bill is out!

TincoSkin · Post by **TincoSkin** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:48 pm

well bill cower stepped down as the steelers head coach... beyond no more annoying conversations about whether he or bret farvre will be back next year, what kind of impact does this have on the leauge and the steelers organization. after all hes been there 15 years. i hope the steelers dont fall into obscurity. i kinda like those guys in steel town.

SkinsJock · Post by **SkinsJock** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:20 pm

I think the Steelers will be just fine - that is the best job available right now! They have done fine with Cowher as their coach and actually were even better without him with Noll. No worries!

1niksder · Post by **1niksder** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:23 pm

The best available comes open the same day the job nobody wants opens up

Cappster · Post by **Cappster** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:43 pm

1niksder wrote:The best available comes open the same day the job nobody wants opens up

Why wouldn't anyone want to go to pittsburgh? They have had 2 coaches in 40 years. I call that job security!

1niksder · Post by **1niksder** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:09 pm

Cappster wrote:
1niksder wrote:The best available comes open the same day the job nobody wants opens up

Why wouldn't anyone want to go to pittsburgh? They have had 2 coaches in 40 years. I call that job security!

I"ll spell out what I said since you didn't get it

Pittsburgh had it's coach quit (opening the best available job) on the same day that Art Shell was fired (opening up the worst available job).

Where in that do you get anyone would not want to coach in Pittsburgh :hmm:

Cappster · Post by **Cappster** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:48 pm

Well, since the thread is about Bill cowher, I thought you were talking about him and the steelers. Say what you mean and mean what you say! Anyway, Bill Cowher IS the best coach available(yes i know he is taking a leave of absences) thats where it seemed like you were refering to, cower and the steelers.

RedskinsFreak · Post by **RedskinsFreak** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 7:05 pm

Here's Fantasy World at its highest form:

* Gibbs coaches out the last two years of his 5-year contract.
* Snyder gets The Chin for 2009

There ya go.

fredp45 · Post by **fredp45** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:15 am

why don't we add Cower now, we could use another coach............

fredp45 · Post by **fredp45** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:16 am

we could also add Coughlin in a few days too...art shell is available. Wonder why Danny isn't firing up his jet?

gus · Post by **gus** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:34 pm

fredp45 wrote:why don't we add Cower now, we could use another coach............

Super Assistant Coach - Defense & Offense may be a good title for his position.

BossHog · Post by **BossHog** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:37 pm

I hope Pittsburgh give the job to Russ Grimm.

RedskinsFreak · Post by **RedskinsFreak** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:43 pm

BossHog wrote:I hope Pittsburgh give the job to Russ Grimm.

As do I, since it appears Whisenhunt (another former Redskin) is more likely to be wooed by other teams -- especially Atlanta.

SkinsJock · Post by **SkinsJock** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:09 pm

I agree - Grimm would be a good fit and is surely ready to be a good head coach.

I recently heard (Sirius NFL) that some would not be surprised if Cowher is not just taking a year (maybe 2) off to get the sort of salary he feels he deserves and is now out there. Holmgren is getting $8M :shock:

These same guys think that if Parcells stays in pukesville 1 more year then Cowher would be available to go there, though the Jones & Cowher mix would be interesting.

Coaches salaries are getting up there - I'm surprised the local media has not blamed all of this on Snyder, after all the player's escalating salaries are all his fault, why not the college and NFL coaching salaries? :twisted:

1niksder · Post by **1niksder** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:24 pm

SkinsJock wrote:Coaches salaries are getting up there - I'm surprised the local media has not blamed all of this on Snyder, after all the player's escalating salaries are all his fault, why not the college and NFL coaching salaries?

The National Media was on him pretty hard after the SOS deal

SkinsJock · Post by **SkinsJock** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:01 pm

That's right, 1niksder - I remember that now - I also thought that it seemed a lot for someone who had not coached in the NFL but at that time I also thought that we needed to make a change and this guy seemed like he offered an opportunity to "light up the scoreboards" - boy what a mistake - while there are a lot of NFL coaches that can coach in the college ranks I think it is a little more difficult to make the transition from college to the NFL.

The same applies to a lot of college players. We constantly see that while the draft seems like a sure fire thing there are an awful lot of players who do not make it that are selected in the top 32. I was reminded of another one the other day in Gallery who everybody thought was "cannot miss" - the Raiders made a bad mistake there!

No wonder so many coaches are so leery about draft picks - an all star team from the second day and undrafted players would probably be favored over a team made up of players selected in the first 3 rounds. Be an interesting choice at QB between Manning and Brady!

Don't get me wrong I think a lot of our problems are because we have not used the draft very well over the past 7-10 years. The draft is great in so many ways but also is a source of great disapointment when those "valuable" picks return so little.

Sorry about drifting off - :oops:

- I think that Pittsburgh will not miss a beat because I am sure they will take Grimm (or Wisenhunt) after going through the process and this is a very stable group right now - a lot of the other positions are in various forms of rebuilding.

SkinsJock · Post by **SkinsJock** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:26 pm

I will add that IMO Cowher is not going into the NFL hall of fame yet, although I am sure he has not finished as a coach either and how he does (combined with the past 15 years) will help determine his status.

Right now he is just a very good NFL coach but he is not HOF material, yet!

1niksder · Post by **1niksder** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:51 pm

Search for Cowher's successor in high gear

Rivera, Grimm, Whisenhunt to interview
Saturday, January 06, 2007

By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Steelers will travel to Chicago to interview Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera this weekend, then turn their attention to candidates in their own house to replace Bill Cowher as head coach.

Two Steelers offensive assistants, coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm, line coach and assistant head coach, are at the top of the list of candidates. The Steelers will interview Grimm Monday and Whisenhunt Tuesday. They are the only candidates on the Steelers' staff, said team president Art Rooney II.

"I think our existing coaches and the fact that we feel that we have a good staff could be considered positives in their regard," Rooney said.

Whisenhunt and Grimm also are candidates elsewhere. Whisenhunt interviewed yesterday for the Arizona Cardinals' head-coaching job, after he interviewed Thursday for the Atlanta Falcons' job. He will interview with the Miami Dolphins today. Grimm also will interview for the Cardinals' job.

That could complicate matters for them and the Steelers, who prefer to go through a process in which they interview a number of candidates for the job and not rush to pick someone.

"As I stand here today, we have to go through our process," Rooney said, "and, if something happens and we can't move that quickly, we'll just have to live with that. As time goes on, that may become more relevant."

Art Rooney, his father Dan, the team's chairman, and Kevin Colbert, the club's director of football operations, will interview candidates.

"My dad and I will certainly make the final decision," Art Rooney said.

It's not a process often traversed by the Steelers, and for Colbert it's a first. The two Rooneys were involved in picking Cowher from a list of about a dozen candidates in 1992. Their previous search occurred 38 years ago when Chuck Noll was hired. Back then, Art Rooney was a teenage ball boy for the team and his dad conducted virtually a one-man show.

It took about three weeks for the Steelers to hire Cowher after Noll retired Dec. 26, 1991. Rooney would not say how long it might take this time.

"Our only goal is to find the best person for the job. The timetable will simply relate to when we feel that we have reached that goal."

Rivera, 44, will be the first coach interviewed. Because the Chicago Bears have a bye through the first weekend of the playoffs, it's the only chance the Steelers or anyone else can interview him until the Bears' playoff run ends. They could not hire him until after that playoff run is over.

Rivera's defense ranked fifth in the NFL this season and No. 2 in 2005.

The Steelers must interview at least one minority candidate -- called the Rooney Rule because Dan Rooney is the one who pushed for it. Rivera, who is Hispanic, qualifies as a minority and he may not be the only one interviewed. Another possibility is Indianapolis Colts assistant head coach Jim Caldwell, who turns 52 Jan. 16. Caldwell, a former Penn State assistant, can't be interviewed until the Colts play today in the first round of the playoffs.

Another obvious candidate the Steelers have on their list is Kirk Ferentz, the head coach at the University of Iowa since the 1999 season. He is a graduate of Upper St. Clair High School. Ferentz, 51, has turned down other opportunities to talk about NFL coaching vacancies. He coached six years in the league. There has been speculation that he would leave Iowa for one of only two jobs -- coaching the Steelers or coaching Penn State.

As of yesterday, the Steelers had not requested permission from Iowa officials to talk to Ferentz, but they may soon do so.

"We are still in the process of forming the list and investigating people that we would like to have on the list," Art Rooney said. "It will be an ongoing process."

Rooney virtually uttered the same words his father said when they began the coaching search 15 years ago that landed Cowher: They're not looking for a savior because they don't believe they need to be saved.

"I think we said to Bill at the time and Bill agreed coming in, we have a good core group of players and we can win right away," Art Rooney said. "We're in a similar situation this time."

SkinsJock · Post by **SkinsJock** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 4:23 pm

Thanks for a very good read - this organization is in really good shape and provides a very good opportunity for someone to come in and do a decent job. After reading this though you have to wonder if Whisenhunt or Grimm do not get the job will either one be there next year?

I think both are head coaches next year.