Steelers 'Generational' Coaching One Of Awe

[LLT]

Jul 24th, 2012
Nice Pick Cowher



On Tuesday, the Steelers extended Mike Tomlin’s contract through the 2016 season. I had wondered in a post earlier in the month if it was too soon for the Steelers to consider extending Tomlin. There are some valid (albeit small on the scale) doubts about his coaching prowess by leading a team that was essentially built by another coach and whether he is truly the leader of this team (see Bruce Arians firing/retiring). Regardless of whether you agree with the extension or feel that the Steelers should have waited to see if the Todd Haley experiment pans out, you have to admire what the Steeler have accomplished with their head coaches.

Should Tomlin coach the Steelers through his final year in his new deal, then the Steelers will have had a total of three coaches in 48 years. Total. Almost 50 years. 1969-2016. That’s astounding. Since the expansion – no not the expansion of the Houston Texans, I’m talking the merger – the Steelers have had the fewest coaches throughout the NFL walk through their doors. Along with that, since the merger, the Steelers have never fired a coach. We are at a period of time in the NFL where leashes are short and at least 3-4 firings happen per season and even perhaps a mid-season boot in the rear. The Steelers? None of that.


Read More: http://nicepickcowher.com/2012/07/24...ng-one-of-awe/

[X-Terminator]

Let's see...

Won with Cowher's players? Check.
Puppet coach controlled by the Rooneys? Check.

No need to read any further. Yet another Steelers fan who will not give Tomlin his proper due.

[zulater]

Let's see...

Won with Cowher's players? Check.
Puppet coach controlled by the Rooneys? Check.

No need to read any further. Yet another Steelers fan who will not give Tomlin his proper due.

The same could be said of Cowher, that he won with Noll's players at the start. Woodson, Lloyd, O'Donnell, Dawson, John Jackson, Foster, were all holdovers from the Noll era, and it was that foundation that Cowher built upon.

Now fast forward and the same is essentially true of Tomlin. Polamalu, Roethlisberger, Ward, Farrior etc... were the existing foundation he inherited. But just as was true with Cowher, Tomlin took the existing foundation and quickly added to it and made it better and in fact molded the team to his own persona.

Inheriting good players and sustaining success doesn't disqualify a coach from being exceptional. Don't agree? ( rhetorical) Ask the folks in Dallas and San Diego then. Norv Turner and Wade Phillips both inherited exceptionally talented rosters and couldn't do squat with them.

Inheriting a roster with a talented nucleus is no guarantee of success. Tomlin's done a great job of stamping this team as his own and very much deserved the extension.

[BnG_Hevn]

I think any coach worth a hill of beans will succeed in Pittsburgh.

[zulater]

I think any coach worth a hill of beans will succeed in Pittsburgh.

I disagree. I think Steelers coaches succeed because they've done such a good job with the selection process.

[ALLD]

Time to unleash hell in training camp.

[steelerdude15]

I still don't understand why there are Steelers fans who think Tomlin isn't a good coach. He's starting to build an exciting team that's his own and players we have for about eight to ten years. He'll just have to show these retards up.

[Edman]

Tomlin will just have to do the most effective rebuke: Winning.

[BigNastyDefense]

It doesn't matter how many talented players you have if the coaching sucks. Just look at teams like the Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers.

[tube517]

Those meddling Rooneys should've just gotten another coach.

[BigNastyDefense]

I really hate to say it, but I think there are two reasons that there is a faction of Steelers fans that don't like him:

1. They were Cowher die-hard's and still cannot accept the fact that he is no longer the coach. There are conspiracy theorists that Cowher was forced out by the Rooneys, but as far as I am concerned he chose to walk away. I will always be a Cowher fan and appreciate what he did in Pittsburgh.

2. It's the color of his skin. They either don't like him because he's black or think he was hired because he is, therefore his hire was nothing more than the Rooneys using the Rooney Rule to the extreme. Either way, it's sad and despicable.

[polamalubeast]

I think he's now very few people who do not like Tomlin..... I think since the 2010 season, many appreciated Tomlin


But it is true that he had some people who wanted Tomlin be fired after having had five straight loss in 2009


I loved Cowher and now I love Tomlin.....Two great coach