I’m no Steelers fan but I often cheer for Pittsburgh because of coach Mike Tomlin. Like Miami Dolphins coach Adam Gase, Tomlin never played a down of professional football, which appealed to me as my gender/size prevent me from playing as well. Tomlin played wide receiver and tight end for the College of William and Mary and was a second-team All-Yankee conference pick in 1994, but his playing career ended in college as he pursued coaching. He earned his first coaching job as the wide receivers coach for Virginia Military Institute in 1995 before becoming a graduate assistant at the University of Memphis the year after. Tomlin worked with defensive backs and special teams at Memphis prior to heading to Arkansas State as the wide receivers coach in 1997 and then becoming the defensive backs coach in 1998. Tomlin was hired as the defensive backs coach for the University of Cincinnati from 1999-2000 until he found a start in the NFL. Tomlin worked for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2001-2005 as the defensive backs coach where he coached under two of my favorite football people of all time: Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden. In his time at Tampa, Tomlin helped lead the Buccs to the Super Bowl XXXVII championship against the Raiders. After four years with the Buccs, Tomlin was hired as defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings in 2006 before being named head coach of the Steelers. Tomlin was the youngest NFL head coach to lead a team to the Super Bowl after defeating the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game of 2008 and was the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl when the Steelers prevailed against the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII. He was also named winningest head coach in Pittsburgh history with a 22-10 record after two seasons. Tomlin was named Motorola NFL Coach of the Year in 2008 and led the Steelers to two AFC Championship titles in 2008 and 2010. As a head coach, Tomlin has a 103-57 regular season record and 8-6 in the postseason.
