Hines Va Hospital Article

Two days after Mike Tomlin was named the Steelers new coach, KDKA caught up with wide-receiver Hines Ward to get his reaction.

When Ward left for Atlanta following the season, he and his teammates were pretty confident that the new coach would be a guy they were working with already.

\"It\'s kind of weird,\" said Ward. \"Me being 30, he\'s not that much older than I am. But, no, it\'s actually exciting. Being the first African-American in Steelers history to become the head coach. As a player, I know a lot of guys were calling me and was wondering if Russ Grimm was going to get it. And a lot of people really didn\'t know much about Coach Tomlin. So, I\'m excited.\"

He and his teammates want to start out on the right foot but the players would have preferred that they Steelers stay in-house and went with Russ Grimm.

\"Everyone thought that Russ from was that area and he was a great players\' coach and he would get the job,\" said Ward. \"It\'s kind of shocking that Coach Tomlin got it. Like I said, once he got it, I mean the players were like, oh. A lot of them probably didn\'t even know he was African-American. So, you know when they found that out, it was kind of like, he was our coach. And it will be different. I mean, having a guy who is young. He will bring a passion and hopefully like Coach Cowher did. So, I\'m eager to play under him.\"

Ward also said that he\'s happy that Bruce Arian, the wide receiver coach, has been elevated to the offensive coordinator position.