Steelers Source

Mike Tomlin

There was an article posted on Steelers.com the other day with Coach Mike Tomlin talking about the next few months in an interview format. Most of it was filler, but of interest is Tomlin’s assertion that the starting order for quarterbacks will be known before training camp starts. He also stated that “it’s not a three-man quarterback competition at this point.”

I’m guessing that this is bad news for the Dennis Dixon camp and the decision has already been made based on the off-season workouts that were just completed. Pecking order; Leftwich, Batch, Dixon. I think this is a mistake. You have to find out what you have with Dixon sooner or later. Leftwich is a finger in the dam, and Batch is on his last legs. If he can’t get it done you can always start Leftwich in the second game. Not the end of the world, as the Steelers are likely to come out of the Roethlisberger suspension at 2-2 if they are lucky.

Yesterday the Steelers hired Jerry Olsavsky to be their defensive quality control coach. I have no idea what that is, but they could probably use one. Maybe his job will be to stand on the sidelines and scream to Ryan Clark that he has the deep third. Jerry O played linebacker at the University of Pittsburgh and for the Steelers from 1989-1997, finally finishing his career with a year in Baltimore. Before coming back to the Steelers his coaching career took him to another major east cost power, Carnegie Mellon University, and most recently Youngstown State. Personally, I would have resigned him to play special teams.

This week the Coach Tomlin filled the remaining vacancies on his coaching staff for next year. Al Everest, who’s coached in the NFL, Canadian Football League, Arena Football League, in college and overseas in Italy, was hired Thursday to be the Steelers new special teams coordinator. His last gig was with the San Francisco 49ers from 2007-09, but the 49ers didn’t renew his contract after the season. San Francisco ranked last in the NFL in punt returns and No. 23 in kickoff returns this season. I’m stunned on this one. doesn’t look like he has the resume, and I’m thinking we get to look forward to losing at least 2 games next year due to special teams. I suppose one likely possibility is that the way the player’s executed on the field in this aspect of the game last year, nobody was willing to touch this job with a ten foot pole. Kind of like coaching in Oakland.

Also this week the quarterback’s coach position was filled by former wide receivers coach Randy Fichtner, creating a vacancy at that position. A deserved promotion and pretty safe since other than Dennis Dixon, who isn’t going to start for the Steelers at least is the only one to continue and develop. I can’t imagine the Steelers drafting a quarterback in this April’s NFL Draft.

That brings me to a special series that I’m planning, we’re going to take a trip down memory lane and chose the 10 draft biggest busts and 10 biggest scores over the past decade. Can anyone say Troy Edwards?

This past week the Steelers interviewed San Francisco 49ers’ special teams coach Al Everest. Since there has been no news of an offer, I presume that the search goes on. In other Steelers news, linebackers coach Keith Butler has turned down the defensive coordinator job that was offered to him by the Miami Dolphins. Butler is a holdover from the Cowher era and has been linebackers coach since 2003, so I’d say his decision to stay is good news.

I was talking yesterday about the Steelers having interviewed Buffalo Bills special teams coach Bobby April for the current vacancy in Pittsburgh. Well it looks like the search is going to go on a bit longer. April inked a deal today to work for Andy Reid in the same capacity on his staff in Philadelphia.

Looks like the current prioity during this off-season is finding some relief sooner rather than later for the vacancies on the coaching staff. Starting with special teams, a name familiar to fans who follow the Steelers closely, Bobby April, was interviewed yesterday by Coach Tomlin at a coaching convention in Orlando, Fla. April has most recently been an assistant head coach and in charge of special teams for the Buffalo Bills. Familiar in that he was on the Steelers staff during the ill-fated Super Bowl XXX season in 1994-1995. I need to take a time out here… “I’m not going to talk about Neil O’Donnell, I’m not going to talk…”

No agreement was reached and April met later in the day with San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Singletary.  He has also planed to meet with several other teams over the next week regarding their coaching vacancies. April may be a tough signing as he has a desire to some day become a Head Coach in the league and is much sought after for his special team expertise. The Bills have finished 3 of the past 5 years with the top ranked in special teams and he was also recently honored by the league’s coaches as Special Teams Coach of the Year.

In other news, the Steelers came to contract terms with Sean Kugler to become the offensive line coach replacing Larry Zierlein. Like April, Kugler is also part of the staff in Buffalo job hunting with the Bills being in the market for a new Head Coach. Apparently the Bills offensive line was decimated last year by injury and inexperience, so it’s may not be fair to evaluate him based on his one year stint in Buffalo. Prior to joining the Bills, Kugler was an assistant head coach/offensive line coach for Boise State where he coached a number of NFL prospects and draft choices. Jury is out on this one.

Zierlein gone, Arians retained, and now Special Teams Coach Bob Legashesky was released late yesterday. At this time, special teams assistant Amos Jones is still on staff and it isn’t known if or how the Steelers will fill Ligashesky’s vacancy. I’ll take a guess and say that Jones will get a chance through promotion, otherwise I think he would have been let go yesterday as well. This actually raises an interesting point. Does anyone else find it ironic that special teams was the only position on the coaching staff that required an assistant? Not exactly the most complex positions to coach. Last I checked it was run in a straight line, don’t get knocked on your ass, and find the ball.

I’m not sure if I want to push my luck, but after writing the post looking at potential coaching staff changes I thought that perhaps I may have left out someone. That someone is Defensive Backs Coach Ray Horton. Now I don’t want to hear any thing about “Madden Curse” Polamalu’s absence. Every team deals with injuries, and yes this was a big one but it exposed may other weaknesses. Some of those are related to personnel and that’s not any news flash to followers of the black and gold. but more disturbing was watching Ryan Clark run in circles all year not knowing where he is supposed to be.