For many Pittsburgh Steelers fans, the next coach the organization hires may be the last one they see lead the team in their lifetime.<\/p>\n
That may be the case for all of us who are part of the 70\u2019s generation.<\/p>\n
This will likely be true for the Steelers\u2019 primary owner and president, Art Rooney II, and for all those players who were part of those Super Bowl dynasty years.<\/p>\n
I feel blessed to have been a kid fan of the Steelers during the grand heights of their history in the 1970\u2019s under Chuck Noll. My room walls were covered with posters of Jack Lambert, Lynn Swann, Terry Bradshaw, and Franco Harris.<\/p>\n
When I played quarterback in Pop Warner, I was Terry Bradshaw (although a left-handed version). When I dove into the couch, making yet another game-winning catch of a Nerf football, I was Swanny.<\/p>\n
Noll, for me, was the chiseled-out-of-marble perfect Steelers leader. He was grounded, a man of few, yet powerful words, a well-disciplined leader of men, tough and as old school as a leather helmet, and known around the league as a football genius.<\/p>\n
No one ever outsmarted him. His teams were never bullied. They were the good bullies. He also had a supreme eye for talent and character in players, and a gift for developing them to the maximum of their ability.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t pleased when he stepped down\u2026or got pushed out\u2026or sent off into \u201cforced retirement,\u201d as the Steelers organization prefers to do things.<\/p>\n
It was on December 26, 1991. Coal in my stockings.<\/p>\n
I suppose there were many fans who were burnt out with Noll and felt the game had passed him by, but I was not among those. I always felt that his next year was going to be his next Super Bowl victory.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t embrace Bill Cowher at first, mainly because he brought a major liability from my perspective. He wasn\u2019t Noll, whom I deeply respected and admired.<\/p>\n
Yet, it didn\u2019t take long for Cowher to win me over as he did most of Steelers Nation. He was a linebacker, and not a terribly gifted one from a National Football League perspective. He brought his overachieving mentality into coaching.<\/p>\n
He may not have the raw skill set of the best players, but he was going to work harder and be tougher than anyone else. He was a special teamer, not a celebrity performer.<\/p>\n
Cowher loved his players, but that never got in the way of his demanding excellence and supreme effort from them. When he ever felt his team was giving anything less than their best, he would let them have it, and in the most visual spitting way.<\/p>\n
He found success early with the team, reestablishing the Steelers as among the elite in defensive play, and his teams dominated their divisions and even the conference.<\/p>\n
His Achilles heel was that he loved his defenses too much to invest in premium picks at the quarterback position, and his Super Bowl victory didn\u2019t come to him until Ben Roethlisberger arrived towards the end of Cowher\u2019s head coaching career.<\/p>\n
Unlike Noll, Cowher wasn\u2019t a genius. But he was fine with surrounding himself with coaches who were smarter than him. He also never claimed to be a chess master. Just a steel factory worker. His humility and self-awareness were admirable and a big part of his leadership charm.<\/p>\n
Most of all, what I appreciated about Cowher was that he was a Yinzer. He easily could have been sitting on a couch next to us, or in the stands, or on a barstool, and shouting as loudly and angrily as we did during the games.<\/p>\n
When our team disappointed us with a lack of intensity in their play, he was as furious as we were. When they were playing with fire and discipline, he was as overflowing with joy as we were. He wasn\u2019t above spinning a Terrible Towel.<\/p>\n
He never wanted to let us down. Steelers Nation mattered to Coach Cowher, and I\u2019ll always think fondly of him for that.<\/p>\n
Which brings us to Coach Mike Tomlin.<\/p>\n
I was thrilled when Tomlin was announced as our head coach. He was young, highly respected, considered a rising star, and wasn\u2019t just another \u201cretread\u201d coach under consideration.<\/p>\n
I liked Russ Grimm and probably would have been pleased if he had been selected, but for me, Tomlin was much more of a \u201cswing for the fences\u201d type of choice, and one that I fully supported.<\/p>\n
And that was before I heard him speak! Wow\u2026could the man speak. So bright. So incredibly gifted. A master of communication.<\/p>\n
As the years would prove, Tomlin also was a master when it came to being a \u201cleader of men.\u201d I don\u2019t know if the Steelers organization, or any NFL organization, will ever boast a finer leader of men.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t matter whether the Steelers won or lost, or even if they got blown out; nobody commanded more respect from his players than Mike Tomlin.<\/p>\n
Even after he announced to his team that he was departing as head coach, his players responded with a spontaneous standing ovation.<\/p>\n
Just an incredible leader of men.<\/p>\n
Yet, what had soured me on him, and what had led to many years of discontent, was that he was no Bill Cowher.<\/p>\n
He was a member of the \u201cinsiders club\u201d, which was exclusively reserved for executives, players, and NFL coaches.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m of the strong opinion that he never loved Steelers Nation. He tolerated us.<\/p>\n
In the same way, I think Art Rooney got sucked into this new culture that was being formulated. It was a culture of \u201cUs versus the Outsiders\u201d. Ignore them all. They have no clue.<\/p>\n
That was the Standard, and I believe it caused the Steelers\u2019 owner to lose his way and to operate so differently from his father, Dan Rooney.<\/p>\n
The Standard was that as long as the coach loves the ownership, and he loves his players, and the players love him, then all is well. The goal is for the team to win enough games each year for everyone to keep their jobs, and for the workplace to be one where everyone enjoys their place of employment.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like the brewery owner who brings in a manager, and the manager is able to speak beautifully about the hops and barley, so much so that the media loves to quote him and put him on the cover of Brewery Magazine. And, the manager loves the ownership, and all the employees, and the employees say he is the best boss they\u2019ve ever had, and everyone wants to work at this brewery; it\u2019s become the employer of choice.<\/p>\n
Everything is perfect. Except for one thing. It\u2019s the customers. They don\u2019t like the beer.<\/p>\n
In this current news cycle of coverage, many in the national sports media are excoriating Steelers fans and depicting us as entitled, ungrateful, and that we should be ashamed for chasing Mike Tomlin out of town.<\/p>\n