Outsourcing coaches and the future of our defensive scheme

This has come up sporadically in a few different threads and merits its own dedicated post.
If ownership decides to clean house, it’s clear that we need to look elsewhere for replacements; we need a new culture and identity, especially on D.

Looking around the league it’s clear to me, many owners have had recent success hiring assistants from other coaches with strong philosophies. One thing is clear to me; No matter how drama filled and disfunctional our team gets, or regardless if we end up as one of the biggest disappointments in the league - make no mistake, We are the Steelers and this will be the most coveted position in the NFL.

Hear are a couple questions:
1. If Tomlin is gone, do you see us going after a candidate with a defensive philosophical background, or an offensive? Do we hire someone who embraces and nurtures the strength of our team, or someone who will try to focus on our defense (remember Ben may not be here much longer and the future of our offense could rely on QB draft, scheme and development)?

2. Philosophically, what coaching staffs around the league would you like to see us poach from, or would you like to see us grab someone like Saban or Myers?

3. Many of us have discussed the idea of getting away from the 3-4; knowing who is on the roster as is, whAt defense would you like to employ? Ie. multiple 3-4 or 4-3, 4-6, etc.
Either way this team defensively needs to be gutted as well imo and we actually don’t have a lot of long term contracts on D, however we do have a lot coming up. This is actually a good time to make a transition if we were to choose to, or we could decide to commit to some iteration of the 3-4 and sign, resign and utilize players built for that scheme.

Interested in hearing other people’s opinions and I’ll answer my own questions in response below.

 

1. If our defense continues to falter significantly, I think our hands will be tied and will have to hire a coach with a defensive background; however I do worry about falling into a situation where we go too far, and hire someone who is totally inept offensively and can’t develop anyone on that side of the ball especially when we look for a new QB (this has played out so many times before ie. Rex Ryan, John Fox, Lovie Smith, etc.)

2. Thought about this, if we hire a defensively minded coach:
I’d kick around the idea of wade Phillips, I always loved his defenses and players have publicly said he teaches his players very well and he breaks it down in a way they learn really quickly. He is good at adjustments as well.
I also look closely at Todd Wash from the jags or George Edwards from the Vikings. They have both teams Defenses looking very good in a short amount of time...very disciplined.

If we hire an offensive minded coach I’m looking at anyone who works under Andy Reid, or Sean McVey.

3. I’m torn on this, but I think if we were to switch, I’d go after Todd Wash from the jags... it would be a big change but I’m a fan of 4-3/ 4-6 defenses that are built to stop the run and he’s done an amazing job with that team. Sure this transition would take longer, but his philosophy is built on lighter, speed, coverage and sure tackling at the linebacker positions, and aside from shakier, we can’t seem to develop or scheme those type of players.

 

It's worth noting that Tomlin was a former defensive coordinator and DB specialist prior to being hired as head coach of the Steelers. Despite his background ,the Steelers under his tenure have mostly been average to below-average in defense and the secondary has definitely been a bottom 5-10 unit.

My point is your head coach's defensive pedigree/philosophy may have little to no bearing on what type of defense he ultimately fields.

See Exhibit A: Mike Tomlin and the Steelers

 

Tomlin isn't going anywhere.

Unless he goes 0-15-1 this season, he will be brought back in 2019.

 

Tomlin inherited a Lebeau defense that wasn’t going to be changed regardless if he wanted it to per management. He’s a Tampa 2 guy and deploys it anytime he gets a chance. Believe me we’d have bigger problems if he built this defense around that. He was def. coordinator for one year if I remember correctly.

In his case, you’re right he doesn’t field the defense he haD experience with, but it’s worth noting he really wasn’t brought in by the Rooney’s to do that...we had a good executing Lebeau defense in place.

 

if we went 0-15-1 I would laugh lol then cry











then die

 

With our luck Buffalo would go 0-16 and Steelers would be picking at #2.

 

Right, so now that the last remnants of LeBeau's defnese are gone we're finally seeing Tomlin's defense. And so far, it's ugly, REAL UGLY.

 

not even sure I feel comfortable with this staff picking high draft picks lol