Steelers To Hire Todd Haley As Offensive Coordinator
Added on Feb 07, 2012 by Jack Thurman in
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They haven’t made the official announcement yet but every indication is that the Pittsburgh Steelers will hire former Kansas City head coach Todd Haley as their new offensive coordinator. Haley was fired by the Chiefs late this season and will replace Bruce Arians who took the same position with the Indianapolis Colts after being more or less ‘scapegoated’ for the Steelers’ early playoff exit.
Haley was an assistant for 10 seasons before being hired for the Chiefs’ head coaching job. Most notably, he was the Arizona Cardinals’ offensive coordinator during their only Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. Haley may be better suited as an offensive coordinator–his biggest issue in Kansas City seemed to be instilling discipline and establishing leadership. That shouldn’t be a problem in a veteran filled locker room with a strong head coach in Mike Tomlin.
At the time of Haley’s dismissal, Chiefs’ owner Clark Hunt all but suggested that Haley was better suited to be an assistant after a penalty filled loss that included a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct assessment on the coach himself:
“Timing in these situations is always difficult. There never seems to be a right time. We just felt the inconsistent play the team has experienced throughout the season, including yesterday’s game, made today the right day to do it.”
“We’ve had one of those years where we’ve had injuries, and injuries to key players, but that’s typical in the National Football League. As a team, you have to find a way to overcome that, and we just weren’t able to do that this year. Our play was up and down the entire season and at times it was up and down during a given game, and I think those contributed to our decision.”
One of Haley’s biggest challenges in his new job will be establishing a good working relationship with starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was very disappointed at the decision not to retain Arians. Haley does have some ties to the Pittsburgh franchise–his father, Dick Haley, was Director of Player Personnel for the Steelers during many of their ‘glory years’ as he served in that capacity from 1971 to 1990.
