TRIBUNE-REVIEWSunday, January 28, 2007
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- The new Steelers coach graduated from one of the oldest and best colleges in America, and he also found time to play some pretty fair wide receiver.
Mike Tomlin (Class of 1995) owns William & Mary's all-time records for yards per catch in a season (25.5) and career (20.1) and also holds the career mark for touchdown receptions (20).
"I remember games where we started off with Mike on post routes or deep routes and it was 6-0 right off the bat," said Zbig Kepa, who was William & Mary's offensive coordinator when Tomlin played there and remains in that capacity. "He got behind people."
In more ways than one. Tomlin also holds William & Mary's unofficial record for making friends and influencing teammates.
"He was well-respected even as one of the younger guys on the team," said college teammate and fellow receiver Terry Hammons, who attended Upper St. Clair High School. "He didn't have a lot to say to everybody; they just listened when he talked. He had that presence to go out and make things happen on the field."
Across the street from William & Mary's Zable Stadium, Peter Isipas, owner of Paul's Deli, a popular campus eating establishment, said Tomlin was one of his best customers -- and one of his best friends.
"From the first day he walked through that door, he was a guy you could talk to," said Isipas, who has pictures of famous athletes and coaches covering the walls of his restaurant, Tomlin's included. "He's the kind of person who can be a friend of yours, even if he's 20 years younger.
"You tell people in Pittsburgh they're going to love Mike. He's a people guy."
William & Mary is the second-oldest college in America, founded in 1693 by a Royal Charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II of England. It's also the college that four U.S. presidents attended; the college where Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's premier honor society, was founded; and the college that's ranked sixth among all public universities, according to U.S. News and World Report. The college also is where one can find an outpouring of love for Tomlin, who replaced Bill Cowher last Monday.
All around William & Mary's campus in scenic Williamsburg, those who know Tomlin best are reveling in his rapid ascension, proud to claim him as one of their own, and standing in line to proclaim that it couldn't happen to a more deserving person.
"I've stayed in relatively good contact with Mike over the years, watched him develop. Every time I've talked to him he has maintained his enthusiasm for coaching," said coach Jimmye Laycock, who recently completed his 27th season at William & Mary. "How he'll be as the head coach at Pittsburgh, I think he'll do a great job. He'll be the type of coach that players will enjoy playing for and people who support the Steelers will enjoy getting to know and liking."
Tomlin, 34, isn't a revelation as much as he becomes just another William & Mary success story. He is the second William & Mary grad to secure an NFL coaching job. Dan Henning coached the Atlanta Falcons (1983-86) and San Diego Chargers (1989-91).
Marv Levy coached at William & Mary. So did Lou Holtz. Other William & Mary players currently coaching in the NFL include Sean McDermott, an assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles, and Allen Williams, an assistant with the Indianapolis Colts who also was an assistant with Tomlin at Tampa Bay.
William & Mary defensive back Mark Kelso played for Levy in Buffalo. Another William & Mary defensive standout, Darren Sharper, is a safety with the Minnesota Vikings.
Tomlin coached Sharper, his former teammate at William & Mary, in his only season as Minnesota's defensive coordinator.
"When Mike got the job with Minnesota, he had to coach Darren Sharper," Kepa said. "I had in my archives individual one-on-one route tapes. Mike was on there running routes against Sharper. They used to call him out all the time: 'Sharper, get to the front of the line. I'm up next.' So on the tape there's actually a couple of shots of Mike going one-on-one against Sharper. So I sent it to him. Said this is a little bit of credibility when you coach those guys."
From the time he left Denbigh High School in nearby Newport News, Va., to attend William & Mary, there seemed to be little that Tomlin could not do.
A skinny wide receiver with a hyperactive work ethic and a nearly 40-inch vertical leap, Tomlin quickly proved himself on the field and became an effective team leader in the process.
"He was a strider, tall, kind of gangly," Kepa said. "He worked at it. He had to develop. It wasn't like he came in as the guy. His learning curve, he cut it down pretty quickly. It didn't take him long to get into the flow of the offense."
Said William & Mary director of speed, strength and conditioning John Sauer: "Mike came a long way. He worked his tail off in the weight room. He made himself into a good player. When he came here he was about 170 pounds. He was 190-195 pounds his last year. The harder he worked, the more confident he got on the field."
Tomlin played wide receiver, but he did so with the mind-set of a linebacker. He was a talker who backed up his words -- and didn't back down from a challenge.
Former William & Mary linebacker Jason Miller said he enjoyed practicing against Tomlin because he was one of the most intense players on the team.
"The thing I always respected about Mike is he used to put up a hell of a battle," said Miller, who grew up in Canonsburg. "I wasn't going to back down, and he wasn't going to back down. There were pushing matches after the whistle."
Tomlin's toughness, playmaking ability and natural leadership earned his teammates' respect. There was a special quality about Tomlin that separated him from the other players.
Even though he acted like one of the guys, he wasn't treated that way.
"He was our emotional leader," said Melvin Griffin, Tomlin's teammate at William & Mary who's now an assistant football coach at Tabb High School in Yorktown, Va. "Everybody was surprised he got the Pittsburgh job. I wasn't surprised. He's more of an NFL coach. Being a wide receiver, looking at coverages so much, he was knowledgeable about the game. He was always in the film room in college."
Credit Laycock, who ran a pro-style passing offense that challenged Tomlin physically as well as intellectually.
Laycock demanded a lot from his players. He expected a lot more from Tomlin, one of his brightest pupils.
"We talk to our players. Our players are intelligent," Laycock said. "We don't get them to memorize what we do, we get them to learn it inside and out so they can communicate and talk and give suggestions. We wanted to take advantage of the intelligence of the type of player we have here."
Or as Kepa so succinctly described: "You have to go to class here. You don't go to class, you have problems."
Tomlin was a student of the game -- on and off the field.
"Sometimes receivers don't like to watch a lot of tape. But Mike would study guys," Kepa said. "It's hard for receivers to be leaders, but he was a leader here. He knew how to interact with teammates and coaches. He'll come across at all levels. He could be with guys off the street, or with CEOs at a board meeting. He could play the role he had to play."
Tomlin is big on loyalty. He maintains relationships with his college coaches and friends from his old neighborhood in Newport News -- where a message board outside Denbigh High School offers congratulations for Tomlin getting the Steelers job -- never forgetting where he came from.
Still, when he graduated from William & Mary, Tomlin was unsure about his future. So he went to Kepa for advice.
"He came into my office one day and said, what am I going to do?" Kepa said. "I asked if he ever thought about coaching. We had a conversation. Get after it, work your way into it. It's not going to be handed to you. That's what he did."
Tomlin's first job was coaching the wide receivers at Virginia Military Institute. Several years later, Tomlin needed someone to talk to again. Only this time, he had just completed his first interview with the Steelers. He called Laycock for advice and support, and it was just like old times.
Tomlin got the job.
John Harris can be reached at jharris@tribweb.com or 412-481-5432.
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