Matt Raich knows a thing or two about championship football, having played linebacker on a college national champion and worked as an assistant coach with a Super Bowl champ.

Those teams, while completely different in the levels at which they played, still had a number of things in common, according to Raich, a Monaca High School graduate who was recently named a defensive assistant coach with the Arizona Cardinals.

"The one thing that is a constant is teamwork, said Raich. "The one thing I've learned is football is the ultimate team game. Teams that win do it with teamwork. Someone has to make the block to get the running back the hole. You have to play like a team if you want to be successful."

Raich, 36, has seen success first-hand, as a linebacker and three-time All-American at Westminster College, where his team won the 1989 NAIA national championship, and more recently as an offensive assistant with the Steelers when they won Super Bowl XL in February 2006.

Shortly after Ken Whisenhunt left Pittsburgh as the Steelers' offensive coordinator to become head coach with the Cardinals, he contacted Raich to ask if he would be interested in joining the Arizona staff. Raich was named a defensive assistant with the Cardinals in February and now wants to help bring that championship attitude to the franchise.

""We [he and Whisenhunt] had a good relationship when I started with the Steelers in '02," said Raich, who was an intern in the Steelers' player personnel department at that time. "I was there as an offensive assistant and that helped build our relationship. We always got along well and when he came out here and offered me this opportunity, I thought it was a good one."

Raich's coaching career has taken him to almost every level of football. Since graduating from Westminster, he was an assistant on the Titans' staff from 1993-94 and since has held assistant coaching positions at Glenville State in West Virginia and at Robert Morris.

He joined the Steelers' scouting department in 2002 and joined the coaching staff in 2004. As an offensive assistant, he was responsible for breaking down each week's opponent and putting together scouting reports

"It was interesting for me because before that I had spent all of my years either playing or coaching on defense," Raich said. "But the opportunity came up and coach [Bill] Cowher hired me for it. I didn't have much experience on the offensive side, but I think doing that has really helped me prepare for this job."

As a defensive assistant with the Cardinals, he will work under defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast to again formulate scouting reports on opponents and break down the strengths, weaknesses and tendencies they show. He also has spent time working directly with the team's linebacking corps.

"I'm definitely more familiar with it, but being on the offensive side with the Steelers definitely helped me," he said. "Having done that, I think I have a little better understanding now of what an offense is trying to do and I think that will help me here."

Raich's long-term goal is to become a coordinator in the NFL. In the short-term, the focus will be on helping Whisenhunt and the rest of the Cardinals' staff to instill a winning attitude in a franchise that posted its last winning season (9-7) in 1998, which also was the last time Arizona made it into the NFL playoffs.

"Our focus right now is just on getting better," Raich said. "We've got to focus on doing the things it takes to improve as individual players and as a team. "

Raich worked some with the linebackers during Arizona's offseason training sessions, which ended last week. He was impressed with the performance of Buster Davis, the Cardinals' third-round draft pick out of Florida State.

"He's doing well," Raich said. "He was our draft pick as far as linebackers went and we're happy with the way he is progressing. He's got a chance to help us."