Big Ben, ex-coach: No hard feelings

Big Ben, ex-coach: No hard feelings
January 27
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"If there are any hard feelings from Ben Roethlisberger about his former offensive coordinator, who happens to be head coach of the team he will be facing in Super Bowl XLIII, they weren't anywhere to be found when the Steelers arrived in town. Everything was as sunny and cheery as the Tampa weather.

Roethlisberger was at his deft best yesterday in his first wave of Super Bowl week interviews with the national media, doing what he has done in each of the Steelers' two playoff victories -- stepping out of trouble and being sure not to make a mistake.

That was especially true when he was asked about Arizona Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was his offensive coordinator the last time the Steelers played in the Super Bowl.

"Coach Whis was awesome for me," Roethlisberger said. "Whether on the golf course or the football field or meeting rooms, he was a very good mentor for me. He really helped me become the player I am today. I'm really proud and happy he's here and that I'm getting to play against him. I just hope that I can beat him."

Whisenhunt became the Steelers' offensive coordinator in 2004, Roethlisberger's rookie season, and, after Tommy Maddox was injured in Week 2, helped Roethlisberger post a 13-0 record as a starter -- best in NFL history -- and get to the AFC championship game.

Roethlisberger said yesterday that Whisenhunt was good for him because he never tried to change his daring style.

"Coach Whis was great," Roethlisberger said. "He never tried to change who I was. He really just kind of helped me and taught me the offense. One of the first things he said was, 'I'm not going to change your style of play, the way you play, because I like the way you play.' You have to respect a guy like that."

There were no such bouquets or platitudes being tossed around the previous time the two would meet in a game.

That was in the regular season in Arizona in September 2007, a game in which Roethlisberger did not seek out Whisenhunt to shake his hand.

The slight -- Roethlisberger later sent a text to Whisenhunt, apologizing -- came on the heels of a misunderstanding in the offseason when Roethlisberger got upset by a seemingly innocuous comment by his former coordinator shortly after he left the Steelers.

Whisenhunt attributed some of Roethlisberger's poor play in the 2006 season -- Whisenhunt's last with the Steelers -- on the motorcycle accident a month before training camp. Whisenhunt, though, made the statement as a way of protecting his former quarterback. But Roethlisberger did not take it that way.

"I don't agree with Whis," Roethlisberger said at the time. "There were a lot of things I didn't agree with Whis about, and that's another one."

Yesterday, though, Roethlisberger went out of his way to salute his former mentor and even said he has always kept an eye on the Cardinals because of him."
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