Mike Tomlin

Pretty random, but I was just wondering how involved he could possibly be? He's a defensive-minded guy with a defensive background. Bruce Arians is essentially the head coach of the offense. It's his 8th year there, 5th as OC. Gotta assume he's pretty much got complete autonomy on that side of the ball. But on Tomlin's side of the ball, you got Dick LeBeau who is arguably the best coordinator in football. They run a 3-4. Tomlin spent 5 years coaching Tampa's DB's in the 4-3 Tampa-2. Then he spent a year as Minnesota's d-coordinator where he ran a 4-3. Never have I ever seen a head coach not run a system on his side of the ball that was different than the one he's spent his entire background on. So how much impact does Tomlin have on that D? Obviously he does the gameday things like clock management, timeouts, whether to go for it on 4th downs, whether to bench a player, etc. But in terms of X's and O's and game planning during the week, etc., it's hard to grasp just how involved he is. He gets a lot of credit for going to the Super Bowl twice, winning one, in his 1st 4 seasons as head coach, but is it deserved?

He is the head coach. History will credit him regardless of whatever system was in place when he got there.

Tomlin seems to be doing a good job of holding the ship together. He may not have his hands dipped in every part of every scheme, but he's got his crazy bug eyes fixed on every aspect of his team, keeping them on their toes and making sure everyone is doing the jobs they are supposed to be doing. Sometimes that's all it takes to be a great head coach.

He's a black head coach. He's basically invincible.

Originally posted by aman49:

He's a black head coach. He's basically invincible.

We all knew jrg had other aliases

What has Mike Tomlin done? Nothing. He has an aging team that is pretty much the same team he inherited from Cowher. He has the best defensive coordinator. The guy is overrated.

Originally posted by andes14:
Pretty random, but I was just wondering how involved he could possibly be? He's a defensive-minded guy with a defensive background. Bruce Arians is essentially the head coach of the offense. It's his 8th year there, 5th as OC. Gotta assume he's pretty much got complete autonomy on that side of the ball. But on Tomlin's side of the ball, you got Dick LeBeau who is arguably the best coordinator in football. They run a 3-4. Tomlin spent 5 years coaching Tampa's DB's in the 4-3 Tampa-2. Then he spent a year as Minnesota's d-coordinator where he ran a 4-3. Never have I ever seen a head coach not run a system on his side of the ball that was different than the one he's spent his entire background on. So how much impact does Tomlin have on that D? Obviously he does the gameday things like clock management, timeouts, whether to go for it on 4th downs, whether to bench a player, etc. But in terms of X's and O's and game planning during the week, etc., it's hard to grasp just how involved he is. He gets a lot of credit for going to the Super Bowl twice, winning one, in his 1st 4 seasons as head coach, but is it deserved?

NOT changing the defense to fit his was the smartest coaching move he could have made. How many D-coordinators become coaches and force the 3-4 to 4-3 or 4-3 to 3-4 switch on their team when the personnel doesnt fit? Happens all the time.

Originally posted by aman49:
He's a black head coach. He's basically invincible.

I thought the same thing, and when he took the Steelers and won in the SB, Cowher still had his imprint on that team, much like the Bucs still had Dungy written all over them when Gruden took the Bucs and won in the SB.

Steelers might be off to a slow start, slower then usual because of the SB slump. But at the sharp end of the season I expect them to be there and in the playoffs. Things have been working fine the way they are in Steeler town, I dont see Tomlin changing it. But when things start to get sub-par, we should see Tomlin step in and make HC decisions.

The Steelers are just coming off of a shut out (granted against Seattle but it still counts). I actually think longer term Tomlin will prove to be a better head coach than Cowher, he's already been to 2 Super Bowls and the team is still having very productive drafts. They are aging a little bit but new players are being worked in. I'm a huge fan of his

Originally posted by Paul:
The Steelers are just coming off of a shut out (granted against Seattle but it still counts). I actually think longer term Tomlin will prove to be a better head coach than Cowher, he's already been to 2 Super Bowls and the team is still having very productive drafts. They are aging a little bit but new players are being worked in. I'm a huge fan of his

This. Just because the head coach isnt calling plays either on offense or defense doesnt mean that the guy isnt doing anything. john Harbaugh was a special teams coach, hes not running his offense or defense. Does he not do anything as head coach?

Tomlin's first SB appearence and win could be attributed to inheriting Cowher's team, but that was also a Cowher led team that went 8-8 in 2006.
James Harrison(a backup under Cowher), Lawrence Timmons, LeMar Woodley, Mike Wallace, Reshard mendenhall. these werent Cowher guys.

mike tomlin is a real leader of men especially when u consider today's nfl player. he connects with them and he communicates well with other coaches nfl executives and the media. he is a nupe or kappa alpha psi so he should be smooth polished and know how to work an audience. the steelers know wtf they are doing because they have a firmly entrenched identity that hasn't changed much since the 70s (hard hitting dominating defense big armed qb that does what it takes to win big games and big physical punishing rbs) whereas we under the yorks got away from ours established since the 80s but young jed seems to be steering us back towards it right now. tomlin projects the right kind of prideful tough guy intensity that the steeler organization believes in and more importantly the players believe in. they feel tomlin is their leader one of them and they play their tails off for him

Originally posted by tohara3:

Originally posted by aman49:
He's a black head coach. He's basically invincible.

It's true man. Younger, intense black coaches just seem to relate better to the players. Old ones like Sing and Art Shell, no dice. Well, young Art Shell maybe.

Originally posted by zillabeast:

Originally posted by tohara3:

Originally posted by aman49:
He's a black head coach. He's basically invincible.

It's true man. Younger, intense black coaches just seem to relate better to the players. Old ones like Sing and Art Shell, no dice. Well, young Art Shell maybe.

True. Doesn't even have to be NFL. My junior year in HS, i played Varsity ball and our coach was some old white guy. My senior year we had a new coach, Young, Black Dude, signed by the Rams in the early 2000s actually, but failed his physical cause his knee was f**ked up. Great Coach and everyone loved him.

Robert Hubbard is his name.

Originally posted by GuessWhosOn3rd:

Originally posted by zillabeast:

Originally posted by tohara3:

Originally posted by aman49:
He's a black head coach. He's basically invincible.

It's true man. Younger, intense black coaches just seem to relate better to the players. Old ones like Sing and Art Shell, no dice. Well, young Art Shell maybe.

True. Doesn't even have to be NFL. My junior year in HS, i played Varsity ball and our coach was some old white guy. My senior year we had a new coach, Young, Black Dude, signed by the Rams in the early 2000s actually, but failed his physical cause his knee was f**ked up. Great Coach and everyone loved him.

Robert Hubbard is his name.

Saw that a lot in the military as well. I think it's a swag thing. You can be more intimidating if you know you can back it up.

Now that I think about it, Harbaugh comes off as sort of a nerd to me. If he turns out to be no good the players will eat him alive in no time.