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First off, can you tell me how you got into coaching?

During my time playing at Maine I loved the training aspect of football – preparing to play. I was a nerd about it – I would ask my strength coach Will Beaverstein why we did this or that. He told me I should look into this as a career – I seemed so interested in it. I was a communications major then though and just shrugged it off then – I figured I’d go work for ESPN or something like that – get into broadcasting.

But my Senior year I worked with Loren Seagrave at Velocity Training – he is one of the most prominent track and field coaches around. I was picking his brain and he told me I was so inquisitive – that I should think about it as a career. I asked him how and he told me I’d need to get my Masters, intern, get certified…

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Linebacker Matt King, 2007”

First off, what are your plans for the offseason?

All I’m doing now really is working out in the mornings and hitting the field some days. I’m not doing too much else though. I’m just waiting to report back to Pittsburgh. I’m just vibing at the house. I do have one trip planned in July – to Jamaica for my pop’s birthday.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Steelers Cornerback Kalon Barnes”

First off, can you let me know how it’s going since your time with the NFL?

Well, my son is doing great at Liberty – he’s their safety and I think he’ll get drafted.

Give him any words of advice as a former NFL player?

My only words of wisdom were to stay focused and to keep doing what got you there. Everything else is irrelevant. I’m old school- the noise and lights and social media, they don’t matter. What happens between the lines is what matters.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Tight End Harold Bishop, 1998-1999”

First off,  what’s the offseason plan for you?

I’ve been back here with my family in Ohio, spending my time lifting in a gym I used when I was off and on with the Cardinals last year. But I’ve been bored a lot of the time – I’m not handling the down-time well!

We did get out schedule and I’ll be heading to Pittsburgh April 15th.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Steelers Defensive Lineman Jacob Slade”

First off, can you let me know how you got started in your current position as Bishop?

I’m the current Bishop now of the Youngstown Catholic Diocese. That oversees six counties in Northeast Ohio. It was a great surprise and through Divine Grace, I got the call and was told the Holy Father wanted me to be the Bishop. I got that call on November 9th, and on November 17th of 2020 I was approved. In 2021 I was ordained.

I like to think that I am continuing on as a pastor, but my parish got much larger!

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Chaplain/Current Most Reverend David Bonnar, Bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown”

First off -what’s next for you – what’s the offseason look like?

I always come back to Atlanta and train. In the offseason we take a couple of trips and reset our minds and spend time with family. It’s good to move around a bit – during the season as a family we’re more stationary. It’s good to get some mental relaxation and have some fun before the season starts.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Linebacker Bud Dupree, 2015-2020”

First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your playing days?

I was there in Pittsburgh from 2011 to 2013. After that I got involved in personal training – I was training athletes with a well-renowned trainer in Atlanta – Chip Smith. We were working with players, helping them get trained and prepared for the draft.

After that, in 2014, I went into law enforcement. I joined the Atlanta police department and was there for 8 1/2 years. I’m still in law enforcement now. I also got married in 2012 and now have four beautiful children – three girls and a boy.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Former Steelers Linebacker Erik Clanton, 2011-2013”

First off, why did you decide to sign with the Steelers?

After my injury settlement with Atlanta, I was waiting for a couple of months for a call. I had a workout visit with the Steelers during that time. They were the only ones that contacted my agent. I don’t know how they knew about me for sure, but I think it was from our last preseason game. We played Pittsburgh and I had a pretty good game {six catches, 71 yards} and I’m sure that was a big reason why they signed me.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Steelers Wide Receiver Keilahn Harris”

Continued from Part I of interview...

What has changed most in the scouting work since you started – what is different now – and for better or worse?

The technology now is wonderful – now a game can end and an hour later you can pull up the video on your computer.

What’s lost is the comradery between scouts. It used to be like a fraternity. At the combine we used to have free time to meet up and talk and get drinks together. Now, it’s much more secretive and everyone is more suspicious of each other. Everyone wants to be a GM now – they all have five-year plans to go from scout to GM. I don’t blame them for being ambitious but it’s not very reasonable.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Steelers Scout Mike Butler, 1983-2023 Part II”

First, I know you recently retired – there were a number of changes in the Steelers front office – what if anything changed in the way the team approached scouting as an organization?

The biggest thing is the bigger influence now analytics has on the department. Omar is a little more into it than Kevin was. They’re brought in new guys. It’s interesting stuff – they delve into every fact and stat and extrapolate it all out into graphs and charts – it’s another tool.

How are they using analytics now in a practical manner – how are they using that data to help the scouting?

Well, nothing replaces the guys watching film and games and talking to coaches. But the past year we used a lot more analytics than we did under Kevin. We used it a lot to compare guys’ stats to see if they met certain criteria for success with guys in the past who were successful. We try to find the guys that matched that criteria. We even went back and added guys to the database from the past to create a database of players to compare to.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Steelers Scout Mike Butler, 1983-2023 Part I”