The Sports Monitor

Call me indifferent on the hiring of Todd Haley as the Pittsburgh Steelers' new offensive coordinator. I don't fall into the camp where Haley has lost his mind and is worried about people bugging his office. And I don't fall into the camp where anyone will be an improvement over former coordinator Bruce Arians. Now, I was happy that Arians was relieved of his duties. I did not like how he called games and I thought his relationship with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was too chummy for a coach-player relationship. It might seem wishy-washy to be indifferent on Haley, the former Chiefs head coach and Cardinals offensive coordinator, but let me explain. For all of Arians' shortcomings, the Steelers did win the Super Bowl with him and made another. I think only the truly excellent offensive coordinators can elevate a team and the truly poor ones can sink a team. For most coordinators, I think they are as good as the players they have. So while I believe Arian...

Is Bruce Arians on his way out of Pittsburgh? I fell for that two years ago when it was reported Arians wasn't going to return. I'll refrain from cheering until I hear it's official. I'll also refrain until I hear who replaces him. Instead, I'll repeat my position on Arians. If he is such a good coordinator, as some might say -- or, at the very least, his supporters say Arians doesn't deserve the criticism -- why is Arians never mentioned as a possible head coaching candidate? Seriously. Why is Arians never on the short list of any vacancy in the NFL? I simply do not recall him getting any mentions as a head coach. Why? The Steelers have been to two Super Bowls recently, winning one of them. Usually coordinators on successful teams have teams beating down their doors for interviews. With Arians? There's no such clamor. The clamoring is from people asking for him to leave. They might get their wish. I'm in that camp, but I'm hesi...