here is the thing about both of these hires neither of them comes with any promise for things to change. Al Everest who coached the 49ers who was almost just as bad as the steelers were there special teams ranked at the bottom of the league just like us. why in the blue blazes would we bring this guy in if this was the case we may as well kept who we had Lack of a consistent punt return in 2009 hurt the 49ers, who finished with the worst return average in the league. “Lack of a consistent punt return in 2009 hurt the 49ers, who finished with the worst return average in the league.”
as for the qb coach this also makes no since why have and internal hire for someone who is not going to have the heart to put a foot in BB ass when he needs to hell he was a receivers coach. Yes he coached qb at Memphis and yes he was a offensive coordinator at Arkansas but who was the last successful qb to come out of Memphis or who was the last offensive guy from Arkansas to make some noise. You know the more and more I see Tomlin make moves to improve this team the more he exposes himself as being to young and unknown for the job because everyone he seems to hire is in some was connected with him or from the bottom of the barrel. As a fan I can only grip and hope that he proves me wrong but until then I have to wonder what is this team doing to really improve

I’m not sure that any ST hire is going to make a big difference in any organization’s ST play, at least without the ability to keep X number of special teams aces regardless of whether or not they’re able to actually be decent back up’s in the respective positions.

After all, our coverage units were outstanding in 2008 and sucked in 2009 – Why? Well, in large part because the organization let Madison go. With McFadden moving on, Townsend slowing down, and two rookies they were a bit uncomfortable with getting much playing time, Tomlin and Colbert decided that they had to go with the guy that could potentially help in coverage as opposed to the guy who couldn’t. They were dead wrong of course – Ratliff sucked in all phases of the game and Madison’s presence was greatly missed in kick coverage. I doubt it had anything to do with coaching.

The same could be said for the return game this season – which sucked in 2008. Did Lig suddenly develop brand new blocking schemes to allow the Steelers’ returners to break some decent returns? Nope. More likely it’s the fact that Logan was by far a better returner than anybody on the team last year. Again, it’s not exactly an issue of coaching so much as it is an issue of personnel. Did an ST coach make Jackson a great return man or Hester or Cribbs? I doubt that.

This is precisely why April decided to take the Iggles job over the Steelers – the Iggles simply have better ST’s personnel, especially with Jackson and Maclin returning kicks and punts. That and the probably told him he could have 3 or 4 spots devoted primarily to ST aces. This is a great move if your defensive starters stay healthy all year, but a very poor one if you lose a few linebackers and DB’s to injury – see the 2009 Bills.

In the end, Lig wasn’t fired because he’s an incompetent coach. Keep in mind I’m not saying he wasn’t one, but that he wasn’t fired for that. In the end, he was fired because the organization and the public demanded that some heads roll after a disappointing season. If Madison had been on the roster the entire year and Logan had performed as he did, we’d be talking about how Lig managed to turn around his unit after a bad first year. But instead we found ourselves talking about how he has to go.

Frankly, I’m not concerned with who the ST coach is. If he has the personnel to cover kicks and they keep Logan around he’ll be fine. If he doesn’t, then he’ll be let go like coach Lig.

Everest has been named NFL special teams coach of the year twice, with two different organizations: the Saints in 2002 (three return TDs and five blocked kicks) and the 49ers in 2007. In 2008 he somehow got a hell of a lot more out of Allen Rossum (Pro Bowl alternate kick returner) than the Steelers did with Ligashefsky the previous year. The 49ers were poor on special teams this past season, but it was also the first full year with Singletary in charge and making a lot of roster changes. As BluegrasSteeler points out, if you don’t have the personnel then it’s going to have an impact.

Ligashefsky didn’t come to Pittsburgh with anywhere near the credentials that Everest has, and nothing happened in three years to suggest he was worth retaining. In each of LIgashefsky’s three years there was a major problem in either returns or coverage or both. And you can’t say that Sepulveda has shown much improvement. Everest has coached Pro Bowl punters in New Orleans (Berger, five years after his first Pro Bowl season with Minnesota)) and San Francisco (Lee, his breakthrough year in 2007 was his fourth NFL season) and in St. Louis had good production out of veterans like Rick Tuten and Sean Landeta. This guy has been around the block, knows the league, and there’s no reason to think he won’t do a good job here.

It seems to be clear that Everest has a mixed record, but his record is certainly better than the one Ligashefsky brought when he arrived.

With that said, the Steelers history with special teams coaches has seen them alternate between good and horrible ones. So who knows, after Ligashefsky, perhaps we’re due for a good one….

Others have also picked up on the move as a potential climb for Randy Ficthner.

The interesting thing, if less important, is that Jerry Olsavsky and Earl Holmes are once again competing for the same job. Nothing against Earl Holmes, but here’s to hopping Jerry O gets the job — he really seems to want to coach for the Steelers, having tired to get on Cowher’s staff twice.