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Jan 15, 2:36 pm EST
DECEMBER 28: Head coach Mike Tomlin (R) and James Harrison #92 of the Pittsburgh Steelers look on while playing the Cleveland Browns at Heinz Field December 28, 2008 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh won the game 31-0.(Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH – The slight sting is still there, but with another AFC championship game on the horizon, Mike Tomlin’s veterans seem to appreciate the endured pain just a little bit more.
Don’t get them wrong, they can still spin some tales about their head coach from late last season, coming in and looking on the ink board in the practice facility and seeing the announcement that a fully padded practice awaited them. There might have been some curses under their breath, or some hushed chatter about how “B.C.” – former coach Bill Cowher – had done things differently.
“At the time, we were practicing in full pads in like Week 13 or something, still hitting each other,” offensive lineman Max Starks said with a grin. “But that was part of him putting his stamp on this team, showing us how it was going to be. … It’s definitely easier to come in like that and loosen up than the other way around.”
And maybe that has been what has delivered Tomlin to this impressive moment. Only two years into a job with the highest of expectations, he has delivered back-to-back AFC North crowns and leads the Steelers into the conference championship game this week against nemesis Baltimore. Should he get Pittsburgh into the Super Bowl, he’ll have done it in an unprecedented time span, besting the four years it took Cowher, and the six it took Chuck Noll.
To be fair, his predecessors took over with the franchise in less-than-stellar states. In 1969, Noll inherited a team that had won only two games the previous year and hadn’t been to the postseason in 21 seasons. In 1992, Cowher got the call when the franchise had been to the playoffs only once in the previous seven years. Tomlin’s bunch had won a Super Bowl less than one year before his arrival.
But maybe that actually makes Tomlin’s two-year run even more impressive. At 34 years old, he was taking over a veteran roster that was anything but desperate, and taking a chair at the head of the table in a franchise that genuinely pushes for a “family” bond between players and coaches. In fact, after doing things the “B.C.” way for so many years and experiencing such recent success, it was arguably a more hard-headed locker room than most any in the NFL. Hell, linebacker James Farrior had even played some of his college football against Tomlin, when Farrior was at the University of Virginia and his new head coach was a wide receiver at the College of William & Mary.
And of course, there was that one little thing – walking into an office that was a slight breeze away from a trophy case holding five Lombardi trophies. Pregnant reminders that he walks by every day, screaming of past greatness and pressures that have been transferred directly onto his shoulders.
“I love the high expectations that come with this job,” Tomlin said. “I’d rather have high ones than low ones. It’s a sense of pride. The tradition is awesome. You can’t put a price tag on it. It’s inspiring not only to me, but I think everybody that’s a part of our football team and in this organization. Standards are great. As parents, we try to hold our kids to high standards. Those that have come before us set the standards for us. We understand that when we come in the building. We understand that when we take the field. We hope how we do our business honors those guys.”
In a way, that business is the other thread Tomlin shares with Pittsburgh’s rare coaching lineage. Like Cowher and Noll before him, he quickly put his imprints on his Steelers, wasting no time taking ownership of this current group. Speaking in blustery terms about “a violent game” and “attrition” and the beloved “Steeler way” of playing football, he seemed to fit the blue-collar nature of the town that wrapped around his team.
Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers coaches against the San Diego Chargers during their AFC Divisional Playoff Game on January 11, 2009 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.(Getty Images)
But to his credit, the bristling press conferences about toughness and discipline haven’t been counterfeit. In his two years, he has taken on the sacred cows on his roster, making his expectations crystal clear.
Last summer, he clashed with veteran defensive tackle Casey Hampton in training camp when the lineman couldn’t finish a set of 100-yard runs that were part of mandatory physical conditioning. Tomlin deemed the effort below team standards, placed Hampton on the Physically Unable to Perform list, and effectively barred the four-time Pro Bowler from the practice field until he got into shape.
And Hampton was hardly alone. From the very moment he arrived, Tomlin spared no one. In the months following his first NFL draft, he made no secret that he was disappointed with the nagging offseason injuries of his touted rookie linebacker picks – LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons. And once the 2007 season started, he resisted the grumbling of veterans, who were used to Cowher’s generous habit of stripping off the pads late in the season, or occasionally giving players an unscheduled day off. This year, he subtly criticized quarterback Ben Roethlisberger about not getting the football out of his hand quickly enough. And his ire has often fallen on the offensive line, which got sparing praise even after last week’s strong rushing performance against San Diego.
“It’s definitely different at times,” linebacker Larry Foote said. “Days where you used to be able to take it off, he didn’t give them off. When it rained, we still practiced. He’d take us outside when it was cold. He was purposely being hard on us. We were in pads for a long time, coming in on Mondays late in the season. From Day One, he didn’t blink. He didn’t compromise. It was his way and we got on board. What other choice did we have?”
Even now, Foote seems somewhat skeptical of teammates who term Tomlin a “player’s coach.”
“Oh, that toughness with us is still his way,” Foote chuckled. “No doubt about that.”
But that’s where his players have seen him make strides as a head coach. While some can take over a team as an overbearing taskmaster and never let up, Pittsburgh’s players said that they’ve seen Tomlin’s relationship with his veterans grow by leaps and bounds this season. Whether it’s the practice regimen, the handling of injuries or the chemistry in the locker room, some players feel like the veterans have had Tomlin’s ear this season. And they credit that reality at least partially to this season’s run to the conference title game.
“No question about it,” Hampton said. “Last year, it was his way or the highway. Him being a young coach and coming into a team that wasn’t really a losing team, he had to kind of put a stamp on the team himself. He kind of did things his way. This year, he kind of listened to the players more, and I think that’s the reason we’re in the situation we’re in right now. … I think he kind of saw that we were beat up late last year and he kind of learned from it – took bits and pieces from things like that and kind of listened to the older guys, and that helped out.”
Added linebacker James Harrison: “This year, you’ve got a close bond where you definitely feel he’s more than just the boss. It hasn’t always been like that.”
Not that Tomlin cares. Only a week ago, he was asked about his improvement as a coach, and he somewhat graciously responded by admitting, “It is no big revelation that I am a better football coach this year. I better be better next year. It is not always displayed in the win-loss record. I think that regardless of what you do for a living, you have to get better; and that is every day. I know when I walk through those doors, that is my intent every day. I am not making a bigger deal out of it than what it is.”
Yet when he was told this week by a reporter that his players have said he’s a better coach today than he was one year ago, Tomlin’s reaction returned to that bluster.
“I’m not interested in evaluating my performance, and particularly I’m not interested in my players’ evaluation of my performance,” he said. “I’m paid to evaluate them.”
In a way, those two comments could serve as Tomlin in a snapshot – reluctant to administer self-praise, quick to react when such praise or growth could be construed as weakness.
Perhaps Foote put it best when he said, “What he has, you can’t cheat. He won this division in his two years as a head coach and now he’s in the AFC championship in his second year. You can’t knock what he’s doing when things like that happen.”
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