We all know how bad the Steelers special teams was last season, and now the Post-Gazette reports that the club seems to have their mind made up in who will handle the special teams next:
The Steelers are close to hiring a new special teams coordinator — Al Everest, who spent the past three seasons in a similar role with the San Francisco 49ers. Everest, 59, has visited with Coach Mike Tomlin and is expected to reach agreement with the team to replace Bob Ligashesky, who was fired after the season. Everest’s contract was not renewed by the 49ers, who hired Kurt Schottenheimer as his replacement.
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DrGeorge
January 19, 2010 at 4:54 pm
“Curiouser and curiouser,” to quote Alice in Wonderland. The Lions axe Kugler, and we hire him as O-line coach. The 49ers axe Everest, and we hire him to replace Ligashesky. If their former teams didn’t want them, why do we? I’m not being sarcastic here. Inquiring minds truly want to know.
My question is not meant to disparage either coach. They may be God’s gift to football, for all I know. It’s the ominous silence surrounding these appointments that worries me. Neither Steelers management nor Tomlin has explained how either of these men is an upgrade of the position. When fan confidence is already shaken, this is not the way to handle public relations. For that matter, who leaked this info before the team announcement?
Fans deserve better than this.
The news media is no better. Once upon a time, the media actually did investigate the news; that is, they looked behind the wire service reports to get to the bottom of things. The questions I’ve raised above are obvious to any fan, or editor. But the media merely re-prints whatever comes over the wire these days, and doesn’t try to address the question prompted by these hirings. That’s lazy reporting. Especially when the name of hire is leaked to the media well in advance of the announcement.
The silence on these hires, the lack of hard information on the choices made, and the odd way of handling the process: all seem very curious. As the blind man said at the zoo: “There is an elephant in the room — I can’t see him, but I can smell him.”
The George
January 19, 2010 at 11:22 pm
DrGeorge you have the right to be suspicious of these signings and wonder why our beloved Steelers make the moves they have. Im not going to question the personnel they brought aboard, however, I am less than pleased that their is a leak in our ship pretaining to the info being released before the team announced it. Im not going to pretend like I dont like sport rumors, because Hot Stove season is always exciting, but when info is released before the team officially releases it, then I think it shows signs of uncertainty and for a Steeler team that needs to get back to their solid gold standard, little signs of weakness start to take some of the shine off of the gold.