Pittsburgh ? Dick LeBeau returned to the Pittsburgh Steelers as defensive coordinator Friday, rejecting an offer to stay on the Buffalo Bills’ staff.

LeBeau, who ran the Steelers’ defense the last time they made the Super Bowl during the 1995 season, was the Bills’ assistant head coach last season and worked with defensive coordinator Jerry Gray. He took that job after being the Bengals’ head coach for three seasons.

When Tim Lewis was fired as the Steelers’ defensive coordinator after four seasons, LeBeau immediately was contacted by Steelers coach Bill Cowher. LeBeau interviewed with Cowher Tuesday, a day before Steelers offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey was hired as the Bills’ coach.

Mularkey sought to retain LeBeau, but LeBeau apparently had decided by then to return to Pittsburgh. LeBeau was on Cowher’s initial staff in 1992 as defensive backs coach and ran the defense during the 1995 and 1996 seasons.

LeBeau left Pittsburgh after that season to return to Cincinnati, where his family had continued to maintain their home while he coached in Pittsburgh.

“Pittsburgh is like going home,” LeBeau said. “I was at the Pitt basketball game Monday night and 25 people came up to me and wished me good luck and said, ‘Come on back.’ I thought, ‘This is pretty neat.'”

LeBeau is considered one of the NFL’s top defensive innovators, and he introduced the zone blitzes that the Steelers ran successfully in the mid 1990s, when their defense was nicknamed “Blitzburgh.” The scheme later was copied widely throughout the NFL.

LeBeau’s hiring came a day after defensive backs coach Willy Robinson was hired as the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator. Robinson was interviewed by Cowher for the same job but was not offered it.

Assistant defensive backs coach Darren Perry is expected to take over the secondary.

Several other teams made moves with their coaching staffs:

• Bills: Mularkey will retain defensive coordinator Gray. The Bills ranked second in defense this season and allowed the fifth-fewest points per game.

Mularkey has hired former Pittsburgh quarterbacks coach Tom Clements to replace Kevin Gilbride as offensive coordinator, and picked former Giants offensive line coach Jim McNally for the same spot with the Bills.

• Packers: Green Bay coach and general manager Mike Sherman fired defensive coordinator Ed Donatell and tight ends coach Jeff Jagodzinski.

The 46-year-old Donatell, a 14-year NFL coaching veteran, served as defensive coordinator since 2000. Donatell coached defensive backs for the New York Jets in 1990-94 and the Denver Broncos in 1995-99 before joining the Pack.

• Rams: St. Louis named John Benton assistant offensive line coach. He joins the Rams from Colorado State where he worked since 1996 as offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator. Benton played for Colorado State from 1986 to 1990.
• Broncos: Denver special-teams coach Frank Bush has accepted a job as linebackers coach for Arizona. He played linebacker in college and the NFL and served as a linebacker coach for Houston and Denver before moving into secondary and special-teams roles.

Denver ranked 26th in the NFL on kick coverage and 28th on punt coverage.