Steelers sportline article?

[Indy_Steelers]

Originally Posted by Lloydfan4life

I agree with you when it comes to not knowing Art II and having doubts about him. There was much more to Cowher leaving than the excuse he gave, and I'm a firm believer that most of it originated with AII. I was convinced once I saw his farwell P.C. and he did not include AII in any of his thank you's. I hope I'm way off base and II ends up being a man of character like Dan is and The Chief was!

I'm smelling 'Steelergate'.

[alittlejazzbird]

The Tribune-Review (I know, I know, can we take anything they say at face value?) reports this today:

"Rooney II told the Tribune-Review that while the team agreed Saturday on the basics of a contract with Grimm, it was made clear it didn't mean he had the job. ... Rooney II said working out a contract agreement with the two finalists was part of the hiring process."

and also Art II's direct quote: "There's no question in my mind that I told Russ, and I think his representative was told, we weren't going to make a final decision (until Sunday)".

Obviously all sides of this thing have egg on their faces, and it was handled poorly by the Steelers organization and really poorly by the media. I do feel bad for Russ Grimm, who got caught in the middle of it and maybe misunderstood, maybe didn't. As another poster said, we'll never know.

As someone who works for attorneys every day and knows how negotiations work, my gut feeling is that someone much farther down the Steelers' front office food chain had access to highly confidential documents or messages or whatever and decided to leak what they thought they knew. It's tempting to blame Art II because we know he and Cowher didn't get along, but in all honesty it could have just as easily been an executive secretary or low-level management person. I'm not letting AJRII off the hook completely, I'm just saying that there's probably much more to the story than we'll ever know.

[HometownGal]

Originally Posted by alittlejazzbird

Obviously all sides of this thing have egg on their faces, and it was handled poorly by the Steelers organization and really poorly by the media. I do feel bad for Russ Grimm, who got caught in the middle of it and maybe misunderstood, maybe didn't. As another poster said, we'll never know.

As someone who works for attorneys every day and knows how negotiations work, my gut feeling is that someone much farther down the Steelers' front office food chain had access to highly confidential documents or messages or whatever and decided to leak what they thought they knew. It's tempting to blame Art II because we know he and Cowher didn't get along, but in all honesty it could have just as easily been an executive secretary or low-level management person. I'm not letting AJRII off the hook completely, I'm just saying that there's probably much more to the story than we'll ever know.

I do feel badly for Russ Grimm because as you said, he was caught in the middle somewhere, but there were so many rumors flying around out there this past weekend - who knows what really is truth and what is fabrication to sell tribunals? Reporters are sneaky and some of the seediest human beings known to man.

I definitely agree that there is a mole(s) in the Steelers FO - that is obvious when these reporters mention their "sources". Whoever he/she/they is/are, I hope they get nailed - leaking confidential "company" information is not only unprofessional, it is highly unethical.

Dan - you make a very sound point in your post above. From my dealings with AJRII and listening to some of Cowher's post-game and weekly press conferences, these two are cut somewhat from the same cloth as far as hard-headedness and arrogance go. Bill Cowher was a fantastic coach and a genuinely good person, just as AJRII is an excellent corporate attorney and trusted by his father to handle a good share of the load, but two strong and abrasive personalities like these two were bound to clash. Dan Rooney seems like more of the gentlemanly old-school type - AJRII has never come across to me that way and neither did Cowher, though I respected and adored him.

[Atlanta Dan]

Well, with regard to the leaks AJR II vaguely casts blame as follows:

"I think the league people caused some confusion, which was unfortunate, but that didn't come from us."

The Steelers were furious over reports that surfaced Saturday on SI.com and ESPN that Tomlin had been chosen as their head coach. They insisted they did not pick their coach until Sunday. Rooney blamed "league people" for those reports.

"Let's put it this way, I think I know where both of the leaks came from and I think it's unfortunate when people talk about something when you're dealing with these things," Rooney said, then quoted an old Yogi Berra saying. "It ain't over 'til it's over, and people were claiming something was over when it was not."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07024/756276-66.stm

This would seem to exonerate the agents and Steeler employees, but who knows. I think AJR II has learned a lesson in dealing with the media - let's just hope he does not need to use his newly acquired expertise in coach hiring anytime soon.

[Florida_Steelers_Fan]

i blame this on grimm's agent...sounds like the agent got a little giddy too soon. contract numbers didn't mean an actual contract and it looks like the misunderstanding was the agent's inability to be patient.