Tomlin

No, it just sounded more like you hoped he was replaced and never should have been hired. Maybe it’s just personal preferences, but you’re one of only a couple of people that have not liked his charisma/media repoire. As far as far motivating the team; you never heard that he was losing the team, or anything close to that, did you? As far as I can tell, he’s done a fantastic job of gaining the respect of the players very quickly.

Thanks Officer Miriam Webster :)

I’m amazed I don’t have tons more syntax and grammar errors in my writing. I don’t edit enough the tens of thousands of words that my verbal vomit produces.

Agree that it took Cowher way too long to learn about “playing to win” as opposed to “playing not to lose” in a playoff game. Always liked him though. My defense to those that wanted him fired was always “Fine. Who you gonna hire? Parcells? Shanahan?”
Like Tomilin too, so far. Feel he’s young and raw and has lots to learn but I too trust the Rooney’s and the Steelers organization. Those that don’t like the choice just have a different opinion and that is OK by me. It is the American way. We are not living in George Orwell’s 1984 and while I don’t agree with RE it is his right to feel that way.
Regarding Tomlin getting us a 6th ring in the next 4 seasons “If some of you people afford him that opportunity” I didn’t know RE worked for the Steelers. I don’t think “us” people here have anything to do with what Tomlin accomplishes. It’s up to Tomlin and the FO. we are just the fan base.

Reading this great thread makes me think about the qualities that makes somebody a good coach and a good leader.

My own experience with leadership has been as an assistant director of a large summer camp for High School students. Obviously there are some big differences but there are also some similarities. Over time these are my thoughts on what it takes to be a good leader. I think there are different ways that these things can be accomplished – which leads in to a whole discussion of leadership styles

A good leader knows how to build a good team. The first thing a good leader does is gather good people around him. One of the hardest things to do in this world is find excellent people to work with. In the camping world this involves finding very talented people who could be making more money doing other things and convincing them to work 16-20 hours a day, for little pay. In football while the money is certainly there, it seems to me that it’s all about finding the right character guys, both in terms of players and in terms of coaches. The best athlete, isn’t always the best team-mate. The smartest guy isn’t always the best coach. You have to find a good balance between individual excellence and the ability to work with others. You have to know how to create a good mix of personalities that compliment one another and allow you to strive for excellence as a team.

This quality applies equally to a leader/coach who inherits a team.

As I said in my previous post, I believe that the FO of the Steelers has done an amazing job of this type of character driven team-building, and a large part of my excitement about Tomlin comes from my faith in the Rooney’s decision making process.

As for grading Tomlin on this process I think its way to early to judge his personnel decisions. Like drafts those decisions will only become clear in a couple of years.

A good leader knows how to keep problems from distracting from the teams agenda.

I think that Tomlin receives very high marks for his ability to do this. Tomlin inherited a ticking time bomb with Faneca. Faneca was a very popular player who was very disgruntled. He had the potential to turn in to a major distraction. Very early on Tomlin was able to build a personal relationship with Faneca that smoothed oout some of the problems that the team faced from Faneca’s unhappiness.

A good leader gains the trust of his people. Again, I give Tomlin very high marks on this. While he came in to a good situation in terms of the level of character that he had on his team, he had a long way to go to gain the trust of his group. He set a tone early. He was very tough on the team but also, from what I’ve heard, very fair and very invested in the players. I think that makes a big difference. We had a very positive locker-room culture all of last year.

A good leader brings out the best from his people. This, I believe is one of the trickiest things about leadership. Leadership in this regard is very often about doing less not more. However its about doing less in a very smart and calculated way, while finding a balance of knowing when to step in. This is one of the places where leadership is much more of an art than a science. How do you get the most of out of your star quarterback or your brilliant Defensive Coordinator? For the most part you just have to get out of their way and let them do what they do best. But that of course, is easier said then done. You have to work together with them to recognize problems before they blow up, you have to give them the tools they need to do what they do well (tall receivers and pass rushing linebackers?).

Again this is a tough thing to judge, but overall, I think that we saw a generally good first year out of Tomlin. His stars (who were not hurt) played inspired football. He kept his important people very happy and productive. You did not hear too much griping about ball distribution or about opportunities. I thought overall that bodes well for his ability to inspire people and bring out there best.

A good leader knows how to make tough decisions that affect people’s lives: This is probably the hardest thing to master and the one that’s ultimately new to Tomlin as a head coach. This is the difference between being an coordinator and a head coach. When you are a head coach the buck stops with you. You have to take responsibility for the decisions made and the decisions not made. This comes out in questions of play calling late in a game, for example the disastrous calls/non-calls in the Jacksonville game. But it also comes out in the decisions on who to start or who to bench, who to pursue in free-agency and who to drop etc.
I think this area has been Tomlin’s weakest so far, but I do not find it surprising. Everything else he has been doing for a while as an outstanding young assistant coach in this league. Making all the tough calls is a different story.

I think in this area we have seen some stumbling from him. I think he was slow in replacing clearly struggling players last year. I think he was not particularly courageous or creative in mixing up his play calling in critical games. I am not sure if you can lay the Max Starks 1 year deal on his door, but it does seem one of the strangest decisions/non-decisions that the Steelers have made in years and I don’t think that he goes entirely without responsibility for allowing it to develop.

Bottom line though, I also see a ton of encouraging things in his decision making during his first year. Most importantly Tomlin knows how to stand behind his decisions while also seeming to learn from his mistakes. I admit that I don’t have actual evidence on this, maybe some of you do, but he seems to have a very flexible mind and seems open to trying things, while not falling into the trap of being wishy-washy or just trying to please everyone.

Anyway, I’ll stop here. I guess, to sum up, part of the reason that I love the game of football (apart from all of the great reasons maryrose listed) is that so many of its lessons apply to life in general.

I have really enjoyed watching Tomlin struggle and grow as a first year coach. I am curious to hear other people’s perspectives on the issue of leadership and the qualities of a leader (both on the field and in other areas of life).