More Changes Coming for Steelers Coaching Staff

August 30, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin reacts to a call against the Carolina Panthers during the fourth quarter at Heinz Field. The Pittsburgh Steelers won 17-16. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The changes for the Steelers coaching staff may not seem significant when you look at the whole team.  However, it seems the offense had not recovered from the change from Arians to Haley and further changes may contribute to more upheaval.  However, it’s not unusual to see coaches come and go.  This probably won’t be more than a blip on the screen – at least let’s hope not.

Let’s take a look at the positions.

Offensive Line Coach:  Sean Kugler accepted the head coaching position at UTEP.  Kugler had been the offensive line coach since 2010, replacing Larry Zierlein who was in the position from 2007-2009.  The Steelers O-Line coach stays challenged because they tend to be one of the most beat-up offensive lines in the league.  Also, the Steelers seems to only have eight offensive lineman active during games in favor of using the other position for a running back.  That can also add to the challenge for the coach.

Special Teams positions:  The Steelers fired Al Everest, the special teams coordinator during pre-season and promoted Amos Jones into the position, without putting anyone into Jone’s assistant position.  Now that Jones has left to join Bruce Arians in Arizona, it looks like the special teams positions are a gaping hole.  However, things never seemed on par for those players last year.  There were enough miscues that perhaps a fresh start is a good thing.

Now that the Todd Haley staying or going issue seems to be resolved, maybe the organization can focus on the way ahead.  Perhaps they always have been and only the media was distracted by the Todd Haley interview in Arizona.  I really hope to see more cohesiveness during the games.  Arians was with the Steelers for a lot of years and any change in significant positions like that take time to get used to.  Think about it, if your operations manager or office manager or whatever equivalent you have, takes a different job or is fired, it takes a while to get used to “the new guy.”  Sometimes the new bosses make big changes that impact efficiency for months.  I think you can draw that parallel with the Steelers.

I don’t expect there will be any rumors of who Tomlin is looking at for these positions.  I’m not saying there should be either.  However, it will be interesting to see what kind of coaching staff the Steelers put together for the upcoming season.  I still contend that the coaches set the tone for the player and how the coaches carry themselves can have a big impact on player cohesiveness and level of effort.    On the other side of the ball, I also don’t expect to see any changes on the defense because LeBeau is pretty set.  Whether there should be a shake up with the defense coaching staff or not – well – that’s for another blog…