Sunday, June 10, 2007

The Steelers New Coach

The Steelers surprised many including their own players by selecting Mike Tomlin over Steeler insiders Russ Grimm and Ken Whisenhunt. The Steeler front office, 1 year removed from a Super Bowl victory felt the need to make a change. They've been successful in building the most stable pro sports organization in history and also in winning championships so I have faith that they looked into the eyes of Tomlin and saw the same desire to win that Bill Cowher showed 15 years ago. Tomlin played wide receiver at William and Mary but was not a pro prospect. He started coaching in 1995 and spent seven years in the college ranks as a defensive backs coach. He spent 3 years with Tampa Bay as the defensive backs coach from 2002-2005 including a Super Bowl championship year. In 2006 Tomlin was hired as the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings and created an impressive run defense, first in the league, but was last in the league defending against the pass. Tomlin, at 35 years old, will take the Steelers well into the future if history holds true. I'm excited to see how our most important rookie works his way into the head coach rotation.