TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Tomlin's Sense Of Mission Drives Steelers

Associated Press photo

Former Bucs assistant Mike Tomlin has his Pittsburgh Steelers a game away from Tampa's Super Bowl.

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARTIN FENNELLY

mfennelly@tampatrib.com

Published: January 15, 2009

Updated: 01/15/2009 12:40 am

"We're playing for hardware this week," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said the other day.

Then there was that first day Tomlin came to Tampa in 2001. Tony Dungy had plucked him from college coaching into his first NFL job. Tomlin was only 28. Another young newcomer to the Bucs' defensive staff, Joe Barry, picked him up at the airport.

Tomlin, the new Bucs defensive backs coach, saw goal posts on the left and an immense, immaculate stone and glass tower.

"Man, the NFL does it right," Tomlin said.

Barry, the Bucs' linebackers coach, instantly realized Tomlin didn't interview for the job in Tampa. He hung a left, drove past the stone and glass ... and parked at the crab shack the Bucs once called home.

"Sorry, bro," Barry said with a grin.

Then they were off, with a sense of mission.

"That was all of us," Barry said. "That was Mike."

Mike Tomlin's sense of mission is a big reason why the Steelers will play for the AFC championship Sunday in Pittsburgh, where coaches leave Sasquatch prints.

There had been only two Steelers head coaches since men walked on the moon - Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher - before the then 34-year-old Tomlin was hired in 2007. Two coaches, 38 seasons, five world championships.

"Those are big shoes," Steelers offensive lineman Willie Colon said. "But Coach Tomlin didn't try to be Coach Noll or Coach Cowher. He walks in his own shoes."

Whether demanding more of his players in practice or stopping to shoot tape balls at garbage pails with them, Tomlin sets his own coaching course. Now he's aimed at hardware.

"I knew he'd be a great head coach," said Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber, who played for Tomlin from 2001 to 2005. "He's driven. And he has a great ability to relate to people. He adapts to whoever he's around. He's a very likable guy. He's a guy's guy. He tells it like it is, and you respect him for that."

Tomlin is the only coach in Steelers history to win division titles in his first two seasons. It took Chuck Noll six seasons to reach a Super Bowl. It took Bill Cowher four seasons. Tony Dungy, Tomlin's idol in every way, has left the stage. Here comes one of his great finds.

"He wants to do what Tony did, and maybe a little more," Barber said. "He won the Super Bowl with Jon Gruden, and I know he'd love to win one as a head coach, maybe even before Jon's age when he did it."

Gruden was 39 when he became the youngest head coach to win the Bowl. Mike Tomlin is 36. He'll now try to go where Noll and Cowher have gone, where Dungy and Gruden have gone.

Those are big shoes. Mike Tomlin has brought his own.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT