Second-fiddle Grimm earns coaching respect
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Steelers owner Dan Rooney is greeted by Cardinals assistant head coach/offensive line coach Russ Grimm in September 2007 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
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TAMPA, Fla. -- This morning, Russ Grimm temporarily serves as the Arizona Cardinals head coach. He reads off the daily itinerary. He spins a few Grimm tales. He leads the team meeting.
He leads the team.
"Friday, that's his day," guard Deuce Lutui said yesterday at a Super Bowl XLIII media session. "He conducts the meeting like a head coach. He does a real good job."
"When he's up there, he has the demeanor of a head coach, and that's the way the guys look at it," said Kevin Spencer, the special teams coach who has worked with this assistant head coach and line coach with the Steelers and Cardinals. "And they think that's a key to victory for us, Russ in Friday meetings."
Tony Dungy, a fellow who used to win a few games in the same Raymond James Stadium where the Cardinals and Steelers collide Sunday, often awarded one of his assistants the Wednesday meeting duties -- a place where a young secondary coach Mike Tomlin got his start. Arizona head coach and former Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, unaware of that practice, merely shrugged and said he figured Grimm deserved it.
The way Grimm tells it, his old Washington Redskins teammate and longtime coaching colleague approached him before the start of their 2007 inaugural season in the desert. "He said, 'Hey, I want you to go through the itinerary for the weekend and if you got any comments, go ahead and make them.' So it's kind of evolved from there."
His speech for the fellas little more than 54 hours before kickoff? "I usually let that go off the cuff," Grimm said yesterday. "We're getting to the point where you really don't have to say too much to these guys anymore. They've bought into it, and they've been working hard. They know the magnitude of it."
Whisenhunt withdrew from the Steelers' head coaching search a week before it concluded in January 2007, when Arizona's owners invited him for a second interview. Then, after Grimm's hopes were dashed and the Steelers hired Tomlin, Grimm went in the other direction -- west with Whisenhunt.
"I know we think a lot like," Whisenhunt said. "I think he has been a great part of why we have had success here."
Grimm, who earlier this month interviewed for the New York Jets' opening, said he holds no ill feelings toward the Rooneys and Tomlin over the coaching search -- although players remember how badly Whisenhunt and Grimm wanted to beat the Steelers in 2007, when Arizona prevailed, 21-14.
Arizona players seem to appreciate the contributions of this former Pitt player from Scottdale, Westmoreland County.
"Being accountable, doing your job; I think that mentality is something Russ Grimm, Spencer and Whis have brought here," special teams ace and former Steeler Sean Morey said.
"Russ has a lot of input in what we do," third-string quarterback Brian St. Pierre said. "He's a big presence on this team."
Being accountable, doing your job; I think that mentality is something Russ Grimm, Spencer and Whis have brought here."
First Published January 30, 2009 12:00 am
