It’s not everyday that you see a man who has been inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, a 4 time-time Super Bowl champion, and a graduate from Southmoreland. Not only has Russ Grimm had a successful playing career, but he has also had a successful coaching career. When he was last seen in the NFL, he was the assistant coach for the Washington Redskins but that ended in 2012.
Grimm said his time between then and his hiring in January was “nice,” but he wanted to get back into coaching, as he told a reporter for the Tam O’Shanter in October.
Staying true to his wishes, he got back on an NFL coaching staff and this time it is for the Tennessee Titans.
Grimm is hoping to re-establish the identity of the Tennessee Titan offensive line as he begins his third stint as an NFL offensive line coach. He fondly remembered his days playing on the Washington Redskin offensive line in the 1980s.
“I’d say it was a blue-collar bunch of guys that just wanted to win. We were one of the bigger, if not the biggest offensive line, back then. We wanted to be able to wear people down,’’ said Grimm on the team’s official website.
As a member of the Washington Redskins during the 1980s which won three Super Bowls and appeared in a fourth, Grimm was part of an offensive line that was nicknamed “The Hogs.” He won a fourth ring as an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The name “Hogs” perhaps wasn’t flattering, but it set the tone for a dominant line that paved the ways to multiple NFL championships.
“The bottom line is, ‘The Hogs’ were the offensive line, but we never would have gotten that nickname without guys like John Riggins and Joe Theismann and Art Monk, you know what I am saying? We were winning games,” Grimm said. “But if we’d lost games you would have never heard of us.”
Grimm, hired last month, now is in charge of leading a large group of men who will need to perform well in the near future.
“I think they’ll create their own (identity),’’ Grimm said. “I’ll leave it up to them. I think they’ll be talented enough to get the job done, and they’ll be smart enough to not make mistakes and be physical enough to move people. Hopefully you create a chemistry there where everyone wants to be on the same page.”
Attemps to reach Russ Grimm by the Tam O’ Shanter was unsuccessful.