Just a day after Pittsburgh announced Mike Tomlin would be their new head coach, Steelers assistant Russ Grimm joined former Steelers assistant Ken Whisenhunt in Arizona. Both Whisenhunt and Grimm were considered frontrunners to replace Bill Cowher as head man in Pittsburgh...but both were passed over for the position.
There is a growing rumor that Grimm was offered the job and accepted the job but that Roger Goddell, Commissioner of the NFL, wanted the Steelers to hire a minority candidate since the Rooney Rule (which requires a minority candidate be interviewed) was named after Steelers owner Dan Rooney. Since Grimm hadn't signed any papers with the Steelers, Pittsburgh retracted the offer to Grimm and offered the job to Tomlin.
Grimm hasn't really said anything publicly about it at all really...so, it may be a bunch of bull. The media declared both Grimm and Tomlin as head coach before a decision was made...so that doesn't mean a whole lot to me. But it sure didn't take Grimm very long to bolt the Steel City once Tomlin was named head coach.
I'm sure the real story will come out about this in due time. If Grimm was indeed offered the job before Tomlin, then the Rooney Rule is a failure because the Steelers would have believed that Grimm was the best man for the job but had to pass due to pressure to hire a minority. If the story is bogus...well, then it doesn't really mean much of anything.
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