STEELERS LOSE AN ASSISTANT, MAYBE TWO

Lou Spanos, a Keystone Oaks HS product, 1989 Big 33 alum, and 15-year veteran of the Steeler coaching staff, is moving on.

Spanos, who joined the Steelers in 1995, is one of only two assistant coaches to be on both the Super Bowl XXX, Super Bowl XL and Super Bowl XLIII squads, along with defensive line coach John Mitchell being the other.

An assistant linebacker coach with the Steelers, Spanos will become the linebacker coach for Mike Shanahan in Washington. During his time in Pittsburgh, Spanos has worked with some of the most talented linebackers in the game, from Greg Lloyd and Kevin Greene to James Harrison and James Farrior, so I think it's safe to say that he'll be able to handle himself.

Spanos' boss, linebacker coach Keith Butler, may be moving on as well, as he was granted an interview with Miami to possibly become the defensive coordinator for Tony Sparano.

Butler joined the Steelers in 2003 after four years in Cleveland and made the transition from the Cowher staff to the Tomlin staff in 2007. It certainly didn't hurt that Butler and Tomlin previously worked together at Memphis in 1996, when Butler was the linebackers/defensive ends/special teams coach and Tomlin served as the DB coach.

Again, Butler brought out the best in many a linebacker during his days with the Steelers, tutoring the likes of Harrison, Farrior, LaMarr Woodley, Larry Foote, Joey Porter, and Clark Haggans. That's a lot of Pro Bowl appearances on one coach's watch.

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And finally on the coaching front, here's an interesting link that's a few days old but no less interesting. Recently fired OL coach Larry Zierlein's son recently penned an article about his dad's firing on his blog, and it's a good read, with lots of interesting insight.

Steelers lose one defensive assistant, possibly another [PG]

Even though you had to fire my dad, I'm not mad atcha, Coach Tomlin [The Z Report]

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