Tomlin Named Steelers New Head Coach
by 
David Kindervater on January 22nd, 2007
The past few days, there were conflicting stories coming out of Pittsburgh on the status of the Steelers’ head coaching position. With Bill Cowher’s recent departure, the Steelers wasted no time developing a short list of preferred candidates. Among those were current assistant head coach Russ Grimm and Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review was reporting that the Steelers had hired Grimm. Other mainstream sources (Sports Illustrated, ESPN) said the job was Tomlin’s. The Steelers said nobody had been hired yet. Monday, that debate was officially put to rest with the hiring of Coach Tomlin.
Tomlin is only the third Steelers head coach in the past 38 years. So, job security is looking pretty good. He brings to Pittsburgh a philosophy of wanting to run the ball on offense and to stop the run and play a physical brand of football on defense. Wishful thinking? I don’t think so. This past season, Tomlin’s first in Minnesota, the Vikings had the league’s best run D. And they finished eighth overall despite a porous pass defense (dead last). They can thank their inability to generate a pass rush with Kenechi Udeze (no sacks in 15 starts) and Erasmus James (injured in all but two games) for that stat. Those are both former first-round Draft picks that disappointingly had virtually no bearing on the season.
Tomlin does prefer a 4-3 but won’t rush to install it with D-coordinator Dick LeBeau, a proponent of the 3-4 and zone blitzing schemes, still on-board. I watched Coach Tomlin all season on the Vikings’ sidelines and his upbeat, youthful attitude (he’s 34-years-old) and aggressive style will fit well in Pittsburgh. Steelers fans will love him.
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