First, can you let me know what you’ve been doing since your last coaching job?
Well, I recently worked with a German national football team – it was an amateur team full of kids they imported from other countries. I got a call from a friend who asked for some help. The kids weren’t as talented as other kids but they loved to play and we had a lot of fun. Most spoke English pretty well. So I was doing that before I officially retired last February.
Now, I’m remodeling my house. Not doing that much in the way of football-related stuff. I’m spending time with my family and enjoying it. I have seven grandkids and three children. The three kids are working which is great – and we just moved out here to be closer to them all. It’s been great to be able to spend time with my family.
How hard was the post-coaching adjustment for you?
Well, when I first retired, I tried to make sure I had things to do every Sunday afternoon. I loved game days – they were special. In 2001 I went to NFL Europe to coach for the Frankfurt Galaxy team. The head coach called and asked if I’d come coach the defense. I thought that would be a good transition from the NFL. I coached there for three seasons and it was a great experience.
It was great for me – to be able to teach and develop young players. It was about teaching and developing young players to give them a chance to make their NFL teams and 53-man rosters when they went back to the NFL.
Back in those days it was a big deal and it helped me with the transition out of football. It was a great time and it was well run league.
How was it you got hired by Pittsburgh as their linebackers coach in 1990?
John Fox was there and we both coached at one time together at Kansas. Then he went to coach at the University of Pittsburgh and Gottfried hired me to coach at Pitt and brought me in. Then he went to the Steelers. When Gottfried was released I went looking for work. I visited the Steelers practices on my own and watched the team and watched film on them. I had offers from three colleges and was about to take one when Chuck Noll brought me in and interviewed and hired me as their linebackers coach under defensive coordinator Dave Brazil. Dave was brilliant.
When Chuck offered me the job he asked when I wanted to start – I said right now! It was my second time in the NFL as a coach. I coached in Baltimore under Bud Carson. I was blessed to work for great coaches.
What did Chuck Noll expect from you as a coach? What did he ask you to focus on most with those linebackers?
Noll was brilliant in all phases of the game. He was a tremendous teacher. Teaching was the biggest part for him. He told me I needed to be a good teacher and work on the techniques within the framework of the defense.
When he retired, I was surprised. I only got to work with him for two years. He was so terrific in teaching technique. When he retired I told him I was disappointed – I had hoped to work with him for 15 or more years. There was so much to learn from him.
You were running the 3-4 then too. What were the biggest skillsets you found were needed in those linebackers you had?
Lloyd, Nickerson, Hinkle, and Little were all great linebackers. They loved playing the game and could make plays in all phases of the game. Against the run, blitzing, zone or man coverage – they all could do it all.
I learned a lot from coaching Little. He was so talented. He could blitz, played aggressive – knew how to pass off his man in zone coverage. Heck, they all made me a pretty good coach!
Give me a couple of good stories of your time in Pittsburgh.
Well, these aren’t funny stories, but they are ones that I remember well. These are vivid memories.
I was always amazed by something when I worked with Coach Noll. He was bright and had such a wide array of interests. Once his college and mine were playing against one another in what at the time was the division III championship for our schools. He came up to me and said “I guess our teams are playing each other.” I told him we should place a bet, and he agreed.
Well, I’m glad I won. Because he gave me a bottle of wine, and proceeded to tell me the origins of the grapes, what region they came from, how they were fermented, when they were picked, all that stuff. It was a $50 bottle of wine. If I won, I probably would have bought him a $5 Chianti!
I also remember getting a phone call one night – it was late and it came to my office instead of Chuck’s. This was during training camp. Well, I took down the message and walked over to Chuck’s office to give it to him. I walked in and he was reading the biggest book I had ever seen. It was huge. I asked him what he was reading and he told me it was the Naval Academy navigation textbook! He just bought a boat and he wanted to read the textbook.
I wanted to get back to the skills of the players and that 3-4 defense again. What did you see as the areas the unit most needed help in then?
Well, the guys there were all there a while. They were all veterans. The only really new guy that made the team was Jerry Olsavsky. He was very instinctive and smart. He picked up the defense quickly – and it was a complicated match defense. But he fit right in.
Little and Hardy Nickerson were great mentors too. I was the coach and taught them fundamentals, but the players learn from each other. I always told the young players to get together with the veterans and learn why they were in the league for so long.
What involvement did you have with the game strategies and draft?
Rod Rust was the defensive coordinator before I got there. Dave Brazil became the defensive coordinator when Rust left, so I took over the linebackers job that Dave had.
Dave never got the credit he deserved until he went to the Giants. He was a great coach and had some of the best defenses in the NFL during his time in Pittsburgh. I’m sorry he passed away. He was always a great friend.
As for Noll – he kept everyone involved in gameplans and player development- he did so by position. We’d have weekly meetings by position and he’d ask for input, which was nice. He was kind enough to ask for input from every coach. It was a well-run organization that way – from Dick Haley to Chuck. It was easy for me because of that. The most difficult thing was adjusting to becoming an NFL coach again. Dave caught me up real fast – the differences in schemes and terminology from college. And how things were done.
What are your thoughts on the rule changes the NFL has adopted over the years?
Obviously a lot has changed. I was a linebacker and defensive backs coach and have seen a lot of changes. Maybe the biggest one was allowing offensive linemen to use their hands to block – that changed the game quite a bit. It made it easier to protect the quarterback and pass the ball.
The five-yard jam rule – those things helped to improve the passing game. It created more wide open, spread offenses with multiple receivers and tight ends. The linebackers have to be more skilled in space now and do a multitude of things coverage-wise. When I was in Baltimore if we saw a running back spread out as a receiver it was a big deal! A big change! And the shotgun – that’s probably 75% of quarterback snaps now.
Playing linebacker now – you have to have great instincts and be able to do it all – play the run, blitz, shed linemen and take on linemen, play zone and man coverage.
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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