The Squatting Monkey Blog

The Squatting Monkey Blog
Now featuring articles from Frederica Bimmel!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

DangerZone!



I was scanning through Rotoworld.com and saw the following posting:

Steelers hired Todd Haley as offensive coordinator.
Running backs coach Kirby Wilson would have gotten the job if not for a late-season house fire that left him with burns on 45 percent of his body. While Haley had communication problems as a head coach in Kansas City, as a coordinator in 2007 and 2008 with Arizona he oversaw back-to-back top-12 offenses, topping out at No. 4 in the league in his final season. Haley had Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, and Anquan Boldin, of course, but he will have Ben Roethlisberger, Mike Wallace, and Antonio Brown in Pittsburgh. It's an aggressive hire on Pittsburgh's part. Haley's passing offenses have been up-tempo with lots of shotgun and hurry-up when he's been the main man in charge.


My initial thoughts were: “Huh? What?”



Then I thought: “ownership didn’t want to keep former OC Bruce Arians…because they wanted to hired Kirby Wilson to replace him…but since Kirby Wilson is critically injured…they hired Todd Haley instead…when they could have just kept Arians for one more season while Kirby recovered…ok…I guess that makes sense…right?”

Then I thought: “well, just because Bruce Arians got hired in less than a week into his retirement and Haley had been unemployed for almost two months doesn’t mean that the Steelers are worse off…maybe the rest of the league just didn’t know what a gem Haley really is...”


Awww, who am I kidding? This is a giant mistake.



They are hiring the most unstable coach in the NFL to lead the offense of an organization that sees itself more as a family than a business. They are hiring an intense disciplinarian who believes that “sending a message” is more important than winning…to run a team that has no disciplinary issues. They are hiring a confrontational, in-your-face offensive coordinator that has managed to create sideline spats with nearly every team leader he has coached, including the saintly Kurt Warner, to tell Ben Roethlisberger how to do his job better.

Perhaps I am thinking about this too hard. Maybe I’m over analyzing Haley too much and I think I know more than I actually do about the Steelers. After all, most of Haley’s failings were as a headcoach and not an offensive coordinator.

For example:

Todd Haley was a headcoach when he kept his starters playing deep into the preseason.



Todd Haley was a headcoach when he lost Jammaal Charles for the season and he couldn’t quite decide which running back was the best leadback.



Todd Haley was a headcoach when he confidently started his backup QB Tyler Palko in place of injured starter Matt Cassel.



Todd Haley was a headcoach he kept first round wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin inactive in favor of free agent pickup Keary Colbert.



Todd Haley was a headcoach when he got called for an unsportsmanlike penalty versus the Jets in week 14 and his team incurred a 15 yard penalty.



But all of that was as a headcoach! Its totally different, right? Shortly after the Jets brutalized the Chiefs in week 14, Haley was fired and replaced by DC Romeo Crennel.

At this point, you would figure that Haley joins the unemployed masses and fades away from the media spotlight. How could he possibly mess up any more than he already has?



Well, it’s not technically his fault because he didn’t choose to not get paid, but the fact that he managed to violate the specifically drawn up terms of his contract and leave around enough evidence for the Chiefs to figure it out is.

At some point, you really have to take off your hat to Todd Haley. He takes bad decision making to the extreme; but once again all of these events occurred as a headcoach. He will be an offensive coordinator for the Steelers. So Haley has a lot of potential to become a top flight offensive coordinator as long as he isn’t allowed to make personnel decisions, evaluate talent, setup the depth chart, talk to the referees, talk to the team leaders, manage game time, manage player reps, set the practice schedules and isn’t required to follow the rules specifically established in his contract.

If the Steelers can get those issues handled I think that Haley has a great shot to accomplish a lot.

2 comments:

  1. Todd Haley In; BA Out.

    I predicted the Steelers were firing BA when he was contemplating retiring to some friends at work before the whole story broke that he was fired. I also predicted on January 20, 2012 to a friend on facebook, that Todd Haley would be BA’s replacement before Haley was even interviewed for the job. I will take you though my thought process which made me believe the above was going to unravel before our very eyes.

    As everyone knows in order for Todd Haley to be in, BA needed to be out, so I will start there.

    To be brutally honest right out of the gate, BA should have never become the Steelers offensive coordinator. He should have just remained a position coach. I believe this to be true because of this past record as either a head coach or as a coordinator. Below is BA’s resume:

    1975–1977 Virginia Tech
    (graduate assistant)

    1978–1980 Mississippi State
    (running backs & wide receivers)

    1981–1982 Alabama
    (running backs coach)

    1983–1988 Temple Owls
    (head coach)

    1989–1992 Kansas City Chiefs
    (running backs coach)

    1993-1995 Mississippi State (offensive coordinator)

    1996 New Orleans Saints
    (tight ends coach)

    1997 Alabama (offensive coordinator)

    1998–2000 Indianapolis Colts
    (quarterbacks coach)

    2001–2003 Cleveland Browns
    (offensive coordinator)

    2004–2006 Pittsburgh Steelers
    (wide receivers coach)

    2007–2011 Pittsburgh Steelers (offensive coordinator)

    2012– Indianapolis Colts
    (offensive coordinator)

    Since I will believe BA should have never became anything greater than a positions coach I will focus on the horrible job he did as a coordinator and head coach.

    Head coach of Temple
    Record
    1983 4-7
    1984 6-5
    1985 4-7
    1986 0-11
    1987 3-8
    1988 4-7
    Total 21-45 (I think this horrible record speaks for itself! Yikes!)


    Offensive Coordinator of Mississippi State
    Record

    1993 3-6-2
    1994 8-4
    1995 3-8
    Total 14-18-2 (I think this horrible record speaks for itself! Yikes!)

    Offensive Coordinator of Alabama
    Record

    1997 4-7
    Total 4-7 (I think this horrible record speaks for itself! Yikes!)


    Offensive Coordinator of the Cleveland Browns

    Record
    2001 7-9
    2002 9-7
    2003 5-11

    Total 21-27 (I think this horrible record speaks for itself! Yikes!)

    Total Wins and Lose as a head coach or as an offensive coordinator before become the Steelers Offensive Coordinator; 60 Wins 99 loses and 2 ties (I think this horrible record speaks for itself! Yikes!)

    Does this sound like someone you want to have been promoted to the Steelers offensive coordinator spot? No wonder the Steelers fired him, after having all the NFL’s best offensive tools at his disposal and only averaging 20 points a game this season with them. BA SHOULD HAVE NEVER EVEN BECOME AN OFFENSIVE CORRDINATOR of any NFL or College team!

    Please stay turned, there is more of the story to follow…

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Feb 7 Story is a product of Ocho Word Press and is not necessary the thoughts and ideas of the owner of the blog.

      From,

      Ocho Word Press

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