MOBILE, Ala. -- One day after taking in all the pomp and circumstance that surrounded his appointment as Bill Cowher's successor, Mike Tomlin rolled up his sleeves and went to work as the new coach of the Steelers.

A day that began with several meetings and hirings at the team's South Side facility ended nearly 1,000 miles away with more meetings and more hirings, including the people who will run his offense and defense.

Tomlin and director of football operations Kevin Colbert flew to Mobile, Ala., via private jet yesterday to scout college players preparing for the Senior Bowl and to meet with the coaches who remain from Cowher's staff. His first objective was to tell Dick LeBeau, the defensive coordinator the past three seasons, he would be retained to run the Steelers' defense, a move Tomlin confirmed during the news conference Monday announcing his hiring.

Then, he told Bruce Arians, the team's wide receivers coach, he will be promoted to offensive coordinator -- a position Arians, 54, once held with the Cleveland Browns. Arians will replace Ken Whisenhunt, who became head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

"Being back in the saddle and calling plays again is where I want to be," Arians said. "We got a good offensive football team and I want to maintain it and maybe make it a little better."

Arians will have at least one other member of the offensive staff to work with -- tight ends coach James Daniel, who is also expected to be retained.

But it is LeBeau, 69, who will have very little disruption to the defensive staff. Tomlin is expected to retain all the defensive coaches from Cowher's staff, including both secondary coaches, Darren Perry and Ray Horton, a surprising development for a coach who employed a different defensive scheme with the Minnesota Vikings. All the coaches from Cowher's staff had at least one year remaining on their contracts.

Earlier, Tomlin was at the team's complex on the South Side and retained another holdover from Cowher's staff -- conditioning coordinator Chet Fuhrman, who also had a year remaining on his contract.

Tomlin needs several other assistant coaches and already has discussed the openings with potential candidates. He has talked to former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Ken Anderson about becoming the team's quarterback coach, apparently replacing Mark Whipple.

Anderson, the Bengals' all-time leading passer, has been an assistant coach the past four seasons in Jacksonville, the past three as the Jaguars' quarterbacks coach. Anderson was the Bengals' offensive coordinator at a time when LeBeau was their defensive coordinator and head coach.

Also, Larry Zierlein, an assistant offensive line coach with the Buffalo Bills, is a possibility to replace Russ Grimm, who asked the Steelers to release him from his contract after he lost out to Tomlin to become the new head coach. Grimm joined the Arizona Cardinals yesterday as offensive line coach/assistant head coach -- the same title he had with the Steelers -- and will be reunited with Whisenhunt.

Zierlein was the offensive line coach at the University of Cincinnati (1997-2000) when Tomlin was the Bearcats' secondary coach and also was the Browns' offensive line coach in 2001-04 when Arians was the offensive coordinator.

Arians has been the Steelers' wide receivers coach since he was fired as the Browns' offensive coordinator in 2003. He was also an offensive coordinator at Alabama and Mississippi State, in addition to being head coach at Temple University.