Some great news from steelers.com last night as a Q & A was posted that was done recently with Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. In the interview Tomlin was asked about the condition of running backs coach Kirby Wilson, who was badly burned in house fire just before the Steelers Wild Card game against the Denver Broncos. Tomlin said that Wilson has surprised the doctors with his rate of recovery, and even though he still has a long ways to go in his recovery, he does expect him back at some point in 2012.
In the meantime, Tomlin said that Amos Jones, the Steelers assistant special teams coach, will help bridge the gap at the running back coach position until Wilson returns. As Tomlin pointed out, Wilson has coached running backs in the past at the collegiate level. Wilson has been with the Steelers for the past 5 seasons and way prior to landing in Pittsburgh he coached the running backs and special teams for four years at the University of Cincinnati from 1999-2002, where Tomlin coached the defensive backs for a few of those seasons. Jones also spent time at the collegiate level coaching at Mississippi State, James Madison, Pittsburgh, Tulane, Temple and Alabama as well.
While Jones will likely split his time with the running backs and special team units, he knows the personnel on the team and definitely has the coaching resume. They Steelers might be stretched a little thin right now, but it certainly seems they have it well under control and Tomlin seems very confident that Wilson will indeed coach at some point in 2012. What a great shot in the arm that will be when he is able to at least return for a few practices in the near future. Hopefully the encouraging news keeps pouring in as it relates to his recovery.
