PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – There were a couple of observations from Steelers President Art Rooney II discussing the open offensive coordinator position on Monday. It’s Mike Tomlin’s hire, not his. They are looking for fresh ideas, but someone who can work with the talent they have. It’s a ‘very important’ hire, but they will take their time.
Let’s go through a couple of the answers Rooney gave to reporters on Monday.
What kind of offense does Rooney want?
“I think we have an idea of what we want the Steeler offense to look like,” Rooney said. “Start with that and we have a certain roster mix that leads to, you can't completely change your roster overnight, so you kind of have to have a coordinator that feels like they can work with this roster and be successful with it.”
“So, somebody that believes in that and comes in and can work with this roster do what's kind of already built here in terms of the roster and some of the skill sets that we have. I think that's what we're looking for.”
It would appear that means a ball-control offense with the ability to take shots, like what we saw for the last few games of the regular season.
“We're looking forward to have someone come in and take a fresh approach who can help our young players grow and perform and have the of offense perform at a consistently high level,” Rooney said as a basic job description.
Who is making the hire?
“I mean number one, to be clear, it's Mike’s (Tomlin) hire,” Rooney said. “Head coaches, hire their coordinators and I think be a mistake for me to try to a screw up the lines of authority, let's say, in terms of how things are supposed to work.”
“That being said, Mike and I talk every day. (GM) Omar (Khan) talks every day sharing ideas, but that's got to be Mike's hire. And I think Mike identified we want somebody that has some experience and somebody that has let's say a track record that we can look at and feel comfortable with. And so those are the things that Mike is looking for.”
While they talk about candidates daily, Rooney said he’s not taking over and presenting Tomlin with who his offensive coordinator will be.
When will the new OC be in place?
That’s where Rooney said it gets tricky.
“It is a complicated set of scenarios you deal with this time of year where people are interviewing for various teams and so I think we're doing our best to kind of identify guys that we're not wasting each other's time when we have an interview,” Rooney said. “And so, I think we'll get there. I mean I think there are enough good candidates out there that we will find one.”
Rooney said they’ve interviewed three ‘great guys’ so far and they are deciding where they will go from there. He said Tomlin and Khan are in Mobile, Alabama for the Senior Bowl the next few days and ‘may get a chance to talk to some people down there’.
“I feel that it'll get wrapped up sooner rather than later,” Rooney said as the closest time reference he would give.
West Coast bias
Rooney asked about them reviewing a number of coaches with connections to Rams head coach Sean McVey and 49ers head coach Mike Shanahan as potential offensive coordinator candidates.
“I mean it's a successful system,” Rooney said bluntly. “There's no two ways about it. Those guys have had a lot of success and their approach to offensive football has been pretty impressive. I’m not going to say we're only going to talk to people that come off of that tree, but certainly worth talking to those guys.”
In the three confirmed interviews:
· Thomas Brown-won a Super Bowl with McVey and the Rams.
· It’s a few degrees of separation for Jerrod Johnson-he worked with Bobby Slowick in Houston this year. Slowick worked for the Rams and McVey last season. Johnson also worked with Klint Kubiak at Minnesota, Kubiak is part of the 49ers and Shanahan now.
· Arthur Smith-worked with former Steelers assistants Ken Whisenhunt, Mike Munchak and Mike Mularkey with Tennessee.
“This is an important hire to get the right person in there to help this offense take the next steps,” Rooney said.