Friday, 18 January 2013 07:22

Written by Ed Bouchette

Good morning,
       It looks as though both Todd Haley AND Omar Khan will remain with the Steelers.
    The Arizona Cardinals hired Bruce Ariains to be their next head coach, the last of the openings in the NFL. Haley interviewed for that job and was a finalist, although his agent still hasn’t recanted his lies that he never interviewed for the job.
       And Khan apparently has lot out on becoming the next New York Jets general manager. He and Seattle exec John Idzik were the two finalists. Albert Breer of the NFL Network reported that Idzik will get the job.
       That’s good news for the Steelers with Khan, mixed news for some of them about Haley, whose presence was received with mixed reviews as the team’s offensive coordinator both inside and outside.  President Art Rooney II, though, endorsed him last week and said he did a good job so he will run the offense again.
       Will it be the same offense? There may be no Rashard Mendenhall, no Mike Wallace and there will definitely be a different offensive line. Change, though, is not a four-letter word.
      Haley wanted to improve the running game, among other things, and it was warming up pretty good at midseason before injuries collapsed the entire offense. They will need a feature runner to add to the mix next season. They also will need another speed wide receiver if Wallace leaves.
      It may be asking too much to get both a top-flight back and receiver in one year. If they do not, the offense will not improve under Haley or anyone else in 2013.
 Onto some stuff:
 --- Only Arizona could fire its Pittsburgh West coach, Ken Whisenhunt, and remain Pittsburgh West by hiring Bruce Arians. He may not have to go outside to hire much of his staff since he’s worked with many of them in place now, including his two coordinators, Ray Horton and Plum native Mike Miller.
 --- The Steelers defense has been among the NFL’s best on a consistent basis for more than 40 years, yet their offensive coordinators are the ones who keep becoming head coaches around the league. The list includes Mike Mularkey, Ken Whisenhunt, Bruce Arians and Chan Gailey over the past 15 years. The only defensive coordinator during that time who went directly to a head coaching job was Jim Haslett, although Dick LeBeau did become Cincinnati’s head coach after leaving the Steelers to become the Bengals’ defensive coordinator. Even those great defenses from the 1970s never spawned a head coach. Tony Dungy, the Steelers defensive coordinator in the middle of the 1980s, ultimately became a head coach but not directly.
 ---
And this morning we have one question:
--- YOU: Any chance the steelers are waiting to fill their ol and special teams vacancies till the senior bowl. And what would you think of Al Lowry as a special teams coach. I lived near nashville for a few years and thought he always did a great job. and your thought on Juan Castillo as ol coach.
ME: It has become obvious that Mike Tomlin is waiting until the Senior Bowl to interview some available coaches because that is not only a haven for prospects but for out-of-work coaches as well. I believe Tomlin will hire a line coach whose philosophy was similar to departed Sean Kugler. If the Steelers were serious about special teams, they would hire Bobby April.