Amid widespread reports that team president Art Rooney II was behind Pittsburgh’s change at offensive coordinator, Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert says that Rooney isn’t meddling in the team’s football operations.
Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Colbert said Rooney isn’t taking any more control of the team than any owner would.
“Art Rooney obviously is the owner of the team and the president of the team,” Colbert said. “Of course he’s going to be in the loop on every decision as any chief operating officer would be of any corporation. I think to say he is meddlesome or dictating every decision I think is very inaccurate.”
But no one thinks Rooney is dictating every decision. Obviously the head coach and the general manager make some decisions. The question people are asking in Pittsburgh this offseason is whether Rooney dictated the decision to replace Bruce Arians with Todd Haley as the offensive coordinator. And Colbert’s comments don’t deny that that particular decision was dictated by Rooney.
Colbert insists, however, that he, Rooney and head coach Mike Tomlin are working together well and on the same page regarding the future of the franchise.
“A lot of decisions are made around here with a collective effort and, in our end, when we’re talking about players, it’s a collective effort between myself, coach Tomlin and Art, and that’s the way we do business,” Colbert said.
And according to Colbert, that business hasn’t changed since Art Rooney II took over for Dan Rooney. Even if we still don’t have a clear answer about what role the owner had in choosing the offensive coordinator.