First off, what made you decide to write this book on Dick LeBeau and the 2008 Steelers defense?
It’s funny. Dick LeBeau wanted to write the book and had resisted doing so for a while. But it got to the point where he didn’t want to wait any longer. He was worried the media and fans would start to forget about him and the defense, so he wanted to get started on it.
My entree to Dick was through Bill Priatko -Bill played with the Steelers and is now the oldest living Steeler. Bill knew Dick from the 1959 Browns – he was Dick’s first ever pro football roommate. Bill and I are friends. So when Dick asked Bill for some ideas on who to collaborate with to write the book, Bill suggested me and Scott Brown.
I understand there’s a big kickoff for the book?
There is, yes. The book release is July 9th, but they are taking pre-orders for it now. And on July 14 from 2:00-4:00 there will be a big event at the Heinz History Center. Dick LeBeau, Scott Brown and I will be there along with several members of the 2008 Steelers defense. We’ll do a Q&A with fans that I’ll moderate and then we’ll hold a book signing afterwards. All the information is here – tickets are going quickly so I’d sign up right away.
Why focus on that 2008 defense?
Dick always felt that the 2008 defense was overlooked. It never got the credit it deserved. He wanted to write about that.
Scott is a really good writer. And I have my skills I bring as an interviewer and storyteller. There are 19 chapters in the book – one for each game leading up to the Super Bowl. Scott wrote about the nuts and bolts of each game and I did the sidebars. I saw Dick LeBeau as a player – I have been covering the Steelers since 1969 – Chuck Noll’s first season in Pittsburgh. So I was able to bring that part of the storytelling in.
People forget how great Dick was as a player. During his time with the Lions he played with some great players including Joe Schmidt, who he became good friends with and later ended up playing for. There’s a great photo section in the middle of the book of Dick LeBeau – I have to thank the Lions and Steelers organizations for giving us access to all of those photos.
Why does Dick LeBeau think that defense wasn’t given the respect it deserved?
It led in every defensive category that season except one – and it was second in that category. It was dominant. I think he felt that it was just always compared to those older Steelers defenses. When you look at the great Pirates teams, everyone thinks of the ’79 Pirates, but no one remembers the ’71 team, right?
We got the title for the book from something Mike Tomlin said to the defense during the Arizona Super Bowl win. After the Steelers scored the touchdown to come back after the big Larry Fitzgerald touchdown on that broken play, Mike Tomlin met with the defense on the sidelines. They still had to stop Arizona one more time. He told them, and I’m paraphrasing “We played great all year long. This is the chance for you to become legendary!” That’s where we got the book title from.
What made that defense so special that season? The defense often had a lot of talent, so outside of talent, what made it so good that season?
Dick put players in positions to succeed. That’s what good coaching is about. Everyone on that defense knew their role and played to it. There were great players but they all fit together and accepted their roles.
And there was a truly special relationship between Ryan Clark and Troy Polamalu. Dick said the two players didn’t have to speak to one another – they would just look at each other and they knew what the other would do. That allowed Troy to be so successful as that Swiss Army Knife type of player. Clark was willing to do that role. They didn’t have many big plays that year on defense, but they always made the big tackles and stops, and didn’t allow many big plays. Clark was a big reason for that – he was the safety valve for the team.
I spoke to Darren Perry who talked about Troy’s development from year one to year two. What spurred that development?
Troy said it – Dick LeBeau is what happened. It was no coincidence, Troy said, that his career took off when Dick got there. Dick scouted Troy and knew how to use him. Troy knew they were putting a lot on his shoulders – he had to know what every player was doing on every play. Dick gave him the chance to use his talent and let Troy do his thing.. And more often than not Troy was right.
We know how revered Coach LeBeau was by his players. What made him so loved by them?
They trusted him. He was genuine – what you see is what you get. I covered this team since 1969 and I’ve never seen a coach so universally loved as Dick LeBeau.
What helped make Dick LeBeau the coach and player he became? Where did that stem from?
He talks about the influence his high school coach had, and on his time at Ohio State. That football team was loaded with talented players and was coached by Woody Hayes to a championship. But they had other great athletes at Ohio State. The basketball team was loaded with great players too, including Bobby Knight – one even became a Hall of Fame baseball player!
Dick was a good basketball player too and felt like if he didn’t play football he could play basketball. He’d play in pickup games with those star Ohio State basketball players – the only one who wouldn’t play was Jerry Lucas!
Dick and Bobby became good friends – Bobby would drive him crazy but Dick took some tenets from him.
That’s a funny friendship considering how different their coaching styles were, no?
Well, Bobby Knight always preached about putting pressure on the ball. That stuck with Dick – that’s a driving force of the zone blitz. Dick once gave a speech at Duquesne for Coach Everhart, and he leaned over and whispered to the coach “Pressure on the ball!”
Dick picked up a lot from his time at Ohio State.
Lastly, was there anything you found most surprising as you talked to Dick and the players who played for him?
What always stuck out most to me was just how much his players respected him. During Covid, the players set up a Zoom call with Dick and their families so he could do the Night Before Christmas reading he had done every year for the team.
Also, Dick saw Ben Roethlisberger at Miami and talked about wanting to draft him. It got to the point that in one of the last draft meetings before the draft when they went around asking who everyone wanted, Cowher told Dick “I don’t need to hear from you, I know who you would take!” The team prayer before every game wouldn’t start until Ben and Dick held hands.
One last quote I’ll share is from Ben. He said “If I were ever to play defense, Dick would have been the coach I wanted!”