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Dick LeBeau Out as Defensive Coordinator

To me, the secondary will be the biggest challenge. Heyward, Tuitt, McClendon, and McCullers are all suited for the 4-3. Heyward can be one pass rusher, but we need at least one more. At LB, I'm not sure Jones is a good fit at any position. Could be they go with Shazier-Timmons-Spence and use Jones as an edge rusher on passing downs.
 
coryea said:
Anyone that keeps thinking drafting Jones, shazier, and signing Allen and Mitchell is Lebeau's doing you're insane, that falls on the head coach, he may ask for input from other coaches, but he's making the final decision, and he should.
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"Yep. It's definitely all on the coach."

Kevin_Colbert_175--nfl_large_580_1000.jpg
 
Rex Ryan is about to ink a contract to become the HC at Buffalo. So he's out (thank GOD).
 
coryea said:
Anyone that keeps thinking drafting Jones, shazier, and signing Allen and Mitchell is Lebeau's doing you're insane, that falls on the head coach, he may ask for input from other coaches, but he's making the final decision, and he should.
Plus does anyone really think if Lebeau had that kind of control he would've released Porter after the 06 seasons? Hell no.
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This.

This was essentially a Lebeau firing. And he was made the scapegoat for some real bad drafting on the part of Tomlin and Colbert. And I put most of the blame on Tomlin.
This has left a very bad taste in my mouth.
 
I am sorry it happened this way. I think it was time for Coach Lebeau to leave though. I hope they promote Coach Butler and keep the system they have now. I think the system is great they just need a younger more dynamic coach to interact with the players and the organization as far as the draft and free agent personnel goes.
 
hamster said:
This.

This was essentially a Lebeau firing. And he was made the scapegoat for some real bad drafting on the part of Tomlin and Colbert. And I put most of the blame on Tomlin.
This has left a very bad taste in my mouth.
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How about we wait until some more details come out. We dont know if they are switching anything. Could simply be a case of if Arizona's DC gets a head coaching job they were goimg to be sniffing around Butler. Butler is not under contract for this year. Steelers may not of been able to keep him waiting any longer.
 
hamster said:
This.

This was essentially a Lebeau firing. And he was made the scapegoat for some real bad drafting on the part of Tomlin and Colbert. And I put most of the blame on Tomlin.
This has left a very bad taste in my mouth.
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What has left a bad taste in my mouth the last 3 - 4 years is our defensive play.
 
antdrewjosh said:
How about we wait until some more details come out. We dont know if they are switching anything. Could simply be a case of if Arizona's DC gets a head coaching job they were goimg to be sniffing around Butler. Butler is not under contract for this year. Steelers may not of been able to keep him waiting any longer.
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Wait a minute. We are Steeler Nation. Since when did we start waiting for the facts before wildly drawing conclusions?
 
antdrewjosh said:
How about we wait until some more details come out. We dont know if they are switching anything. Could simply be a case of if Arizona's DC gets a head coaching job they were goimg to be sniffing around Butler. Butler is not under contract for this year. Steelers may not of been able to keep him waiting any longer.
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I hope Tomlin goes in HIS direction. Not a coach that he is told to hire as in Butler. This way it will be his team and he has to own it then. The whole product ..Top to Bottom.
 
hamster said:
And 4 years ago, Lebeau suddenly forgot how to coach?
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About 5 or 6 years ago the game changed.....that's a fact. Dick didn't change with it.
 
I just saw on espn. Ian Rapoport is reporting that Lebeau's decision caught the Steelers off guard. The Steelers fully expected Lebeau to coach next season. Rapport says that Lebeau believed his time was up in the organization. Lebeau did not think he was a part of some of the Steelers future plans.
 
stillwright said:
About 5 or 6 years ago the game changed.....that's a fact. Dick didn't change with it.
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I think that is a compliment to Lebeau. The game changed from allowing actual defense to be played to fantasy football arena league where you aren't permitted to do much to stop the offense. You are correct....a guy like Dick who has been around so long probably did have trouble adjusting to that. It says more about the NFL than it does about Lebeau.
 
6rings said:
I just saw on espn. Ian Rapoport is reporting that Lebeau's decision caught the Steelers off guard. The Steelers fully expected Lebeau to coach next season. Rapport says that Lebeau believed his time was up in the organization. Lebeau did not think he was a part of some of the Steelers future plans.
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Well Ian's been spot on with his reporting about the Steelers in the past. So there's that [/sarcasm]
 
Supersteeler said:
I think that is a compliment to Lebeau. The game changed from allowing actual defense to be played to fantasy football arena league where you aren't permitted to do much to stop the offense. You are correct....a guy like Dick who has been around so long probably did have trouble adjusting to that. It says more about the NFL than it does about Lebeau.
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While I hate the direction the game has taken. I do not think it's a compliment to Dick if for 5 years he tried to keep doing the same old same old with the same old results.
 
Punxsutawney said:
The problem with the Dungy/Tampa 2 is that it was really only consistently successful In Tampa Bay and briefly in Chicago under Lovie Smith. Dungy had very lackluster results with it when he went to Indianapolis.

The problem is that you need a great, not merely good, 4-man Rush to make it work, as well as a freak of nature at LB, like Derrick Brooks and Brian Urlacher who can consistently cover 20-30 yards down the field. The personnel is hard to obtain.
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I'd augment that list with Levon Kirkland.

steelersfootball4life said:
The Steelers should have a tribute for DLB at one of their home games next season. ( provided he is not with another team). The Steelers would not even sniff a super bowl without Mr. LeBeau.
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Agreed. Wouldn't even care if he were coaching somewhere else at the time. Love him, hate him or neutral he's been a huge part od Steeler football history and to me his name will always be synonymous with The Steelers.

6rings said:
I just saw on espn. Ian Rapoport is reporting that Lebeau's decision caught the Steelers off guard. The Steelers fully expected Lebeau to coach next season. Rapport says that Lebeau believed his time was up in the organization. Lebeau did not think he was a part of some of the Steelers future plans.
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That would make more sense to me.....and point to the possibility that he just wasn't being given the players he was comfortable working with.
 
stillwright said:
About 5 or 6 years ago the game changed.....that's a fact. Dick didn't change with it.
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5-6 years ago, we had players, in their prime, that could play the 3-4. Since then not so much. That is not on Lebeau.
 
Rod Farva said:
I'd augment that list with Levon Kirkland.



Agreed. Wouldn't even care if he were coaching somewhere else at the time. Love him, hate him or neutral he's been a huge part od Steeler football history and to me his name will always be synonymous with The Steelers.



That would make more sense to me.....and point to the possibility that he just wasn't being given the players he was comfortable working with.[/QUOTE]

As I think back on it, after Tomlin wasn't it Butler who talked first about the J. Jones and Shazier picks? And wasn't Butler on the record as saying he wanted an additional LB in the second round of one of those drafts? Maybe Butler was being given more voice in draft decisions or was being listened to more lately. That would sure make Lebeau feel like he wasn't part of some of the Steelers future plans.
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hamster said:
5-6 years ago, we had players, in their prime, that could play the 3-4. Since then not so much. That is not on Lebeau.
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It is partially on Lebeau if he had any say in who was picked.
 
SteelBuckeye said:
It is partially on Lebeau if he had any say in who was picked.
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That is the question....how much say did he have? And how much was the arrogance of Tomlin telling him what he needed.

I just think the resignation, and not retirement, is very telling.
 
hamster said:
That is the question....how much say did he have? And how much was the arrogance of Tomlin telling him what he needed.

I just think the resignation, and not retirement, is very telling.
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Colbert is still the GM no? I'm sure he and Tomlin share the drafting responsibilities but I highly doubt that Tomlin is saying F.U. to Colbert as well as Lebeau to draft who he wants in opposition to both of them. I agree that Lebeau wanting to leave might mean that he wasn't in agreement possibly. But I seriously doubt Colbert is getting overruled every year. I would guess he has more pull in the organization with personnel than Tomlin does.

Our recent drafting boils down to this: In Colbert/Cowher's heyday of drafting they seemed to get about 4 or 5 useful players out of 7 rounds in most drafts (with some stars mixed in with those). There were always misses but not quite as many. The recent drafts under Colbert/Tomlin aren't what you'd call terrible but I'd say the ratio has been about 3 useful players (with the occasional star mixed in) out of 7 rounds. I'd still put them middle of the pack in drafting. They just used to be near the top every year seemingly.
 
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hamster said:
That is the question....how much say did he have? And how much was the arrogance of Tomlin telling him what he needed.

I just think the resignation, and not retirement, is very telling.
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I saw all through the season that Lebeau kept saying he would be back as long as they would have him. So, I think the word "resignation" is a bit misleading. Lebeau was fired. He's not here because they didn't want him back. Maybe Butler (who isn't under contract) refused to come back as the LB coach. Maybe they just wanted a fresh perspective. Maybe they thought he was slipping or too rigid in his thinking. Whatever it was, I believe that Lebeau was fired and they agreed that he could announce it as a "resignation" in order to avoid an Arians type of miscue. Lebeau is a stand up guy for agreeing to do it.
 
yeah this whole thing feels dirty

Bottom line - 5 years without a playoff win.

Usually when teams start firing coordinators, the head coach is the next to go
 
Tomlin will be fired if we have a losing record this coming year. After getting things turned around and back in playoffs. If the team suddenly goes the wrong way then he will be done. This is a big year for all of the organization. Are we on our way back or are we on our way to the bottom.

Looks like we should be heading up.
 
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