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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Steelers hire Munchak

With the Browns apparently set to go in a different - and probably wrong - direction, Mike Munchak was still looking for a job Wednesday night.

He then informed the Steelers that he would accept their offer to be the team's offensive line coach.

It could wind up being the biggest - or at least best - move the team makes this offseason.

A Hall of Fame lineman, Munchak brings immediate credibility to the position. After his retirement as a player in 1993, the spend the next 14 seasons coaching for Jeff Fisher before replacing Fisher as Tennessee's head coach in 2011.

Munchak coached five Pro Bowl offensive linemen in his tenure, Kevin Mawae, Michael Roos, Brad Hopkins, Mark Stepnoski and Bruce Matthews.

He's also had a lot of success teaching the zone blocking schemes the Steelers tried to install in 2013 with little success - a big reason why former coach Jack Bicknell, Jr., was fired at the end of the season.

With a young, improving line, former Super Bowl-winning quarterback and rookie running back looking to improve on  a season in which he had 1,200 total yards, adding a coach with Munchak's skills is a big win for the Steelers.

@ Kirby Wilson will have a second interview for the Ravens' offensive coordinator position on Friday.

It appears that he and Kyle Shanahan are the finalists for that position.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great hire! Le'veon bell eclipses 1400 rushing yards next season. Guaranteed!

Noel said...

Great news!

I'm hoping a free agent safety comes next and I'd be a happy camper heading into the draft.

Anonymous said...

definitely good news, but how long will he be around. guy like that will get interest each year for coordinator and/or head coaching positions.

Anonymous said...

It's a short term fix. He will be gone in less than 2 years.

Pistol said...

He well be a short term fix but there will be other coaches soaking up the concepts and teaching from him. Class guy and Munchak is from the area so he might be around longer than we think.

Anonymous said...

"Munchak coached five Pro Bowl offensive linemen in his tenure, Kevin Mawae, Michael Roos, Brad Hopkins, Mark Stepnoski and Bruce Matthews."

With all due respect to Mike Munchak ... Kevin Mawae and Mark Stepnoski were pro bowlers several times over before he spent a single day with them as a coach or player.

Dale Lolley said...

I realize they were both Pro Bowl players before he coached them. But the fact remains that he coached them.
Also, it doesn't hurt to be around those type of players. Coaches can learn things from them as well.

Who cares if he's only in Pittsburgh for two years. The Steelers have a young offensive line that could benefit from his knowledge.

Anonymous said...

I'll take two years with him!! Get the
fundamentals down and get these young guys to learn the system, shoot I'm really excited about this hire...

What are the odds of us signing Sanders in your opinion? It would be great to go into the draft with the first 5 picks going towards the D.

Zeke

Blount Trauma said...

Dale, I remember everyone being equally (or almost) as excited about Bicknell last year. I still haven't heard a good explanation of what went wrong with him. Any insight? Thanks.

Dale Lolley said...

Just didn't mesh well. They decided to move on

adamg said...

Not sure why anyone thinks Munchak, who spent 30+ yrs with the same organization, is suddenly going to become a job-hopper. It doesn't seem to be his personality.

Anonymous said...

adamg, how about money or his competitive desire to be a successful head coach. those are two pretty good and acceptable reasons to accept a head coaching position in a couple years, or next year for that matter. and he has no loyalty to Pittsburgh as he did with the oilers/titans.

kyle said...

His records as a head coach for three seasons were: 9-7, 6-10, 7-9. I like the guy. I think all signs point to him being a very good OL coach. I doubt seriously that all of Tennessee's problems were on him but I am curious why the world will be beating down his door. He interviewed for a head coach job with Cleveland and with Penn State. Cleveland should be desperate and Penn State was his alma mater and it didn't work out with either. None of this is to say that he won't be offered the reins of some franchise this time next year but I don't see it as the foregone conclusion that others seem to.

And as others have pointed out, who cares if he leaves after a year or two? OL coach continunity is not a big deal. OL player continuity is. If they have the same five guys suiting up for every game for two years I don't care if I'm coaching them, they'll be good. Having a very good OL coach for however long you can get him is a plus.

adamg said...

Reportedly Munchak could have stayed as TN HC had he been willing to fire a few asst coaches. He chose not to and was fired. That doesn't sound like something a man bent on being/staying a head coach would do. Even an icon like Chuck Noll acquiesed the first time Rooney told him to fire some coaches.

I'm sure over the course of 30 yrs Munchak has made enough money to be comfortably set for life.