, journeyman Jonathan Scott and rookie Jamon Meredith, who was signed off Green Bay's practice squad. Buffalo also had another rookie practice squad tackle who was supposed to start the Week 16 game at Atlanta – Andre Ramsey – but he injured his calf in practice that week and could not play.

By season’s end, the Bills had five offensive linemen on the injured reserve list – two tackles and three guards – along with their two starting tight ends (Derek Schouman and Derek Fine) who were considered the team’s best blockers. One of the guys who ended up filling in for the Bills was former Steelers No. 1 pick Kendall Simmons, and he vouched for Kugler’s abilities as a coach without being asked.

“Also, the offensive coordinator (Turk Schonert) got fired before the first week of the season,” said Tomlin. “In the midst of a lot of things, the videotape was very good. They got after people, they put hats on hats, they finished. The things Sean and I talked about when he came in here showed up on tape.”

There is a mentality required to play the different positions on an NFL team, and that personality often stems from the assistant coach with whom the players work on a daily basis.

“That could be said for any position. I believe that,” said Tomlin. “The great position coaches I have been around, the core beliefs they have in regards to football and coaching football show up on tape and are displayed by the men they coach.”

As for Sean Kugler’s coaching personality?

“He’s a fundamentalist. He’s rock solid schematically. He coaches (his players to) finish. He believes in some of the core things I believe in in terms of winning by attrition in the trenches. Again, it all showed up on the tape.”

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Re: LaCanfora reports we have hired...

Dear Freddy Kreuger,
Please make Doug Legursky a pulling RG so he can utilize his insane speed for his size and massive non-obese, muscle bound physique to pancake players and lead the charge for Mendenhall to rush for 2,000 yards next season. If you do this, I promise to feed high school kids roofies so they fall asleep for you to attack them in their dreams.
Thank you and happy hunting,
Mister Pittsburgh

PS-In case you don't know him, here is his video....
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIHRG_r-hhg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIHRG_r-hhg[/url]

[Chadman]

Re: LaCanfora reports we have hired...

Dear Freddy Kreuger,
Please make Doug Legursky a pulling RG so he can utilize his insane speed for his size and massive non-obese, muscle bound physique to pancake players and lead the charge for Mendenhall to rush for 2,000 yards next season. If you do this, I promise to feed high school kids roofies so they fall asleep for you to attack them in their dreams.
Thank you and happy hunting,
Mister Pittsburgh

PS-In case you don't know him, here is his video....
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIHRG_r-hhg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIHRG_r-hhg[/url]

You'd have to think there is something there to work with, wouldn't you? Hopefully Legursky gets a real shot at RG.

Then draft Tannant from Boston College to back-up Hartwig.