Who's the boss?

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Rooney II's meddling with Tomlin's staff is very un-Steelers-like

 

Dam if this was anyone else's team I would be LMAO now it sucks

 

Another talking head acting like he knows football better than a team owner. How he thinks the Steelers were "fine" being 21st in scoring is beyond me.

 

I've said, if this were Jerry Jones doing this stuff, we would be laughing but since it's our team it justifiable.

 

wow. i think whoever wrote that article has been plagiarizing my posts. pretty much two of the main points i've initiated here over the past month.

1.) there is reason to be at least INTRIGUED by the way art rooney II is going to lead this team. i don't care what some illiterate bozo poster says about art taking some sort of leadership role with this team a decade ago (as if to suggest the two recent super bowl wins were solely art's doing), the transition has slowly been taking place over the past few years and appears to have been completed: art rooney II has supplanted dan rooney as THE leader of this organization. the way he has handled business recently IS rather un 'rooney-like.' it is what it is.

2.) great choice of words regarding haley: "combustible." it's comical to me that armchair qb's are pleasuring themselves to haley's 'passionate' sideline antics. i thought our fanbase didn't want cheerleaders. an offensive coordinator should be composed. he shouldn't act like a special teams coach (remember bobby april?) running around yelling at people and looking like a clown.

ben is clearly not thrilled with the new addition of haley. it's not speculation, it's quoted in an interview with the PPG. he is waiting until he meets him to "make his own decision." what decision is that? to see if he likes todd haley! that's insane. he's getting unsolicited emails/texts/etc from people all over the league supplying their opinion of haley and it appears to be overwhelmingly negative.

in no other world would a team's owner go dictator by undermining his coach and pissing off his franchise quarterback by firing (oh, sorry, by not re-signing) their offensive coordinator and then hiring a guy that much of the league completely dislikes. you can try to spin this any way you want, but it is NOT 'rooney-esque.' it's jerry jones. i want oh-so-badly to believe that art rooney II will maintain the status quo, but he's honestly making me a bit nervous.

 

[youtube:1ypn1jmr]zPfZVSgpclw[/youtube:1ypn1jmr]

Alyssa Milano was (still is) hawt as hell!

 

a buddy of mine slept with her (alyssa milano, not judith light). probably around '99 or '00. lucky bastard.

he told me he dropped by her house unexpectedly a week or two afterwards (looking for more) and she basically told him, "don't ever show up announced again. goodbye." shut the door and that was the end of that. he just laughed about it.

again: lucky bastard.

 

Just curious - why is it that when an owner gets more involved in decisions, he is being a dictator? It's his team and he is ultimately responsible for everything about it. If I owned a company, you can bet your ass I would be involved in the decisions. It isn't like Rooney is standing on the sidelines with a clipboard or in the booth calling in plays. He simply made a personnel decision.

I'm glad Ben is holding off on his opinion until he meets the guy. Isn't that what he should do instead of forming an opinion based on comments of other people? There are a ton of people who can't stand Rex Ryan but there are people who like playing for him too. Not saying everything is going to be picture-perfect once the new season starts but give the guy a chance.

You say that you want to believe Art will maintain status quo but it sounds like you've already made up your mind that he is on the verge of destroying the team.

Not trying to start an argument, just calling it like I see it.

 

I think to assume nothing like this has happened before within the Steelers organization or in most other football teams is extremely naive. The only thing that makes it different this time is that in our world of ever expanding media coverage of every minute facet of offseason moves everything is scrutinized so something like this becomes big news. "OMG TOMLIN N ROONEy R HAS EPEEN FIGHT"

 

it doesn't all belong to art rooney II. there are other investers and a board of directors that have some say. some are ex- players. they see what we see and see that something was amiss. he could have been directed to do this. at least the not renewing BA part. i have no proof of this but just a feeling it wasen't all art2.

 

I think BA was just a good old boy,and was probably the inside source for most of the reporters,in turn I believe they are trying to make more of the situation than there really is......

All will be fine if Ben just gets on board .........

 

why is it when an owner is involved in decisions he is being a dictator? because an owner is supposed to be a leader. and a leader is responsible for hiring people to do certain jobs. he isn't supposed to micromanage the people he has hired. he is supposed to trust that they are capable of doing the job they have been hired to do. if he doesn't believe tomlin can hire and lead his staff, i guess he should get rid of tomlin. but when he 'meddles' in others' roles, there is a breakdown in the organizational flow. further, you are undermining the individual you have hired and placed in a leadership position. how is that person supposed to lead effectively if they have been castrated in front of their colleagues, peers, players, and, hell . . . the entire city? it's poor leadership. it's what i train companies on all over north america. business. leadership. negotiation. art has thrown away all of the classic textbooks/playbooks(?) on leadership written by EXPERTS in THEIR fields (john maxwell, tom peters, warren bennis, etc) and is freestyling it, behaving in a manner that is incongruent with the organizational philosophy that has contributed to four straight decades of unparralleled success and, quite honestly, is scaring the bejeezus out of me. he needs to sit the F down and let his men do their jobs. men that he, apparently, had a part in selecting.

i have been clear that i have not yet made up my mind that art rooney II is "on the verge of destroying the team." but i (and, according the article in this thread, i am not the only one) have noticed that his actions are, again, "incongruent with the organizational philosophy" of this team. he's taking steps that are unique to the previous leaders of this team. understand this: he has JUST RECENTLY become THE guy in this organization. forget that his name is rooney, dan has been the man since 1988. art II has just now become the guy. and, with his new powers, is making personnel decisions that, quite frankly, aren't within his role(s) in the organization. he's bypassing a handful of people to make that decision. and, oh by the way, it is a decision that is/was unpopular with the men in the locker room. THAT, my friend, exhibits the tendencies of a 'dictator.'

i wasn't saying ben shouldn't wait to form an opinion of haley. of course he should. what i was trying to communicate was that ben has clearly received a lot of haley-bashing messages. he tried to be polite and made it sound like the messages were of mixed reviews but, clearly, todd haley is not a very well-respected coach/person in this league. personally, if the franchise employs an organizational psychologist who sat down and gave ben and haley some DISK profile tests, he probably would have ran through the streets of pittsburgh all the way to the rooney household in the north hills to warn them of ever mixing the ben and haley potions in the same erlenmeyer flask. ka-boom! but i'm just guessing here. maybe they'll coexist happily and bring us a whole handful of lombardis (god willing).

who ever said i haven't given haley a chance? i'm completely optimistic and hopeful that it plays out well for us. the depth of my passion in regards to this football team is immeasurable. that doesn't, however, limit me from speculating and forming an opinion of the guy prior to his arrival.

thanks for the response. i like having normal debates/conversations on here. that's what these boards are for.

 

GET ON BOARD BEN!!

 

Some quick points:

1) Art Rooney II does own the team so he can do whatever he pleases. To try to characterize him as a meddling owner i.e. Jerry Jones is ridiculous.

2) Thank goodness Rooney had the gumption to make a move. If Tomlin was going to settle for mediocrity on offense when the weapons he has on offense are highlty potent, then he deserves to be just a litte bit embarassed here.

3) We all know what Rooney is talking about when he says Ben needs to "tweak" his game and we all agree. He needs to learn to hit his check downs and his hots. He needs to learn to throw the dang ball away to avoid the sack. He needs to spend more time in the playbook and studying film. Etc., etc., etc...

4) I don't think Haley is going to care what Ben thinks about him personally, will not be interested in going to the Pro Bowl on Ben's dime, will not want to be his neighbor in a GA subdivision in the offseason, and will not want to have dinner multiple times a week. But if Ben is smart, and I hope he is, Haley is the kind of OC that can take his game to the next level and elevate him to the land of the elite.

 

Good Post! SPOT ON

 

Jack- You and I are twin sons of different mothers.

P.S. That means I agree with most everything you have to say.

 

another area you, and many on here, are completely misguided are our 'weapons on offense.'

ben isn't the qb many think he should be. he isn't reading defenses, audibilizing out of them and into advantages, taking three-step drops, making quick and accurate throws, and HE (ben, not arians) isn't very good in the red zone. he doesn't throw the quick slant very well and he doesn't make the back shoulder throw. next.

we've got a line that can't gain any push in short-yardage situations (imperative in the red zone) and a running back (mendenhall) who sucks around the goal line.

we also have a bevy of speed receivers that seem to be able to get open in wide space but can't seem to get open in tight space (the red zone).

we also have a tight end that might have great hands, but lacks the ability to grab jump balls (jimmy graham, antonio gates), the combination of size/speed/strength to blow past linebackers (gronkowski), or the quickness to get open (finley) in the red zone. oh, and he also likes to put the ball on the turf.

please forgive me for leaving the ky jelly in the nightstand while i peruse our depth chart. our 'weapons' fail to excite me to the level they excite so many on this board.

but i'm sure it was arians' fault.

 

I still don't see how Rooney is overstepping his boundaries. Yes, Rooney is a leader but that doesn't mean that he is supposed to sit back and watch his $100MM QB get hammered game after game, watch the running game continue to underperform and watch his high-powered offense fail to get into the end zone over and over.

Let me ask you a question about your statement that Rooney isn't acting within his role in the organization. If he isn't "allowed" to make personnel changes, was he really the one who decided not to bring BA back?

Other than Ben, who has said that they aren't happy with BA's departure and/or the hiring of Haley? Even if there are a handful of players that don't like it, it doesn't mean Rooney is being a dictator. Is he supposed to let all of the players and staff vote on who is hired and who is fired and only do what the majority wants? That is just a recipe for disaster.

I have faith that Rooney knows what he is doing but only time will tell.

 

i hear what your saying about the structure that is a model of correctness. sometimes you have to step outside the box too. mike tomlin has never been groomed to be a head coach. he's very young and was hired because he had promise. i really don't think this is a case of micromanagement, but more of a case of leadership guidence. no owner of a company will let their investment keep freefalling because what is written by the experts. he's been in business long enough to know what is a successful situation and when that situation needs an upper management decision made. there are no nfl head coaches classes to send mike tomlin to, art has to answer to the board of directors. i still don't think he made this decision on his own.

 

Meddling with assistant coaches would be a 2 on the Jerry Jones 10-point scale.

 

I believe BA has played a major role in Ben's sandlot king mentality and has also failed to use and develop the weapons that he has. If you don't believe we have some potent weapons on offense try surveying the other teams around the league. I would venture to guess that 75% of the teams in the NFL would trade skill position players with us TODAY! Having said that, they are still underdeveloped, underutilized and a tad bit spoiled.

 

yeah, all any of us can do at this point is speculate. but the stories that are coming out are suggesting that rooney undermined his leader (emasculating him in the process) while making a decision to the leaders in the locker room. time will tell if it's a good or bad move. apparently, the new model of pittsburgh fan likes an owner that fires and hires assistant coaches and offensive coordinators that are disliked my most people around the league but have some sort of 'passion' and 'fire' because they yell in the faces of their players.

why does rooney II get a pass as a leader while tomlin "has never been groomed to be a head coach?" tomlin spent many years being groomed as a head coach, didn't he? isn't that the inevitable evolution of being promoted from position coach to coordinator? is their some 'nfl head coach university' i'm unaware of? if it does exist, wouldn't it be tony dungy u? didn't tomlin go there? art II was merely handed his position due to nepotism. period. exclamation point. (am i reading his bio right? vice president of player personnel at the age of nineteen? born in '52 and "vice president of player personnel when he started in 1971?!" that can't be right. hell, he graduated from college in '82.) at any rate, i think everybody on here wants to give him a free pass merely because his last name is rooney. that's blind faith. i'd love to buy into it, but i'm more inclined to sit back and observe the way he performs his role.

 

I believe BA has played a major role in Ben's sandlot king mentality and has also failed to use and develop the weapons that he has. If you don't believe we have some potent weapons on offense try surveying the other teams around the league. I would venture to guess that 75% of the teams in the NFL would trade skill position players with us TODAY! Having said that, they are still underdeveloped, underutilized and a tad bit spoiled.[/quote:381ds8so]
Ben's always played with that sandlot mentality. He did it in college and it carried over to the pros. He plays sandlot sometimes because he struggles with consistency as a QB. Blaming coaches for Ben's reluctance to use the weapons around him is ridiculous. A better idea is to blame the guy who actually makes the decision where to go with the football. Most offenses have good skill position players. It's the QB's job to maximize the talents of the players around him. Unfortunately, Ben doesn't play with the consistency to maximize the talents of the players around him.

 

None of this would have happened if Tomlin had shown some leadership from the beginning and hired a whole new staff, particularly on offense. He needed to immediately show what he was all about and what the team was going to be. This is what Noll did. It's what Cowher did. But Tomlin basically took the easier path and retained everyone. Bad move. I said it at the time--and yes, in the short term the results were good; I can't complain. BUT...now look.

Why has Rooney had to put his executive foot down? Because for the first time in about 40+ years, he has a head coach who's a wet noodle.

I would not be surprised if this is Mike's last year.