Wednesday, August 02, 2006
I Learn Something New Every Day
After believing the rumors that I constantly read about Troy Polamalu craving the west coast and a return to California, I read something that raised my spirits this morning. Troy and his wife stayed in Pittsburgh for all but 3 days during the off-season. The free spirit who was raised in Oregon and attended college at USC loves the mountains, rivers and valleys of western PA. That's good news for Steeler fans as I thought as his contract came to an end he would look to return "home". One thing that is a little scary in the same article has Troy pointing out that Coach Cowher treats his players well and that's another reason why he would like to remain here. Well, hopefully this won't turn into a situation where Cowher leaves and then the players scatter! If Bill Cowher decides to retire after this season or next, I can only hope and pray that they already have an agreement in place with Russ Grimm to take over. There aren't too many people that I would be happy with, but having a guy coach the team that grew up playing highschool ball less than 10 miles from where I grew up would be fantastic. The Rooneys believe in building from the center out, starting with the offensive line.....who better to take over?
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Troy stays. By the time the contract is up he'll be so entrenched as an "Honorary Yinzer" he won't want to live/play anywhere but Pittsburgh. And money doesn't seem as important to him as it does for soooo many other guys.
If Cowher leaves, Troy will be OK as long as LeBeau is still around. LeBeau created the defensive monster we know as Polamalu. So as long as LeBeau is DC Troy and most of the other defensive players at least will not miss Capt. Spittle enough to leave.
There are plenty of guys on our coaching staff that could or should be groomed for the HC position should Cowher depart. Grimm certainly is one of them. Wisenhunt is waiting in the wings but I suspect he'll leave for greener pastures before he gets a shot at the Steeler job. Mark Whipple has got to get some serious consideration as should Darren Perry. Whipple has the credentials but Perry has the "Rooney Rule" where minority candidates must be considered in his favor.
Any speculation you may read about bringing Dungy back is complete hogwash. Although the Rooney's will certainly feel obligated to give an African-American candidate a serious look. Hence my idea that Perry will be among the candidates. Plus he's an ex-Steeler player and the Rooney's really like him.
After all, this is the franchise who first employed an African-American on the roster and also the first franchise to have an African-American on the coaching staff.
As I stated in an earlier post, we have the best coaching staff in the NFL. But after this season it is likely we will not. Coaches of this caliber cannot be retained for long. Any way you look at it, finding a suitable replacement for Cowher -no matter when it becomes necessary- should not be difficult from within.
We got bigger fish to fry right now anyway.
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