It is being reported in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that the Steelers have reached agreement on a contract extension with Steelers head-coach Mike Tomlin. It is a three-year deal and will run through 2014.
People were beginning to wonder if Tomlin had the approval of the Steelers front office. We all know the many trials and tribulations the franchise has gone through over the past year or so. Tomlin's ability to control his players was starting to come into question.
The professional sports world is a weird one. Grown men can act up and get into trouble off the field and their bosses are the ones who get criticized for it.
If getting into trouble away from work was an employer's responsibility, my boss would be getting blamed every time I went to happy hour or a party.
The Steelers traditionally extend their head coach's contract with two years remaining and there was speculation that management was going to wait and see how Tomlin handled the very challenging upcoming season.
Heck, I was even beginning to consider the possibility of the Steelers bringing back Bill Cowher to coach the team.
I mean, they've already done so many unSteeler-like things this offseason in bringing back former players Antwaan Randle El, Larry Foote, and Bryant Mcfadden. It would only be fitting for them to bring back their old coach.
After all, Art Rooney II, Dan's son and President of the team since 2003, seems more business like than his father and grandfather before him. Would the Steelers become just another team that changes coaches every time there is a sign of trouble?
Well, no need to wonder any more.
There are many out there who aren't going to like the Tomlin extension. Some think he's a soft-touch; that he's too much of a player's coach. Last year's seemingly easy post-Super Bowl training camp was dubbed "Camp Cupcake."
Tomlin has also been criticized for preferring veterans over younger players.
Well, if you think back about ten years, Bill Cowher was criticized for many of the same things. After their six-year run as a Super Bowl contender in the 90's, the team started to fall on hard times in 1998. That year started a three year stretch of not making the playoffs.
People began to wonder if he was starting to lose the team. Were the players growing tired of the prominent jaw, and the spit? Many were especially critical of his handling of quarterback Kordell Stewart.
And there was the revolving door of offensive coordinators and his very public power-struggle with former Director of Player Personnel, Tom Donahue.
Fans and media were very upset with the contract extension the team gave Cowher in 2000. Some thought that 8 seasons was long enough and that the next chapter in Steelers history should be written by a new author, so to speak. Well, Cowher weathered that storm and turned the team into a Super Bowl contender once again.
I don't know what more Tomlin has to prove. He's been the head coach for three seasons, and he's been to the playoffs twice and has already won a championship.
He did something in 2 years that it took Cowher 13 years to do.
Let's not forget, before the team won the Super Bowl in 2005, Cowher was labeled as a coach who couldn't win the big game.
And I know what people have said about Tomlin winning with Cowher's players, but I want you to take a look at this list:
Rod Woodson
Dermontti Dawson
Neil O'Donnell
Carnell Lake
Greg Lloyd
Barry Foster
Merril Hoge
Ernie Mills
John Jackson
Justin Strelzyk
Those are players that Cowher inherited from Chuck Noll when he retired as head coach following the 1991 season. Most of them became the backbone of those 90's playoff teams.
Tomlin is the right man for the job.
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