Home >  Sports >  Steelers

Wednesday, January 01, 2003

By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Mike Mularkey, the Steelers offensive coordinator, will interview for the head coaching job with the Cincinnati Bengals here on Saturday and Coach Bill Cowher did not sound happy with the timing of it.

Two weeks ago, the NFL changed its rules about interviewing assistant coaches for jobs while their teams were still involved in the playoffs. Previously, they had to wait until their team was eliminated or until after the Super Bowl.

Asked about it yesterday, Cowher declined to give specifics.

"We will adhere to all of the guidelines that the league has set ... I'm not going to go into specifics, I'm not going to talk about jobs, we're going to talk about the Cleveland Browns this week. We will certainly adhere to all of policies that the league has set."

The new policy allows a team to interview an assistant coach only once while his team is involved in the playoffs and to do so in the coach's city or where his team is playing. That is why Bengals President and General Manager Mike Brown will come here to talk to Mularkey the day before the Steelers open the playoffs against Cleveland and the lightest work day of the week for the coaches and players.

Mularkey, 41, is in his second season as Steelers offensive coordinator after spending five seasons as their tight ends coach. The Steelers' offense ranked third last season and fifth this year. He also was interviewed by Tampa Bay at the end of last season for the Buccaneers' head coaching job.

Brown fired Dick LeBeau, a former Steelers defensive coordinator, Monday.