Tomlin Hits a Home Run

Good morning,

Mike Tomlin hit a home run with his hire of Mike Munchak to coach the Steelers offensive line. Munchak was one of the most respected line coaches in the NFL before he ascened to Tennessee’s top coaching position in 2011.

Not long after the Titans fired him, we suggested the Steelers take a look at him if he did not get the Penn State job. It’s a win-win for both sides. Munchak interviewed for the Cleveland Browns head coaching job but that seems to be going nowhere and if they really wanted him, they would have hired him by now. He’s never been an offensive coordinator so if he were going to coach again, he would coach an offensive line, coach in college or be a head coach.

Munchak turned down an offer from the Houston Texans, coached by Bill O’Brien, to coach their offensive line.

It would not be surprising if Munchak has some other title besides offensive line coach with the Steelers. Defensive line coach John Mitchell already has the additional title of assistant head coach. That’s a title Russ Grimm had for a few years under Bill Cowher while he was coaching the Steelers offensive line. Cowher gave it to him to try to enhance his credentials to become a head coach since he too was never a coordinator.

Grimm had several interviews for jobs and turned down others. He actually turned down an offer to become the head coach of the Chicago Bears because management wanted to dictate which coaches he could hire. Grimm sat out last season, collecting more than $1 million in the last year of his contract after the Arizona Cardinals fired him as their line coach.

Since Munchak was already a head coach, he may not need or want an additional title with the Steelers. It just won’t be surprising if he gets one.

Onto some stuff:

--- Steelers running backs coach Kirby Wilson impressed John Harbaugh enough in his interview Wednesday that Harbaugh wants to talk to him again on Friday. There have been many reports that suggested Ravens wide receivers coach Jim Hostler was the heavy favorite for that job, but it looks like Wilson has a chance.

--- Munchak was the Dick Hoak of the Houston/Oilers Tennessee Titans franchise, and both played at Penn State. It’s the only organization he’s worked for in the past 32 seasons. The Oilers drafted him in 1982 from Penn State and he played guard for them for 12 seasons, nine of them in the Pro Bowl. He made the NFL’s all-1980s decade team and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

After he retired, he went right into coaching with the Houston Oilers as their quality control coach for three seasons, 1994-96, then became the Titans offensive line coach in 1997 until he became their head coach in 2011.

The Steelers will be the first organization besides the Titans that Munchak works or plays for since he left Penn State.

---- The immediate beneficiaries of Munchak’s hiring will be the Steelers young offensive linemen, particularly Mike Adams and Marcus Gilbert, two second-round draft picks who have yet to hit their stride. Munchak ran the zone blocking scheme during his tenure at Tennessee with great success and his work with young linemen has been regarded as excellent.

--- After a few recent hires for position coaches that did not work out, Tomlin gets high grades for this one. His hires of Jack Bicknell Jr. to coach his line and Scottie Montgomery to coach the wide receivers went flat. This hire falls in line with those of Sean Kugler (offensive line) and Danny Smith (special teams).

--- It would not be surprising if Jerry Olsavsky becomes a candidate to coach the linebackers in Green Bay. Olsavsky, 46, has been a quality control coach on defense for the Steelers the past four years. He interviewed for the linebackers job in Tampa Bay two years ago.

Green Bay has an opening because another former Steelers linebacker, Kevin Greene, abruptly quit, saying he needed to spend more time with his family. Greenfield native Mike McCarthy coaches the Packers.

Olsavsky’s predecessor as the quality control coach on the Steelers’ defense, Lou Spanos, was just hired by Ken Whisenhunt to be his linebackers coach with the Tennessee Titans. Spanos had been defensive coordinator at UCLA the past two seasons.