Phil Hansen Forever Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 You can say whatever you want to about Tom Donahue, but Dick LeBeau was one great pick that we let go. His defense was intimidating while he was here in Buffalo, and he showed that last night he got even better. Pittsburg was unabelievable and it he should still been with us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bizell Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 LeBeau didn't want to stay. You can't really say we let him go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphean Bills Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 LeBeau didn't want to stay. You can't really say we let him go... Yep. He wanted out. Sounds familiar, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Long Beach Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 He wasn't in charge. Jerry Gray was. We might have been able to keep him by putting him in charge, just like the spot he moved to in Pittsburgh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsWest Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 That guy does not look like he's 71. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkady Renko Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 He wasn't in charge. Jerry Gray was. We might have been able to keep him by putting him in charge, just like the spot he moved to in Pittsburgh... Mike M offered him the DC spot, but so did Cowher. He wanted to go back to Pittsburgh. It was pretty simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poeticlaw Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 LeBeau didn't want to stay. You can't really say we let him go... We did let him go he didnt want to stay just to be an assistant coach he wanted more and WE ALL KNOW Jerry gray should have been let go and Dick should have been given the JOB and we would have one of the best defenses in the leaugue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Mike M offered him the DC spot, but so did Cowher. He wanted to go back to Pittsburgh. It was pretty simple. Link? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Tuesday Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 I miss the playoffs, homefield advantages, first downs, sacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poeticlaw Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Mike M offered him the DC spot, but so did Cowher. He wanted to go back to Pittsburgh. It was pretty simple. After a little thought I realized that Dick was proably upset he didnt get the Head Coaching Job in Buffalo after holding the title of Assitant head coach and assiting Jerry Gray with making our defense as stout as they were. Also after talking to Bill Cower he also mght have realized he was better to work for than Mularkey would be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poeticlaw Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Link? http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nf...ching-rdp_x.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nf...ching-rdp_x.htm Did I miss the part about him being offered the DC job? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poeticlaw Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Did I miss the part about him being offered the DC job? It was the inferred position because Jerry Gray was still under contract and they did not want to lose him if Dick Lebeau chose not to take the position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 It was the inferred position because Jerry Gray was still under contract and they did not want to lose him if Dick Lebeau chose not to take the position. Oh, so they had JG under contract as the DC, but they offered it to LeBeau on the side, under the table, just between the two of them. Now things are so much clearer. I never knew that the position offered was the IDC. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkady Renko Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/stor...&id=1707870 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
\GoBillsInDallas/ Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 LeBeau returns to Steelers as defensive coordinator By Jerry DiPaola PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW Saturday, January 17, 2004 Dick LeBeau could have joined Mike Mularkey's coaching staff in Buffalo as the defensive coordinator. If so, he would have had a lesser shadow lurking over his shoulder. Instead, LeBeau chose a similar and, perhaps, a more challenging path with the Steelers, opting to reunite with coach Bill Cowher's strong personality, notable defensive mind and many more years of experience. Friday, LeBeau become the new coordinator in Pittsburgh, replacing the fired Tim Lewis. Mularkey's background is in offense and he was looking for LeBeau, a veteran of 45 years in the NFL as a player and coach, to lead his defense and ease his transition from Steelers assistant to Bills head coach. But LeBeau, who spent five seasons on Cowher's staff from 1992-96, felt more comfortable in Pittsburgh. "Pittsburgh is like going home," said LeBeau, who spent only last season in Buffalo as the Bills' assistant head coach. When he was in town this week to talk about the job with Cowher, LeBeau attended a Pitt basketball game where, he said, about 25 people approached him and wished him luck. "I was thinking that this is pretty neat," LeBeau said. "I haven't been in this city for seven years and there are not very many towns in the country that would recognize me and be so supportive. That did make the whole thing feel like going back to a place where I had been before." LeBeau said he doesn't know how involved Mularkey will be with the defense in Buffalo. In Pittsburgh, however, there is no such question with the head coach, but he said he welcomes Cowher's involvement. "I have worked with Bill and I know that Bill is involved in the defense and I will say this about him -- any coach who would not want coach Cowher's input with the background and success that he has had on defense, I think would be cutting his own nose off to spite his face. "He is an excellent defensive coach. We have been together before and we have always worked together. I welcome his input." When LeBeau was the Steelers' defensive coordinator in 1995 and '96, his units were known for a productive pass rush that streamed from the zone-blitz schemes that he created. He said the Steelers, who totaled 93 sacks in those seasons, can regain some of the aggressiveness that some players said was lost last year. "It's not like the defense has not been productive in some areas," he said. "Obviously, if everything was where we all wanted it in Pittsburgh, then we would be No. 1 in the league and we would still be playing. "We think we have work to do. We are not going to kid ourselves about that, but we think it is a very doable enterprise and we think the athletes there play hard and many times play very well." LeBeau acknowledges that the zone blitz still can be effective, even though offenses have learned how to attack it. "You can't put on a video, be it college, high school or professional, and not see the zone blitz being evoked. The defense is very popular because it is productive and it is sound and it is a safer way to pressure. "The offenses are more familiar with it and they have some answers. Of course, our objective is to make those answers the wrong answers." LeBeau chooses Steelers over Bills By F. Dale Lolley Washington Observer Reporter Staff writer Saturday, January 17, 2004 After two weeks of opening the door to allow their coaches to leave, the Steelers finally opened the door to let a coach to join their team Friday as Dick LeBeau accepted the team's offer to become its defensive coordinator. The 66-year-old LeBeau chose the Steelers over the Buffalo Bills, who wanted him to remain on their staff as defensive coordinator under new head coach Mike Mularkey, the former Steelers offensive coordinator who was hired Wednesday. LeBeau brings some stability to what has been a tumultuous two-week period for Steelers head coach Bill Cowher. In addition to Mularkey leaving his staff, Cowher has also lost quarterbacks coach Tom Clements, defensive backs coach Willy Robinson, defensive coordinator Tim Lewis and wide receivers coach Kenny Jackson. Clements will be Mularkey's offensive coordinator in Buffalo, and Robinson accepted San Francisco's defensive coordinator position Thursday. Lewis and Jackson were fired last week. This will be LeBeau's second stint with the Steelers. LeBeau was Cowher's defensive backs coach from 1992 through 1994, and moved up to defensive coordinator in 1995 when Dom Capers became head coach of the Carolina Panthers. LeBeau left the Steelers after the 1996 season to return to his hometown of Cincinnati, where he was defensive coorindinator/assistant head coach under Bruce Coslet. He later replaced Coslet as head coach, but was fired after the 2002 season. LeBeau was assistant head coach with the Buffalo last season, helping defensive coordinator Jerry Gray draw up his game plan each week. Ironically, LeBeau replaces Lewis, the man who replaced him as the Steelers' defensive backs coach in 1995. "One of the attractions to me being in Pittsburgh was the fact that, philosophically, Coach (Cowher) and I have always been on the same page, and that is attack," said LeBeau, who takes over a defense ranked ninth in the NFL last season. "We will be a pressure defense, and I know the head coach feels that way, too." LeBeau brings an expertise to the Steelers' defense that few possess. He is credited with inventing the zone blitz in the 1980s, when he was defensive coordinator of the Bengals. He and Capers modified the scheme in the '90s with the Steelers, taking advantage of the blitzing skills of Rod Woodson, Carnell Lake and others. "Dick LeBeau is a quality coach who is well respected, not only here in Pittsburgh but around the National Football League," said Cowher. "Dick's ability to communicate to and teach players, along with his knowledge of our defense, make it exciting to reunite with him. "We are fortunate to have someone of his experience and expertise join our staff." LeBeau, Robinson and Greg Blache, a Chicago Bears assistant, were the candidates to replace Lewis, who has been named defensive coordinator of the New York Giants. The Steelers have three openings on their coaching staff. Cowher and the rest of the staff will travel to the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., this week to evaluate players for the draft. Cowher will likely conduct interviews with potential receivers and quarterbacks coaches. Cowher is expected to name either tight ends coach Ken Whisenhunt or offensive line coach Russ Grimm the offensive coordinator. Former Steeler Dwight Stone interviewed Friday for the tight ends-assistant special teams coach position currently held by Whisenhunt. Assistant defensive backs coach Darren Perry will likely replace Robinson. LeBeau chooses Steelers over Bills By ALAN ROBINSON AP Sports Writer January 16, 2004 PITTSBURGH -- Dick LeBeau returned to the Pittsburgh Steelers as defensive coordinator on Friday, rejecting an offer to stay on the Buffalo Bills' staff. LeBeau, who ran the Steelers' defense the last time they made the Super Bowl during the 1995 season, was the Bills' assistant head coach last season and worked with defensive coordinator Jerry Gray. He took that job after being the Bengals' head coach for nearly three seasons. When Tim Lewis was fired as the Steelers' defensive coordinator after four seasons, LeBeau was immediately contacted by Steelers coach Bill Cowher. LeBeau interviewed with Cowher on Tuesday, a day before Steelers offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey was hired as the Bills' coach. Mularkey sought to retain LeBeau, but LeBeau apparently had decided by then to return to Pittsburgh. LeBeau was on Cowher's initial staff in 1992 as defensive backs coach and ran the defense during the 1995 and 1996 seasons. LeBeau left Pittsburgh after that season to return to Cincinnati, where his family had continued to maintain their home while he coached in Pittsburgh. ``Pittsburgh is like going home,'' LeBeau said Friday. ``I was at the Pitt basketball game Monday night and 25 people came up to me and wished me good luck and said, 'Come on back.' I thought, 'This is pretty neat.''' LeBeau is considered one of the NFL's top defensive innovators and he introduced the zone blitzes that the Steelers ran successfully in the mid 1990s, when their defense was nicknamed ``Blitzburgh.'' The scheme was later copied widely throughout the NFL. LeBeau's hiring came a day after defensive backs coach Willy Robinson was hired as the San Francisco 49ers' defensive coordinator. Robinson was interviewed by Cowher for the same job but was not offered it. Darren Perry, who was brought in this season as an assistant defensive backs coach with the idea that Robinson might leave, is expected to take over the secondary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganesh Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Mike M offered him the DC spot, but so did Cowher. He wanted to go back to Pittsburgh. It was pretty simple. If we had made his the DC coordinator the previous year instead of Gray, we would have kept him under contract even when Mularkey came in and we could have held on to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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