There is no opportune way to replace a coach who has suddenly passed away, as the Pittsburgh Steelers found out earlier this month after wide receivers coach Darryl Drake died in his sleep a little under two weeks ago at Saint Vincent College as he was preparing for his second season with the team.
From a practical standpoint, however, things could have gone even worse. Given the circumstances, the Steelers were fortunate to have a visiting coach on board during training camp who had quite a lot of experience coaching wide receivers—and who had once even been a part of the team’s coaching staff, a couple of decades ago.