Gilbride Joins Steelers' Staff

Kevin Gilbride, one of the finalists when Pittsburgh chose Bill Cowher as coach seven years ago, finally was hired Thursday by the Steelers as their offensive coordinator.

Gilbride, fired as San Diego's coach in October after going 6-16 and clashing with general manager Bobby Beathard, was picked by Cowher to replace Ray Sherman only hours after arriving for an interview.

"There was no timetable on this thing, but the more I talked around the league the last couple of days, this man was the right man for the job," Cowher said.

Sherman quit after the Steelers' offense collapsed during their first losing season since 1991, scoring only three touchdowns in the last 61/2 games.

After watching the Steelers' offense slump from sixth in the NFL in 1997 to 25th and quarterback Kordell Stewart struggle with his confidence and throwing during a 7-9 season, Cowher wanted an offensive coordinator skilled with quarterbacks.

Stewart had only 11 touchdown passes and two touchdown runs after throwing for 21 touchdowns and running for 11 in his first season as a starter in 1997.

Gilbride, who has a reputation as one of the NFL's most innovative offensive minds, developed quarterbacks Warren Moon in Houston and Mark Brunell in Jacksonville while coaching league-leading passing offenses in both cities.

The 47-year-old Gilbride also will hold the title of quarterbacks coach, the first Steelers' assistant coach to do so since Babe Parilli worked with a young Terry Bradshaw from 1971-73.

"We were very fortunate he was available," said Cowher, who had a shortage of candidates last February when Chan Gailey left to coach the Cowboys. "He's done a great job with every quarterback he's been around, a guy from an offensive coordinator's standpoint whose record speaks for itself."

The hiring came so quickly that Gilbride hadn't even talked with his wife when he met with reporters. He didn't arrive in Pittsburgh until Wednesday night but it became apparent by Thursday morning that Cowher didn't want to formally interview other candidates.

Cowher had planned to interview former Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh on Friday, then meet with former Seattle Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson next week. Steelers tight end coach Mike Mularkey also was interested.

"Bill Cowher can be very persuasive and very persistent. It happened much more quickly than I expected," Gilbride said.

Gilbride is eminently familiar with the Steelers, coaching against them twice a season from 1989-93 with Houston and 1995-96 with Jacksonville. His teams were a combined 8-7 against the Steelers.

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