First, can you let me know what you’ve been doing with yourself since your time as a coach?
My wife and I live in Corona Del Mar now. She was a flight attendant for US Air for over thirty-four years. She was a Sewickley girl.
I’m done coaching. I work periodically for an agent – Ryan Tollner. I help prep college kids for the draft and combine. Once they committed themselves to going pro and get an agent I take it from there and work with them for one to two hours at a time. I sit down and talk to them about what to expect and how to help them improve. Most of these kids come in very well taught.
You were brought on board as the Steelers secondary coach by Bill Cowher. What prompted that, do you know?
Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. It came out of the clear blue sky. I was in Oregon working for Dennis Erickson and he told me Coach Cowher called and wanted to talk to me. It was a hard decision for me – Coach Erickson was the guy that recruited me at Fresno State. We go back a long time.
And we had just moved to Corvalis a year before. I was very happy with the job I had. It was overwhelming, I can tell you, walking into that stadium though with that history and meeting the Rooneys and Coach Cowher. It was really special.
What were the expectations of you from Coach Cowher?
More than anything it was about communication. I was there for four years and the most important thing was that the information from inside the coaching staff to the players was never different. Tim Lewis was the defensive backs coach before me, before he was promoted to coordinator. I was tutored by Tim and was making sure the verbiage we used was what the players were hearing. It was ingrained to us by Bill that we all used the same language and that it was echoed to the players.
I was a sounding board for the players as well. I helped mentor them as many were young players. We had experienced guys too like Flowers, Alexander, Williams….it was really great for all of us. I was able to help some through problems and that was important to them. The key was us all being on the same page – no one does anything different. Getting them ready to play on Sunday. And the best way to do that was to get to know them and the way they learned
What about technique?
Oh yeah, technique was ingrained there. It was the most I’ve ever experienced. There was a way things were done and it was taught adamantly. The Steelers had great pride in that…LeBeau, Cowher….there was a way things were done and it was my job to show the players that. And at some point if you can’t learn that, well, it was time then to move on.
How hard was it for you to learn the system?
The proof was in the pudding. This is what worked. You needed athleticism but you also had to be extremely bright. I mean, very, to pick up every detail, especially with the fire zone aspect. The verbiage….it was like giving your first sixth grade speech when I got there. You practiced it every day and studied every day to pass it.
When I got there Tim Lewis told me it would take 1 1/2 years to understand it all. Tim was a bright man, and he told me he didn’t have it down until the team got to it’s first playoff game when he was there. That’s when he finally felt comfortable. It takes a long time to understand the ins and outs. The calls, the way they were packaged, the verbiage…it took a long time for me to deal with it.
I felt like I was a C student in a class full of kids that set the curve. I felt like an idiot. But you keep doing it and it all comes together. I have books and books of notes from my time there, and I still look at them from time to time to learn new things.
Some may argue that something so complicated makes it too hard to run a defense effectively, especially if you want to start young guys. Thoughts?
Before we draft someone, we do intensive background work on them. We talk to everyone they associate with to find out if they are a quick learner. Can they pick things up fast? You need athleticism but you have to be intelligent too. And you can’t be too mechanical. I know it sounds like an oxymoron. But we want athletes who can come to it naturally. It takes repetition. A lot of it. Then when you think they have it you see how they react now on the field. You look at some of these guys they took in the third through fifth rounds – so many make the team. The thing is, those guys may not be as fast or as big but they were all very bright football players.
Tell me more about that draft process and your part in it?
It was the most well-oiled machine there. When I was hired they had just got done interviewing Kevin Colbert. We started at the same time and I remember them handing out assignments to us for pro days and telling us the information we needed, the forms that needed filled out….what to look for…
As a coach, you sit down with the head coach and other position coaches and talk about the things they are looking for. There are so many different ways to do things, But we looked hard at the history of these young men. How they did in high school. Did they have trouble off the field, and if so, what kind. We take all of that into account when you are spending that much money on these players.
So you look at how they were doing in college. Did they graduate – if not are they one semester or one year away. How far away are they in their education and if they were behind, why. One semester and maybe there’s a good reason. If they are a year behind, does that say anything about their ability to understand things quickly.
What did you specifically look for most?
Especially for student athletes, it takes drive and mental capacity to get your degree along with that athletic part. If they graduated that tells something about their intelligence. If they could handle that…. We also learn about their families and upbringing. Do they have children of their own. And we ask them the same questions over and over. At the combine. At their pro days. When we bring them in. Do the answers change or are they the same each time? That tells us a lot.
We take all of that feedback seriously. And still, if he’s a good kid, he still has to be able to play. Can he play football? I felt like I had a good deal there. I will say looking back on it the one thing I didn’t like was small players. I liked length and all those things that come with it. With wide receivers getting bigger and bigger you had to be really special for me to like a smaller player.
Any fun stories of your time as a Steelers coach?
The best thing I still chuckle about is when we played in Arizona. This was before they had the dome – we played at Arizona State University’s stadium. It was an early game in the season and it was absolutely steaming hot. Kent Stephenson was our offensive line coach then and he stayed on the sidelines. Dick Hoak and I worked from the press box. Kent called up to us and told us it was raining down here and he was getting soaking wet. We asked Kent where he was standing because we didn’t see any rain. It was a clear blue sky. Kent called up again and told us he was around the thirty-five yard line and waved up at us. Dick said to him. “Look to your right Kent.” Right there was one of those big misters near him. Kent didn’t even realize what it was. And Kent’s a really bright guy!
Tell me as a coach, how you view the changes to the passing game and how it affects defenses now?
It’s all about the passing game now. You need some real greyhounds to get to the quarterback now. It’s not just pure drop back passers now. They are athletic and getting bigger. You have to get pressure on them and you can’t do it too much with five or six guys like we used to do. If you do you better get there quick or you get hurt.
I miss the running game. There’s way too much emphasis on the passing game. I’m old school, But now wide receivers are basketball players that can run and catch. You need tall kids with length on the back end. And linebackers have to be tough and play in both phases of the game more.
My wife and I are both huge football fans. We’re amazed at how athletic these guys are today. The improvement in each new group that comes out.
Looking back, I think the worst thing I did was to leave the team. Right or wrong, if you don’t continue to try to move up in the NFL teams move on. Still, my worst mistake was leaving. There are so many things I miss. Mr. Rooney and Coach Cowher were great guys. I still stay in touch with Kevin Colbert. It was special with those guys, Coach Mitchell, Archer, and Lewis. I was fortunate to be around all of those guys.
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
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