Just throwing this out there

Pure speculation, but reading this article got the wheels turning a little bit:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/09/did-mike-tomlin-want-to-hire-todd-haley/

Its obvious that the whole fire Arains, hire Haley situation is Rooneys doing. Given that Tomlins contract runs out at the end of next season, it makes me think that this could be the beginning of the end for Mike Tomlin with his heir apparent, Todd Haley already on staff and in waiting. Ultimately is Todd Haley the coach of the Steelers in 2013 (0r 2014 if the Steelers exercise MTs option year)? The final year, before the option year of the coaches contract is when the Steelers typically resign their HC to an extension. I'll be watching to see if that happens this summer.

Thoughts?

 

Something like this would certainly be a departure from the norm of the last 44 years. IMO Tomlin is here for a long time - unless - there is something going on between him and the Rooneys that we do not know about.

 

I hope not but you never know.

 

[youtube:1o0zbldm]Ur0g-R7ZODY[/youtube:1o0zbldm]

Well, excuse me for throwing out something to banter about.

Tell me Ray, what kind of topic would you prefer?

 

Almost no coach stays in one place for 15+ years anymore. I know this has been the norm in PGH, but I don't know that you can expect it to keep happening. That said, Tomlin is young, he seems to be enjoying his job, and doesn't look burned out. So I'd expect him to stay, unless, as you say, there's some friction between him and Art II.

Tomlin could take a year off, and he'd bet a hot hire. I don't know if he wants that, but it's there for him if he does.

 

Well that article eludes to the Ron Cook article I posted in another thread. It looks like Ben gave another ringing endorsement of Hailey when he said:
“The powers that be make decisions and we live with it and go with it. We’ll just have to see where we go from here.”

I really can't wait to see these two work things out

 

Tomlin has been to two super bowls won one and has not had a losing season and thre 12-4 seasons why in the world would they fire him.

 

Florio is a tool

 

they won't fire him, they just won't renew his contract. where have we seen this before? that guy didn't have a losing season either, but???? not that, it didn't need done, i'm just sayin.

 

I think this pretty much sums it up.

 

I don't think Tomlin is going anywhere any time soon.

 

Sorry guys, but this idea is absolutely ludicrous.

Bobby, so offence meant, but I think you read way too far into that story.

 

I think the Rooneys are sort of displeased with Tomlin at the moment. He really hasn't "made this his team" by standing up and influencing his ideas. When Rooney said to improve the running game, Arians was obviously failing. Tomlin should of been there to nip it in the bud. It is obvious Tomlin and the rest of the team are TERRIBLE clock managers. Completely awful. Wasted timeouts and challenges, poor 2 minute drill and 4 minute drill. The team in general would hit spurts of sloppy undisciplined play leading to a lot of penalties. There are other issues but my point being the Rooneys are kind of warning Tomlin, shape up or ship out with them taking initiative

 

Its going to take a few straight losing seasons before he is gone the rooneys dont just fire HC

 

Non story, really. Writers such as Ron Cook are more suited to TMZ than sports.

 

No offense taken. I'm not even sure I believe it. I'm just opening up for discussion.

 

Of course, the Steelers could get rid of Tomlin, but I doubt it.

His record speaks for itself. He has held the team together as head coach through suspension of the BR, trading of key wide receivers due to problems, excessive fines and unwarranted suspensions of his defensive players, key injuries to a weak offensive line and QB, injuries to Polamalu, etc.

In my opinion, he is doing a great job with the cards he has been dealt. I am looking forward to next year with Haley. If he can get Roethlisberger to dump the ball off or throw it away when under pressure, we are in for another great season.

 

I don't understand why people think Tomlin is on thin ice. Two Super Bowl appearances and one victory in 5 years. He just went 12-4. Cowher has certainly done worse. As far as I can tell, the only "mistake" Tomlin has made in this situation is not firing his OC soon enough. Did we forget that the Rooneys could have fired him at any point too? It's not just the coach's job to fire just like it's not just the coach's job to hire. Especially when ownership/FO is as talented and involved as ours.

Suppose this exact scenario arises again in the future, either with Haley or some other assistant coach. What's the worst case scenario? Tomlin repeats his mistake and fails to fire the guy on time? So the Rooneys can do it! No harm done! Why would you fire a coach over something like this? That would be like firing a position coach for not recommending the benching of player, when it's really the head coach's job to pick the players. IF that position coach is good at his job, get over it and let him get back to work. Because there is a hell of a lot more to it than just benching players, and there are more people who can do that anyway.

 

One major flaw in everyones logic so far.

Everyone is assuming that the only way that Tomlin leaves the Steelers is if he is fired.

Given that the Steelers typically renegotiate their coaches contracts when the have one year left, as Tomlin does this year, there has to have been some talk about offering him a contract. What if the general feel is that Tomlin is going to want too much money? What if there is a sense that given his success he's going to want to be paid $10M/yr? Don't assume that just because Cowher never really wanted to coach anywhere else and was happy in Pittsburgh making what he made when he could have absolutely let his contract expire and gone to the highest bidder, that Tomlin is the same way. Especially since MT is currently the 4th highest paid coach, but is only eclisped in performance by BB in New England.

I know, I know, Im deepening the insanity!

 

I agree. Ron Cook is a certified Haley hater and made it very clear in his articles leading up to the Haley hiring that he didn't want him in Pittsburgh. I think all of the PPG staff are upset right now because none of them seemed to have a clue that the Steelers were set to hire Todd Haley. We were more accurate on this message board than the so-called professionals at the PPG who are apparently close to the Steelers organization. Yeah, right!

 

I think the Rooney's ARE looking for more out of Coach Tomlin,it is imperative
for coach T to, if you will, step up his game.Whether they will not renew his contract
because of this I do not know? Stranger things have happened?

 

I think that the PPG is off base again with this. I don't think Tomllin is going anywhere. I think that Tomlin has his flaws as we all do, but in general he is a good coach. The only two mistakes he has made is not firing BA sooner, and letting Ben play hurt in the 49ers game. I think BA had a lot to do with Ben playing in the 49er game. He listen to Ben and let Ben talk him into letting him play in the game. BA went to Tomlin and told him that Ben would give them the best chance to win the game. Tomlin went with it and stuck with Ben when he should have started Batch or at least took Ben out early. If we win that game, we are the AFC North Champions and possibly headed for another Super Bowl. All of this is why BA is no longer the OC because he let Ben do what he wanted to do all the time, and that was his down fall.

Now, I believe Tomlin made the choice to hire Haley because he knows that Haley will keep Ben under control. This give Tomlin the upper hand now. Haley is not going to let Ben dictate anything and Tomlin knows it. Of course the Rooney's wanted Haley as the new OC because they realize that the offense needs a little tighting up right now and Haley is the coach who can get it done. Now Tomlin can sit back and let Haley do his thing while Tomlin has his back.

If anything, the Rooney's are looking to see what Rothlisberger does, if he conforms or if he bucks the new system under Haley. One thing for sure, Haley will not be buddy buddy and chummy chummy with Ben. They will not be taking trips together and hanging out at each others homes. You can tell because Ben talked about what he was going to do at the Pro Bowl when he stated that he was going up to ART II and ask him what he wanted of him. As you can see, that never materalized. The Rooneys have never let a player question them on what was going on and they didn't start with letting Ben say anything. Ben had two chances already with his off the field issues so, they won't tolarate any nonsense from him. You see they didn't confer with him about who to hire. Have they ever done that before? NO! Have they ever let a player speak about what they do? NO! So why would they start with Rothlisberger? No, the PPG is all wrong. The media. The board was right on about what was going on, the PPG was lost!