Bob Smizik: Lack of discipline may have been decisive

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The process by which the Steelers selected Mike Tomlin as the successor to Bill Cowher left a lot of people surprised and a few people astonished.

The decision of the Rooney family to allow highly regarded media/fan favorite Ken Whisenhunt, Cowher's offensive coordinator, to slip from their grasp and take the Arizona job when no decision was forthcoming on the Steelers' position was the first surprise. The pronouncement this week that Tomlin was the choice over assistant head coach Russ Grimm, who had become the favorite, was more shocking.

So what are we to make of this disregard of the recent past, which includes a Super Bowl championship after the 2005 season, by Dan Rooney, the team's chairman, and Art Rooney II, the president?

It could mean nothing more than they were tremendously impressed with Tomlin, despite his skimpy resume. But it also could mean there were things about the recent past the Rooneys did not like and that they wanted to disconnect from it.

No disrespect to Cowher, an outstanding coach whose record speaks for itself, but not only did the Steelers slip from Super Bowl champion to out of the playoffs, but they also slipped more on the football behavioral scale. For a traditionalist like Dan Rooney, that is no small thing.

This isn't to suggest the Rooneys would have selected anyone over Grimm and Whisenhunt, only that when they saw a chance to start anew, with fresh leadership and discipline in the person of an outstanding young coach, it could have been enough to nudge Tomlin ahead of Grimm.

So why are they allowing Tomlin to keep at least two assistants from Cowher's staff? Less than a day on the job, Tomlin kept Dick LeBeau as defensive coordinator and promoted Bruce Arians from wide receivers coach to offensive coordinator.

Because it all starts at the top. A new coach will not only invigorate the players, he'll invigorate the assistants.

Cowher maintained until the end he was not stale and he had not lost his focus. That might be true -- Cowher was one focused guy -- but with his longtime quest for a Super Bowl championship immediately behind him and the strong possibility of retirement immediately in front of him, a loss of focus -- and the breakdown in discipline that can come with it -- was not all that unexpected.

Much of the first half of the season was marked by a lack of focus that manifested itself in bad decisions and stupid penalties. The most prominent example of this came in late September when the Steelers were called for taunting and excessive celebration, two unacceptable penalties, in a loss against Cincinnati.

After the game, in what might be described as a low growl, Cowher said, "I will accept responsibility. That will not happen again. That's on me. It will not happen again."

It did. Four weeks later, with veteran team leader Hines Ward being the main instigator, the Steelers were penalized for excessive celebration after a touchdown that was such a clear violation it was almost as if the players were begging for a penalty and at the same time flaunting Cowher's rules.

For all his tough-guy bravado, Cowher was not hard on his players. His training camps too often resembled summer camps. Don't, for example, expect any afternoons at the movies under Tomlin.

Cowher's philosophy was to treat his players like men and expect them to behave in kind. In almost all cases, they did. One of the strengths of the Rooney/Cowher partnership was the almost total absence of problem players. That has a lot to do with what has become known as the Steelers' way and with Cowher and the kind of leadership he helped create within the team. When players such as Ward, Jerome Bettis and Alan Faneca, to name a few, are exemplary leadership examples, it's hard for other players not to follow.

But that order broke down this season, and it is possible the Rooneys felt the team needed to hear a different voice. Yes, Grimm would have been a different voice, but he was part of the old regime. Tomlin is new, and, although he said little about himself at his introduction Monday, it's clear this is a tough man, but one the players will love. He will place large expectations on them and accompany that with strong demands that they live up to those expectations.

In retrospect, that's what was missing last season, and the Rooneys wanted to make certain it would not happen again.