As he was shifting Randy Fichtner from wide receivers coach to quarterbacks coach, Mike Tomlin was looking across the country to find a new special teams coordinator to replace Bob Ligashesky.

Al Everest, who spent the past three seasons as special teams coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, is expected to be hired in a similar role with the Steelers after meeting the past couple days with Tomlin.

Everest, 59, would replace Ligashesky, who was fired after the Steelers allowed four kick returns for touchdowns in a five-game span this season.

Everest's contract was not renewed by the 49ers, who had the league's worst punt-return average this season. He was the first assistant to be fired since Mike Singletary became 49ers head coach in 2008. Kurt Schottenheimer was hired as his replacement.

Meantime, as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported last week, the Steelers announced yesterday that Fichtner will become the team's new quarterbacks coach, replacing retired Ken Anderson.

Fichtner was the quarterbacks coach at the University of Memphis from 1990-93 and from 2001-06, when he was also offensive coordinator. He was also quarterbacks coach at Arkansas State from 1997-2000, where he worked with Tomlin.

The Steelers will have to hire a wide receivers coach to replace Fichtner. No immediate candidates have surfaced.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that the Seattle Seahawks have hired Green Bay Packers executive John Schneider as general manager, a position for which Steelers negotiator Omar Khan was a finalist.

NOTES -- The team has signed free-agent linebacker Derrick Doggett (6 feet, 210 pounds), who played two seasons in the Canadian Football League, to their offseason roster. Doggett had nine tackles and one interception in two seasons with the Edmonton Eskimos and Winnipeg Blue Bombers, where he was mostly a special teams player.

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