Second half of interview continuing from Exclusive with Art Rooney Jr. Part I – Welcome to Steelers Takeaways!
I know so much is written about Bill Nunn’s impact and the delving into HBCUs when discussing those late 60’s and 70’s drafts. But outside of that, what was really working for you in terms of how you approached the scouting process and what you looked for that was different from others teams? Not every stellar player was an HBCU guy?
We were a losing team – we had early picks and didn’t fuck them up!
But we focused a lot on athleticism – size, speed, quickness, control – and vision too.
One big thing we also cared about was whether they were a tough hombre’. I met Joe Greene’s second wife at an event – he introduced me as the person who brought him to the Steelers. I told her the story about how you had to be married to the job. I was on a trip with my wife and we were on the way back on the plane. We landed in Colorado near where North Texas was playing Colorado State. I told my wife to stay on the plane, that it will continue on to Pittsburgh, but that I was going to get off to see Joe Greene play. Joe’s wife was shocked that my wife let me get away with that! I don’t think Joe’s wife was very impressed with me after that! But my wife was wonderful – she understood.
I went to see Joe play then. He was an ass-kicker just like the reports said. If you’re the guy in charge, you have to go see those guys play. You can’t just go by the reports.
What made you and the team decide to bring in Chuck Noll over other candidates?
That’s a terrific question. We had Jock Sutherland as a coach who was a Scottish Protestant – a very rugged guy. After Buddy and Jock, they liked that Chuck was a Paul Brown disciple. Brown was so far ahead of everyone else at the time and Chuck had learned so much from him. Don Shula too. In fact I remember once being in Palm Beach after Shula had retired. Don was friendly with dad. He was sitting by himself in the hotel and people kept coming up to him. He saw me and asked me to come over and sit with him. He wanted me to be a buffer from all the well-wishers.
But anyway. Chuck was a great coach. A good Catholic guy with good morals. He wasn’t religious like dad was but he was tremendously sound.
I remember we used to have our offices in the old Roosevelt Hotel. It wasn’t a dump but it was three steps removed from being one. Well, I had the back office then. Chuck had started shortly before the draft and came into the office. I had a big chalkboard in my office and had all of the players on the board with their rankings with our top players in the corner. I had it broken down and used colored chalk and Chuck was really impressed with that. It was a little thing but it was nice seeing how Chuck appreciated that.
I remember speaking to folks who said early on Chuck Noll was worried about keeping his job after a rough start – were you and the team at all concerned?
Considering our past, we were worried at first, but I was worried more about myself! Chuck was a real square guy. He believed in what he believed and felt he was right. He would ask questions but was very strong-willed. So the first guy I was worried about was me! I wanted to be sure I was carrying my load.
What changed in the 80’s in terms of evaluation that made it harder to find “good players into black and gold uniforms” as you wrote in Ruanaidh?
Everybody copied us and Dallas! I guess copying is the biggest compliment you could give us.
Loyalty is such a fundamental part of the Steelers approach to players and staff. When do you know if loyalty goes too far in keeping players/coaches and how did that impact the relationship between you and Dan?
The emphasis on loyalty started with my dad – that came from his belief in his Catholic faith and family. My brother Dan – he believed in loyalty but if someone got in his way, he felt it was time to move on and had no trouble doing so. When he wasn’t happy with my drafts and felt I was in the way of his direction, he fired me. When he told me I was finished, I looked at the media guide. One losing season in 17 fucking years. But somehow I was fucking things up. That was a very tough time for me and my wife, for a lot of reasons.
I had to work on not hating Dan after that for a long time. I finally put it behind me, but it really hurt my wife. She is a beautiful woman – IQ of 1,000 – a math and French teacher! Dan was just a tough guy – all business. We worked it out over time.
Do you like the way the game has changed and how big the NFL is now?
I still like it – but it’s a big business now. Too big. You don’t see any Bill Nunns or Jack Butlers any more and that’s a shame.