Thread: Steelers situation still bizarre

POSTED 5:15 p.m. EST, January 24, 2007

STEELERS SITUATION STILL BIZARRE
pft.com

We reported on Tuesday night about a strong rumor making the rounds in Mobile, Alabama regarding the manner in which the Steelers' decision to hire Mike Tomlin to be the team's next head coach went down.
As the rumor goes, the Steelers offered the job to Russ Grimm, he accepted the job, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suggested to Dan Rooney that the team should hire a minority candidate (either Tomlin or Ron Rivera), and Rooney decided to do so.

Though we don't expect anyone who knows the truth on this one to admit it in any setting other than a deathbed confession, the circumstantial evidence supports the notion that the Steelers inexplicably flipped from Grimm to Tomlin.

First of all, Clark Judge of CBSSportsline.com (which maintains the NFL's official web site) cites three unnamed sources in reporting that Grimm was indeed offered the job before it went to Tomlin.
However, Judge's report makes no mention of any arm-twisting by the league office (which might have something to do with the fact that CBSSportsline.com maintains the NFL's official web site).

Second, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Steelers president Art Rooney II candidly has admitted that the team engaged in negotiations with Grimm regarding a contract, a sentiment echoed in Judge's story.
Rooney claims, however, that Grimm was told that the decision to hire him had not yet been made.
"Our intention was the numbers were going to be done before we made the final decision," Rooney said.

Third, the Tribune-Review also reports that Tomlin's agent, Brian Levy, said that no negotiations began between Tomlin and the team until after an offer was extended and accepted on Sunday.

Fourth, Judge reports that the Steelers claim that they did discuss numbers with Tomlin.
"[W]e . . .
discussed numbers with Mike Tomlin's people, too," Rooney said. "And the discussion of numbers was something we wanted to have out of the way before we made a final decision on it."

So why would the Steelers say that they discussed numbers with Grimm and Tomlin while Tomlin's agent claims that numbers weren't discussed with him until an offer was extended to and accepted by Tomlin?

These facts (with all due respect to the Steelers) suggest that no discussions occurred with either candidate regarding numbers until after there was an informal offer and acceptance of the job.
The only other plausible explanation would be that Levy is lying about the way the negotiations unfolded (which he would have no reason to do) -- or that he suffered a significant closed head injury at some time between Saturday and Tuesday.

But what of the Saturday reports that the Steelers had selected Tomlin?
Without knowing who the sources were for those reports, it's impossible to know whether the sources knew the true states of affairs, or whether they took a liberty with the truth in order to help Tomlin get hired.

We're not faulting anyone who reported that Tomlin had been picked by the Steelers.
But unless the source for those reports was Dan Rooney, Art Rooney II, or Kevin Colbert, there's a chance that someone who seemingly was in the know was putting out bad information in order to disrupt the Grimm negotiations long enough to give Goodell a chance to change Dan Rooney's mind.

For example, what if Goodell or someone high up in the league office had called Michael Silver of Sports Illustrated and said, "Don't quote me on this, but the Rooneys have just called to tell us that they are hiring Mike Tomlin."
Silver would have been justified in reporting that Tomlin was the choice.
And though Silver might never have trusted the source in the future if Grimm got the job, it arguably would have been a small price to pay to achieve what was perceived to be the greater goal of getting the Steelers to pick Tomlin.

This is all speculation, and as we've said the truth on this one is unlikely to ever come out.
But the facts that are available suggest strongly to us that there's far more to this story than meets the eye.

No way the NFL twists the Stealers arms to get Tomlin hired...that would be meddlesome...and potentially disastrous if Tomlin ends up sucking as a head coach!

All I would say is this is very interesting.
I heard rumors that the NFL felt pressure because two African American coaches were fired and wanted to make sure one African American coach was hired.
Not sure if this is true... Just rumors, so nobody flip out.

I heard this before the Tomlin hiring.

Ron Rivera is a minority?

"singersp" wrote:

Ron Rivera is a minority?

Puerto Rican isn't he?

"cajunvike" wrote:

No way the NFL twists the Stealers arms to get Tomlin hired...that would be meddlesome...and potentially disastrous if Tomlin ends up sucking as a head coach!

If this were true, is there a white Jesse Jackson to complain for Grimm?

"WVV" wrote:

"cajunvike" wrote:

No way the NFL twists the Stealers arms to get Tomlin hired...that would be meddlesome...and potentially disastrous if Tomlin ends up sucking as a head coach!

If this were true, is there a white Jesse Jackson to complain for Grimm?

Yes, it's called the American public.

"vike_mike" wrote:

"WVV" wrote:

"cajunvike" wrote:

No way the NFL twists the Stealers arms to get Tomlin hired...that would be meddlesome...and potentially disastrous if Tomlin ends up sucking as a head coach!

If this were true, is there a white Jesse Jackson to complain for Grimm?

Yes, it's called the American public.

Lol.
True, but luckily the collective stupidity of the American Public is still nothing compared to that of Jesse Jackson.

I don't buy into this rumor at all.
Seriously, do you think that Dan Rooney, of the Rooney rule, chairman of the NFL Committee on Workplace Diversity, needs to be pressured by the NFL to hire a minority coach?
No.
He hired Tomlin because he is the best one ofr the job.
If Grimm was indeed offered the job first, either he turned it down, or someone else grandstanded for Tomlin based on his ability before Grimm accepted.

As far as I'm concerned Grimm didn't get screwed, we did.

Does this mean Grimm is available?
Maybe we can get him as our O line coach.
;D