BRUCE ARIANS

I don’t recall many Steeler fans liking their offensive co-ordinator Bruce Arians, but I do know a lot that thought his play calling was inept. I’ve not played football, so I’m in no position to judge how good his game plan was, but I can take a look at his record.

Arians was hired in January 2004 as Pittsburgh’s receivers’ coach. The Steelers finished the previous season with a 6-10 record with Tommy Maddox as the starting quarterback.  Arians brought twenty-nine years of coaching experience, including eleven in the NFL, to the Steelers.

Prior to coming to Pittsburgh, Arians' previous coaching position had been with the Cleveland Browns as their offensive co-ordinator.  In December 2003, Arians was fired in a shake-up by Cleveland’s coach Butch Davis after a disappointing 5-11 season that followed the previous season’s visit to the playoffs.

When Arians arrived in Cleveland from Indianapolis, the Browns’ quarterback Tim Couch was looking forward to Arians’ “quarterback friendly offense,” “I think it will bring more out of me,” Couch offered. “Bruce has told me that this is my show to run.” The Browns finished the season 6-7.

Did Arians retire or was he pushed?

In his first post-season interview, Art Rooney suggested a few coaches were considering retirement, but he didn’t confirm which ones. A few days later, Mr. Rooney went on WDVE stating, “that whatever happened with Arians is "really Mike's decision," referring to coach Tomlin. "

Then Arians declared that he retired only after Rooney refused to renew his contract. This week in an interview on Steelers.com, Mr. Rooney said, "Bruce had talked about retirement for a few years now. I think it was time for a change, and we're looking forward to moving on."

Arians has guided the Steelers to some of its most productive offensive years. In his first year as offensive coordinator, Arians’ tutelage saw Roethlisberger break Terry Bradshaw’s long-standing team record for most TD passes in a season with 32.

In 2009, the Steelers’ offense became the first unit in team history to boast a 4,000-yard passer, two 1,000-yard receivers, Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes, and a 1,000-yard rusher in the same season. Along the way the offense broke both of the team’s records for passing first downs (210) and passes completed (351).

Apart from the rushing yardage, these distinctive achievements were repeated in 2011 with Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown with another 4,000-yards passing from Ben.

STEELERS RECORD WITH ARIANS AS THEIR CO-ORDINATOR

2007  10-6
2008  12-4 Super Bowl XLIII
2009    9-7
2010  12-4
2011  12-4

This time last year, it was reported that Arians was on his way out but Ben saved his job. That must be some kind of endorsement from someone who should know. If Arians is as bad and ineffective as everyone is saying, I can’t wait to see how many Super Bowl appearances that we must make if we get a decent co-ordinator.

MORE FOOD FOR THOUGHT>>>

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THE BEGINNING OF A FOOTBALL DYNASTY CONTINUED
(1974 history starts here>>>)

NFL HEADS TOWARDS STRIKE

In the first week of June 1974, with less than a week before resuming contract negotiations with the NFL Players Association, the NFL Management Council released audited financial statements showing an average operating profit of $472,500 (after tax) for each team for the 1973 season.

That figure represented a 7.6% average profit pre franchise, although two of the teams did lose money. Houston was one of those teams, announcing a deficit of $459,000.

The report was presented to the Players Association and to the mediator for the talks. Cleveland Browns owner, Art Modell (pictured left) commented, “We felt it was time to put it into perspective, accurately, the dramatic myth of pro football’s profit structure. We wanted to set the record straight and give it some clarity that it has needed for some time.”

Modell pointed out that the figures in the report represented the 1973 season and did not reflect added expenses incurred as a result of a salary bidding against the WFL. “I can tell you that in my conversations with a number of clubs, their increased share of TV revenue for 1974 has been wiped out by the costs of individual player bargaining.”

The figures revealed the players costs accounted for 39.2% of each teams’ outgoings although the Players Association estimated those costs at 28%.

Income revenues were broken down as ticket sales 62.1%, television and radio 27.4% with programs and concessions at 4%.

Prior to their June 11 meeting with the owners, the NFLPA added pressure by declaring they would strike July 1 if no contract agreement had been reached. Edward R. Garvey, executive director of the NLFPA confirmed the walkout would include rookies, forcing the cancellation of the College All-Star game against the Miami Dolphins, the current Super Bowl champions.

The All-Star game was an annual event between the NFL and college seniors from the previous year. With the merger of the two pro leagues, the NFL representatives were that year’s Lombardi trophy winners.

Following on from their May meeting, both sides were seeking to reach agreement on the important issues. The rhetoric over the “freedom rules” revolved around a clause that bound a player to one club and the Rozelle rule requiring compensation for a player who, having played out his option with one team, signed with another.

After two days of talks, the discussions were brought to an end by what the NFL’s Management Council called a “walkout.” Bill Curry, president of the players, retorted, “That simply isn’t true. No one got up and walked out. Certainly not the players.”

Curry insisted the talks ended at the suggestion of Jim Scearce, the federal mediator who presided over the week’s discussions. He said he was uncertain they would resume as scheduled the following Tuesday in Washington.

Wellington Mara of the New York Giants issued a statement on behalf of the Management Council that said:

“The break off is both tragic and irresponsible. No matter what their original motivation, the totality of the players’ freedom demands would result in each of the 1300 selling their services to 38 football teams in the United States alone each year without concerns for teams, teammates and fans.

We do not think we could represent the resultant product to our fans as a truly competitive brand of football.”

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Last updated January 26th 2012.

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