Rooney forced Arians out

Good for Rooney, it is his team and his decision to make. And if Tomlin choices the new replacement you better believe their will be a lot of people looking over his shoulder and if Rooney disagrees with that decision he overrides it which again is his choice.

 

I'm glad that Art III is not completely hands off. I think going to three Super Bowls in six seasons has whet his appetite for success. He wants to win!

In no way, shape, or form should Art "accept" the pathetic results from this offense.

 

I find it intresting that Mr. Rooney has come forward twice in the past two years into the way Tomlin has mishandled the Steelers. Once for the lack of a running game, which we havent seen much of a change and now the ridding of Ariens. I think this is starting to possibly have Mr. Rooney second guessing his choice of Tomlin as a HC. At no other time that I can remember dating back to the early 60's has a Rooney become involved publicly with how Noll or Cowher has operated and managed the team.

I think that whoever is named the OC that he will do whatever he wants good or bad, while blank stare Tomlin watches it all go on.

 

I agree, I don't ever recall Cowher getting overruled like this. It just seems like Tomlin doesn't completely grasp when to make adjustments or changes, and that seems to apply to on and off the field.

 

I like Tomlin, as a person and as a football guy. I don't know how I feel about him as the head coach. On one hand, he has led the team to two Super Bowls in five years--can't complain about that. But even as far back as the day he was hired, I have sensed that Tomlin isn't a "take control" kind of guy, evidenced by his insistence in 2009 that he would "unleash hell" and all the team did was continue to lose. I reemember thinking when he was hired that I didn't like the fact he was retaining so many of Cowher's coaches. It was a different approach than the one Cowher took: he immediately reformed the coaching staff in the image of the team he wanted. Instead, Tomlin seemed to take the easy way out and just keep the staff; for better or worse, I wanted to see him put his stamp on the team. he didn't do it, and I don't know if he will ever do it.

 

Yeah....I agree with you. I remember him unleashing hell and the same secondary took the field the following week. I was SO disappointed.

 

I agree with this. I think Tomlin had zero control over BA and Ben and Rooney knew it. The smartest thing that Rooney could do was split these two up. Now they just need to find an OC that will do what is right for this team and Ben's career and not chuck the ball 30/40 yards down the field every other play.

 

I'm not 100% on this, but I've read in multiple places that Cowher did not want Roethlisberger, but instead Shaun Andrews. Rooney supposedly had Marino flashbacks, put his foot down and said, "No, we're getting the quarterback."

 

I've heard that too. I think there's a big difference between an owner getting involved in the draft process (happens with almost every team) and the owner stepping in and firing an assistant coach that the head coach wanted to keep. Remember, an assistant coach is Tomlin's employee, more or less. Sure, he works for the Steelers, but it's Tomlin's job to pick the assistants and owners don't normally get involved in removing assistant coaches that the head coach wants to keep. I have serious doubts Rooney is going to let Tomlin pick the next OC. Tomlin will have input no doubt, but I don't think it's Tomlin's decision. It seems like Rooney has lost a bit of faith in Tomlin and is stepping in to ensure things are done right. Tomlin could very well be on thin ice. He's not going anywhere anytime soon, but if other bad decisions are made that Rooney disagrees with, I could see Tomlin being let go in the next few years.

 

Only if the team takes a serious nose dive, in terms of record and not just stats.

 

I believe he is more involved in player decisions, not so much on coaches

Ah, but I believe he did promote him to OC, didn't he?

That is also the way I understand it and I said that in another thread as well.

Which brings us to Big Ben. The article says that he is not happy with the decision, but nowhere have I seen any statement. I don't know if concern is the right word, but I will be curious to see how he deals with the change. I personally think it will be in his best interest, but only time will tell.

 

I agree completely. I think he's a great guy, but I don't think he's making good choices.

 

this is something we will have to deal with and they may even expect with the age of MT. he's a young guy and alot of these types of decisions have never been done by him or even been involved in some of these processes at this level .

 

ESPN was just talking about how Ben is 'not happy' about the decision on Arians. He should embrace change and look forward to the team getting better.

 

I agree! But if Ben wants to be "happy" he can follow Brucey wherever he goes. JMO

 

EXACTLY! Tomlin isn't a fool. He knows to speak highly of his coordinators and their game planning to the media because that's what a coach does but do you really think he could see the ineptitude that the Steelers have had on offense and defense and not be bothered? Cmon man! The negative for Tomlin was that these weren't his guys, he inherited them and they have had a level of success. But the handwriting was on the wall after last season when the Rooney's indicated their desire to have a more balanced attack. Mike can't throw BA under the bus cause he's the HC and it would be a classless move but I'm sure he spoke with ownership and said hey you have a QB who is in love with his coordinator so I can't ruffle feathers, plus BA is a guy here before me but since my butt is on the line as coach of your team I at least want to have a guy who will respect what I want to do on offense.

I believe the Steelers will surprise everyone with a new coordinator that may not be the sexy pick but will give ownership what they want; a coordinator who's not cozy with the QB, and someone who will be under the thumb of the coach they put into the drivers seat. It also gives Tomlin what he needs; a coordinator whom he can grow with and groom, one of HIS guys.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the defense as well once veterans like Harrison, Farrior, and big snack are no longer there. However I believe Lebeau has earned some cushion......for now

 

Dan Rooney ordered Chuck Noll to fire three assistant coaches after the team went 5-11 in 1988 and Dungy resigned rather than take a demotion from the D coordinator position. http://books.google.com/books?id=B1...onepage&q=rooney ordered noll to fire&f=false The unusual part in the coaching change is that the Steelers were 12-4 but I guess that the Denver loss was so embarrassing that Art Rooney II felt that something had to change.

 

I don't believe that Ben is nearly as gilded in the eyes of the Rooneys as a lot of y'all are implying. Remember they wanted to dump his butt after that first sexual escapade incident. If he pouted and threw a tantrum over the BA release and refused to cooperate with the new OC I don't think they's hesitate to dump him too.

 

Thanks for this post. I think it would be extremely naive to think there weren't MANY other instances of the Rooneys overruling coaches throughout the entire history of the steelers. In this 24/7 news cycle all these moves are microanalysed and plastered all over the media. Even going back less than a decade it wasn't nearly as open-book as it is now.

 

But they were Tomlin's guys, because they're whom he decided to work with.

When Cowher came in, he made sweeping changes. OC Joe Walton replaced with Ron Erhardt. DC Dave Brazil (whose D was #1 just two seasons prior) replaced with Dom Capers. O-line coach Ron Blacledge replaced with Kent Stephenson. LBs coach Bob Valsente replaced with Marvin Lewis. DBs coach John Fox replaced with Dick LeBeau. Even Joe Greene was replaced. The only coach Cowher retained was Dick Hoak, the RBs coach.

Contrast this with Tomlin. He basically made only three major moves: OC and o-line coach, because Whiz and Grimm left, and RBs coach because Hoak retired. He promoted Arians, Butler and Horton. Whether or not it was smart to keep the moves to a minimum, I can't say. But I do know that at the time, I wanted to see Tomlin clean house, because it's important that a new head coach bring his philosophy and mindset to the table immediately and set a tone, as Cowher did. Tomlin didn't do this. And itis more apprent now that Tomlin doesn't like making big decisions--letting Ben play on a severely sprained ankle is just another example of it.

 

Exactly what I was talking about. Ben needs to act like a grown-up, get happy, and move forward! This should only make him a better qb!

 

To the contrary. That was a helluva big decision that he hasn't hesitated to answer for saying he'd do it again and I don't blame him one bit. When you're fighting for a division title and your franchise QB says he can go you play him without hesitation. It just kills me what some of you guys think you know or don't know about Tomlin's relationship with Rooney when the truth is none of us have the slightest clue and yet some will still use speculation and assumptions in an effort to make him look bad however they can. It's downright disgraceful

 

My problem is that TOmlin was gonna keep BA for another season. Luckily ROoney stepped in and said BA you got 2 choices - Retire or we will fire you.