TAMPA, Fla. -- Dick LeBeau said he wouldn't have known about the persistent rumors if his son, Brandon, hadn't told him about them.

But the suggestions and questions that LeBeau might retire after the Super Bowl were so rampant on the Internet that he thought he should quell them to the people who matter most to him: The players on the NFL's No. 1 defense.

So LeBeau, 71, told members of the Steelers' defense in a team meeting that he hasn't thought about retiring and intends to return next season -- his 51st in the NFL.

"I didn't want to spend the 10 seconds even thinking about it," LeBeau said. "The way they're playing, they're going to have to run me out of here. They're making me look smart."

"He said, 'I'm going to get this out of the way: I will be back next year,' " said cornerback Deshea Townsend. "He heard the speculation. He said he'll be back."

LeBeau has been in the league since 1959 -- 14 with the Detroit Lions as an All-Pro cornerback with 62 career interceptions and the 36 as an assistant coach, head coach and coordinator with four teams.

LeBeau is in his second stint with the Steelers and has been their defensive coordinator since 2004. He is so beloved by his players that they refer to him as "Coach Dad."

"One of the reasons I did [tell them] was to just let them know," LeBeau said. "I'm in a tunnel during the season; I don't pay attention to anything. But my son told me [about the rumors], and I said, 'Have you and I had one word of conversation about retiring?' No. I said, 'Do you think I would ever not talk to my son?' And I said the same thing to the team.

"I would never make any kind of decision without the guys in that room, like my son, knowing. They would know."

Under LeBeau, the Steelers' defense has ranked No. 1 in the league each of the past two seasons and three of the past five. This year, the Steelers finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the league in fewest points (223), total defense (237.2), pass defense (156.9) and yards per play (3.89). They were No. 2 in rush defense (80.3) and sacks (51).

What's more, they came within 54 rushing yards of becoming the first team since the 1991 Philadelphia Eagles to lead the NFL in total defense, rush defense and pass defense. They also finished the regular season allowing an average of 3.897 yards per play, just barely behind the 16-game record set by the 1979 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who allowed an average of 3.890 yards per play.

"He said, 'Trust me, y'all would know before anyone else would know,' and he said, 'I'm not leaning toward retiring,' " inside linebacker Larry Foote said. "You have to believe that. He put that to rest in our locker room."