Latest Steelers Rumblings: Arians confirms he was pushed out; Rooney recommends Kugler for OC?; Is there anything to Caldwell rumors?

Bruce Arians confirms what pretty much everyone knows; He was pushed out the door.

“When I wasn’t offered a contract, it was an easy decision for me,” Arians told his hometown paper, the York Daily Record.

Arians who has a ton of respect for head coach Mike Tomlin, said he wasn’t given a reason why his contract wasn’t being renewed by owner Art Rooney II.

“I can’t answer that question,” Arians told the paper. “Only the people there can. That’s the business. I know the job we did as a staff. I don’t have any regrets.”

Arians who is with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is Hawaii right now, said Roethlisberger isn’t happy about the move. “He’s not happy, but that’s part of the business,” Arians said.

Arians also told the paper that he has been contacted by 5 of 6 teams already.

A strong rumor making the rounds from team sources is that Art Rooney II has made his recommendation to head coach Mike Tomlin that the team elevate offensive line coach Sean Kugler to offensive coordinator.

Rooney has a strong admiration for Kugler and Kugler would fit the bill and likely be tougher with Ben Roethlisberger as some inside the organization felt that Roethlisberger and Arians were “too close”. However, multiple sources in the know had serious doubts that Kugler is ready to run an offense, and therefore, quarterbacks coach Randy Fichtner is still considered the leading in-house candidate but Kugler hasn’t been ruled out yet.

Rooney, according to Chris Mortensen of ESPN wants the Steelers to return to “blue collar” and power running football. If Mortensen’s article from Sunday is accurate, Rooney wanting to return to power football is laughable due to the Steelers having a franchise quarterback entering his prime and personnel in place for a “Bruce Arians” type of offense not a power running game. They better start shipping off their young wide receivers for guards.

Always subject to change quickly, there has been no legitimate information coming out of Steelers headquarters that Mike Tomlin is actually eyeing Jim Caldwell as his offensive coordinator. People have tried to connect the dots because Tomlin and Caldwell have been characterized as friends.

However, Caldwell’s agent Dennis Coleman,

who I’ve dealt with in the past as he reps Jamie Dixon, told me yesterday that there was no accuracy to speculation out there that Caldwell is expected to interview for the Steelers offensive coordinator position this week and the possibility of Caldwell joining the Steelers seemed like news to him.

We’ll see in the coming days if there’s anything to the Caldwell speculation but right now if there actually is, everyone involved is keeping things quiet.