Jan 18, 2007 By Jim Wexell For The 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – If the length of a job interview means anything, Russ Grimm will be the next head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Grimm spent six hours – including a lunch break – talking with the Steelers’ brass about their head-coaching vacancy. Grimm followed it up by spending about six minutes with reporters at the South Side offices.

“It’s a thorough process and it’s one of those things,” Grimm said of the long interview. “They’ll make a decision when they’re comfortable. I thought things went as well as could be expected. I’m happy with the way things went on my end.”

Grimm is the second to be interviewed this week, a week in which the Steelers are holding second interviews for their finalists.

On Tuesday, the Steelers interviewed Mike Tomlin for three and a half hours. They plan to interview Ron Rivera once the Chicago Bears’ season comes to an end.

Grimm, of course, is the Scottdale native who played center at Pitt and left guard for the Washington Redskins. His junior and senior teams at Pitt went 22-2 and he won three Super Bowl rings in 11 seasons with the Redskins.

Grimm’s coaching career began with the Redskins in 1992. He moved from coaching tight ends to coaching the offensive line in 1997. Grimm left the Redskins following the 2000 season when Norv Turner was replaced by Marty Schottenheimer as head coach. Grimm became offensive line coach of the Steelers in 2001 and was promoted in 2004 to assistant head coach after Joe Gibbs returned to Washington and attempted to hire Grimm as his offensive coordinator.

Grimm was asked if Gibbs is his main influence.

“There’s a lot of coaches I either coached for or played for that kind of influenced different characteristics in my style of coaching,” Grimm said. “There were Jackie Sherrill, Joe Moore from college, Joe Gibbs, coach (Bill) Cowher, Joe Bugel. You pick up a little bit from everything, and I don’t think it’s just one characteristic.

“You watch how other people do it. I know that the last couple years I kind of watched how Bill handled certain things. You watch the news on how other coaches handle certain situations, how they handle it during the good times, how they react to things during the bad times, how you handle off-the-field things, how you deal with the press, how you deal with the community; things like that. There are a lot of variables that go into it. I wouldn’t say it was definitely one guy. I’ve been blessed to have been around some good coaches.”

But one of those coaches, Cowher, didn’t recommend Grimm to the Steelers’ hierarchy. Instead, Cowher recommended one of his former offensive coordinators, Chan Gailey.

“I don’t know if that’s an accurate statement,” Grimm said. “It’s been said, but it wasn’t said to me. It hasn’t been said here, so we’ll leave that one alone.”

Grimm also wouldn’t touch questions involving continuity and possible coaching staff moves. He did answer a question about whether his football resume was lacking in any particular aspect.

“There’s always things that come up different,” he said. “Again, I feel confident as far as when to use timeouts, when to throw the flag, when to run, when to pass, when to punt, when to go for it. Those are decisions that sometimes are gut feelings. Sometimes everyone in the stands feels one way and you feel the other.

“Am I saying I’m not going to make any mistakes? No. I imagine that the longer you coach the more things you see and when those things come up you learn from them.

“I don’t know if I need more on the resume or whatever. It’s exciting. It’s flattering to have the chance to get it, and it’s kind of exciting once you go through the process and see what is all involved.”