Did the Steelers guide head coach Mike Tomlin’s hand toward hiring Arthur Smith as offensive coordinator?
The Pittsburgh Steelers took care of one of their biggest hurdles this offseason by hiring Arthur Smith as their new offensive coordinator. That is filling the vacancy, at least. Whether he is successful in the job remains to be seen.
Whenever a big decision has to be made, though, there is always a debate about who is in control. Strictly speaking, the answer is owner Art Rooney II, but we’re also concerned with delegation of responsibility.
Rooney spoke this week and laid everything at Tomlin’s feet regarding hiring the offensive coordinator, which ended up being Arthur Smith. “It would be a mistake for me to try to screw up the lines of authority”, he said. Which is certainly an interesting choice of words, given that he has the authority.
Previously, Tomlin said in his end-of-season press conference that the decision would be collective. He named Rooney and general manager Omar Khan along with himself as the decision-makers involved. But what role did they play in this process?
The Steelers only interviewed three candidates formally. Notably, two of them fulfilled the Rooney Rule requirements of interviewing at least two outside minority candidates. Both Jerrod Johnson and Thomas Brown have little to no prior coordinating experience, which Tomlin specified he wanted.
Even before the season was over, reporters speculated that the Steelers would not let Tomlin make the hire independently. Yet you have the owner coming out and publicly saying that he doesn’t want to step on his coach’s toes.
Is that the image that they want to promote? Rooney doesn’t want the perception of an interventionist owner. Yet we hear that he is more involved than the public knows. As for Khan, his strength never lay in personnel and scouting.
And for that matter, Rooney isn’t a nuts-and-bolts football guy, either. Not like his father. Tomlin is easily the most qualified within that brain trust to make such a decision. But that doesn’t mean they can’t guide him in some way.
The Steelers’ 2023 season has been put out of its misery, ending as so many have before in recent years: a disappointing, blowout playoff loss. The only change-up lately is when they miss the playoffs altogether. But with the Buffalo Bills stamping them out in the Wildcard Round, they have another long offseason to look forward to.
The biggest question hanging over the team is the quarterback question. Is Kenny Pickett the guy? Will he get another season’s reprieve without a serious challenge? How will the team address the depth chart? Do they re-sign Mason Rudolph, one of the few significant unrestricted free agents?
The Steelers are swirling with more questions this offseason than usual, frankly, though the major free agent list is less substantial than usual. It’s just a matter of…what happens next? Where do they go from here? How do they find the way forward?
