Ex-Bears WR coach had his share of run-ins with big-time receivers

To anyone who knows Cardinals offensive coordinator Todd Haley, it didn't come as a surprise when he went jaw-to-jaw with three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Anquan Boldin in the midst of calling plays for the winning touchdown drive in the NFC championship game.

Haley doesn't take any smack from anyone - at least not without returning fire. So, when Boldin started carping about not being on the field at crunch time, Haley wasn't about to let it go in one ear and out the other.

"I am who I am," said Haley, who was the Bears' wide receivers coach from 2001-03. "(But) that's yesterday's news. I think we're past that. It goes on all of the time."

Especially when Haley's involved.

And it doesn't matter if the player is a free agent trying to make the team in training camp, or a Pro Bowl player like Keyshawn Johnson or Terrell Owens - both of whome Haley has had disagreements with. Before he joined the Bears, Haley coached Johnson with the Jets under Bill Parcells, and then he had Owens with the Cowboys, after his stint in Chicago. Haley has always been vocal and passionate about his job. While preparing his offense this week to face the NFL's best defense in Super Bowl XLIII, Haley acknowledged his reputation for verbal confrontations.

"I heard Keyshawn Johnson quoted the other day saying, 'I've been in a 150 of those with Todd Haley,' " the 41-year-old Pittsburgh native said. "That one just happened to get caught on tape during that drive, so I think a lot was made about it. But I try not to have any regrets."

Haley's approach might not work for all coaches, but it works for him because it's genuine. Haley learned the game at an early age, from his father Dick, the director of player personnel for the Steelers from 1971-90 and for the Jets from 1991-02.

Part of Haley's coaching style no doubt comes from one of his earliest and most influential mentors - Parcells, who may be the best example of in-your-face coaching.

"The other night they were showing clips of Bill Parcells (with the Giants), and I didn't feel so bad," Haley said, "I'm like, 'There's my guy,' and he's getting after Phil Simms and getting after the defense.'

"It's the way I am. There are a lot of great coaches who are quiet leaders, and there are a lot of great coaches who are more emotional guys. I just happen to fit into the emotional, fiery side I guess."

Haley's way evidently works. The Cardinals had the NFL's No. 2 passing attack, and they've scored 30 points or more in all three playoff games. He has been rumored as a candidate to succeed recently fired Herm Edwards as the Chiefs' head coach.

Whether Haley gets a head coaching job in the days immediately following Sunday's game or some time in the future, he knows he had a lot of help along the way.

"I'm blessed, first and foremost, to have grown up in a household with someone like my father, who I think is the absolute best at what he does," he said. "That's unbiased, speaking from a professional standpoint, (and) I've been around a lot of football people. To go to bowl games with him on a yearly basis, to go to training camp with him and do all of those things, I think there is some osmosis involved. You're talking about someone who was great at what he did."

Haley was as a ball boy for some of the Steelers' four Super Bowl teams in the '70s, and he started watching game film with his father about the same time other kids started watching Bugs Bunny.

"It's in my blood," he said. "It's part of my personality. I think coaching is life. Whatever business you are in, you have to be able to lead, and you have to be able to get the most out of people, and that's what I'd like to think I've been able to do over my career."

He'll be doing it again Sunday. And if the cameras happens to catch a glimpse of him on the sideline with the veins in his neck bulging while he's in animated conversation with a player, that's just Haley doing it his way.