First, can you tell us about the new head coaching job with the new Alliance of American Football Birmingham Iron team. What made you decide to take the job?

Well, I’ve been coaching for a long time now. From youth football, high school, college, and at the professional level. As a coach you always think about running your own program – coaching your own team. When the opportunity came up, it was the opportunity to live out a dream. That’s what all coaches aspire to do.

Who were some of your biggest influences as a coach – that helped shape your coaching style today?

Well, the guy I talk to most even now is Jackie Sherrill at Pitt. And Coach Fazio was and still would be if he were still with us.

But there were  a number of people. Forrest Gregg in Green Bay, and my high school coach who passed away. Marvin Lewis and I continue to communicate often. I hate to leave anyone out.

What lessons did those and your other influences leave with you?

There are certain buzzwords guys like Tom Coughlin and Bill Cowher instilled in me. Coughlin taught me the need to be authoritative and responsible. As a coach you want to be that guy – that one voice that all understand is the one that will lead you and make decisions.

Bill Cowher was good with players. He was close with them. They’d run through walls for him. He was powerful as a leader and disciplined.

Marvin Lewis has the ability to relate to players. He was fantastic with people – he understood and listened to his players. He wasn’t necessarily their friend but players knew they could go to him and he would listen and help them.

And Jackie Sherrill was a real disciplinarian. He definitely wanted everyone to know he was in charge. But he’d fight for his players and give them the shirt off of his back.

In terms of coaching in the AAF, do you change your approach at all knowing the league’s focus on developing players?

No. I don’t want to approach it that way. I don’t want to coach any differently that I would anywhere else. I learned from Bill Cowher that you do it one way. You don’t lessen or pull back based on development or audience. You coach and teach based on what you do normally. You do what you do. And that’s what I want my coaches to do. We were given the opportunity to revitalize or extend careers. That’s the role we have – to make guys better football players.

How’s your coaching staff mix helping you in that regard?

We have a bunch of talented coaches. Yellers, soft-talkers – we have a variety of different coaches with different experiences and intellect. No one will be short-changed.

We hired Steve Logan – he recently coached for the 49’ers and East Carolina. He will be coaching the offense. He has a tremendous offensive mind. I trust what he does and he knows what he needs to do. We also have a defensive coordinator that cam implement the plan. Of course I have a defensive background, by my role as the head coach is to make sure every player is in the best position to be successful. To give people an opportunity to be successful. That’s what I need to do.

Let’s talk about how your coaching career got started with the Steelers. How did you get that job with the Steelers?

I started working with Johnny Majors at Pitt in ’93, and in ’94 I got a call from Tom Donahoe who was the GM for Pittsburgh at the time. A position opened up under Cowher when Dom Capers too the head coaching job with the Panthers. Dick LeBeau was promoted to defensive coordinator so they needed a defensive backs coach. Dick LeBeau coached Dick Jauron who had coached me. Dick Jauron let them know they should talk to me about the job. Jack Henry, the offensive line coach at Pitt, was also close to Tom Donohoe, so that was my connection as well.

Why do you think they chose you for the position?

I don’t know. That’s a great question. We had All Pro players with Woodson, Lake, Perry was a fixture at safety, Lloyd and Greene were there at linebacker. There were a number of great players on that defense. They just needed a guy to make sure the players showed up on time at meetings and bring some passion. They were one game away from the Super Bowl the year before. It wasn’t like they needed to rebuild the program.

The entire season was a blur that first year, going to a Super Bowl in your first season. I thought the NFL was a piece of cake! We had great players. I just needed to keep them happy and help us get to the Super Bowl.

What memories stand out most to you from your time with the Steelers?

Oh wow. There are so many. My first game, we played Detroit, and that was the game Rod Woodson tried t make a tackle on Barry Sanders and blew his knee out – tore his ACL. At the bye week we were 3-4. We were going nowhere fast.

Bill Cowher asked us what we should do when Rod was first injured. I made a silly mistake as a rookie coach and told him our next best player in the secondary was Myron Bell. So we should move Carnell Lake to cornerback and start Bell at safety. Cowher looked at me like I had three heads. He said that one of the first things you learn in the NFL is that you don’t make two changes to solve one problem.

Well, when we got to 3-4, Bill asked us what we should do. He asked Dick LeBeau, who told Bill we should listen to Timmy and move Carnell to cornerback. But he said “I’m not telling Carnell that!” So I did, and Carnell ended up playing at a Pro Bowl level and we went to the Super Bowl.

What does success look like to you now in the AAF year one? Besides winning a championship of course!

Well, the league gave me an opportunity and I can’t be more thrilled about it. I think the fans will be excited at the level of football and the quality of the game and the Birmingham Iron.

Success to me is running a program as smoothly as one can be run. Success is having a team to field as a head coach for the first time. It’s watching my kids grow up happy and my marriage be strong. So there’s a level of success there as well. My brother is the GM of the Memphis team – we play them first this season. We have a bet on the game – but he put the bet in a weird way! My son plays for the Bills, my other son plays for Colorado. And Louis Riddick at ESPN is my cousin. So we have a neat family when it comes to the football industry.

I enjoy what I’m doing, and watching the success and growth of those around me. Including, by the way, seeing Cadillac Williams in his first year as a coach. That’s a success there too.

Any advice you’d give to coaches looking to succeed at the professional level?

Well, I’ll give you the same advice I was given by Jackie Sherrill. Keep you head down, your rear end up, and keep digging! Of course, he said that with more curse words.

But he meant that you can’t take time to pat yourself on the back. Keep working. Don’t lift up your head to gloat or it’ll get knocked off!

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