Tomlin quickly learns how to manage men
FORT WORTH, Texas When James Farrior was first introduced to his new head coach four years ago, two thoughts crossed his mind.
The first was how young this guy was.
The second was how old he was getting.
"I thought that was kind of weird, a young guy like that close to my age," Farrior (just turned 36) said of meeting Mike Tomlin (39 next month).
It still may be out of the range of normal to have a head coach who has yet to reach 40 - never mind one looking to hoist his second Lombardi Trophy - but it's no longer weird. At least not for the Steelers, who have been won over not only by Tomlin's football acumen but also by the way he is able to convey information and inspiration in a way they can understand.
"Because he's younger, he's more relatable," running back Rashard Mendenhall said. "It's a more modern style of coaching instead of the old-school coaching. They use the old-school way and as a young guy, you really don't feel like it relates to you."
"It catches you off-guard sometimes," linebacker Larry Foote said. "You'll hear him quoting or singing a rap song and it's kind of like, 'Wow, that's the first coach I ever heard do that.' "
In what usually had been a stodgy association of middle-aged white men who have spent the better part of their lives squinting at game film, Tomlin has become the Joe Cool of NFL coaches. He came into the circle with a few other fresh faces - Eric Mangini was hired by the Jets the year before Tomlin was pegged by the Steelers - but his success no doubt has allowed others to breathe fresh air into the stagnant head-coaching offices throughout the league.
"He's different," Foote said. "You hear the term 'players' coach' and all that stuff, but he's just one of the guys."
It's not a buddy-buddy act, either. Tomlin can be harshly honest in assessing players, such as last season, when he benched Mendenhall, or this season, when he called out speedy receiver Mike Wallace as a "one-trick pony."
He says what he feels, and not just with his players. When he was asked a two-pronged question at a media conference this past week about two very different subjects, Tomlin joked with the reporter that he was trying to wring out a lot of information. He nodded his head. "OK," Tomlin said, "let's do it." Then he answered both parts.
Receiver Hines Ward marveled that he has a head coach who wears Ed Hardy jeans. He may have always been fashionable, but he wasn't always easygoing.
"When coach Tomlin first got to the Steelers [for the 2007 season], it was still a lot of coach [Bill] Cowher's guys," Ward said. "[Tomlin] was very militant. He wanted to practice two-a-days, full pads, all day long. By the time we got to the playoffs to play Jacksonville [a 31-29 Steelers loss on Jan. 5, 2008], we were a beat-up team. They don't give you a book to show you how to be a head coach."
Over time, that changed. Tomlin changed. He started giving the players fewer rules and more of a chance to police themselves. One of his slogans is "abuse leads to restrictions," and the Steelers have for the most part responded - with a Super Bowl title and the chance to win a second.
Not only was Tomlin the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl when he did it two years ago, he could become the first coach of any age to win two in his first four years.
Tomlin said he's not getting caught up in the hype around the game nor veering from what he usually does.
"I'm a robot," he said. "I'm just going to ride the wave."
Is there anything cooler than a wave-riding robot?
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