List swells to 5 with addition of Gailey

Friday, January 12, 2007

By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Steelers will add another familiar name to their list of coaching candidates when they interview Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey, one of their former offensive coordinators, about replacing Bill Cowher.

Gailey, 55, will meet tomorrow with team chairman Dan Rooney, president Art Rooney II and director of football operations Kevin Colbert about returning to the team where he was an assistant coach from 1994-97. Gailey will be the fifth and, apparently, final candidate to interview for the position.

After they interview Gailey, the Steelers will begin paring their list of candidates and conduct second interviews next week with those who make the final cut.

They already have interviewed four candidates for the position -- offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, offensive line coach Russ Grimm, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin and Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera.

Whisenhunt is scheduled to have a second interview today with the Arizona Cardinals, who are looking for a replacement for fired Dennis Green. Grimm had a first interview earlier this week with the Cardinals.

The Steelers have no immediate timetable to name a successor to Cowher, who resigned last week after 15 seasons as head coach. But it is possible an announcement could be made by the end of next week.

Gailey, who already has interviewed with the Miami Dolphins about replacing Nick Saban, could not be reached for comment.

Gailey has long been considered a favorite of Cowher, who hired him in 1994 to be the Steelers' wide receivers coach. When he feared he was going to lose Gailey to another team after Super Bowl XXX in 1995, Cowher did not re-hire offensive coordinator Ron Erhardt and promoted Gailey to the position.

After two years as offensive coordinator, Gailey left to become head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, leading them to back-to-back playoff appearances and winning the NFC East title in 1998.

The Cowboys, though, fired him after two seasons, and Gailey joined the Miami Dolphins as offensive coordinator in 2000 and '01, working under head coach Dave Wannstedt. In seven of his eight seasons as an offensive coordinator in the NFL, Gailey always has had a 1,000-yard rusher, including Jerome Bettis with the Steelers.

Gailey, though, desired to return to college coaching, and he became head coach at Georgia Tech in 2002. He has led the Yellow Jackets to a 37-27 record in five seasons, including a 9-5 mark this season which ended with a 38-35 loss to West Virginia in the Gator Bowl

Gailey also was a head coach at Troy State University and Samford University and has a 61-38 record in eight seasons as a college head coach.


(Staff writer Ed Bouchette of the Post-Gazette contributed to this report. Gerry Dulac can be reached at gdulac@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1466. )