More Pub for Mike Tomlin

Last week's issue of Pro Football Weekly featured Steelers' coach Mike Tomlin on its cover, as well as a two page article that, like most of the articles that have appeared in other media outlets about the new head man in Pittsburgh, is very complimentary. The full-text of the article can now be accessed at ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) or the entire issue can be purchased for $4.99 in either print or electronic format at Pro Football Weekly.com.

With the commercials out of the way, here's a taste of
what the article offers:

"Just in case his head gets a little too big, either from becoming only the third Steelers head coach in the past 38 years or perhaps by doing so by the tender age of 34, Mike Tomlin knows that there are still people in Pittsburgh who need proof that he's ready take over one of sports' most hallowed jobs -- including some in his own house.

'My kids are totally and utterly unimpressed,' said Tomlin . . . 'I was getting ready to go to a function . . . and my five-year-old was flipping through the channels, and when my face came on the screen from one of my press conferences, he went straight past Dad and onto the Cartoon Network . . . Never even paused. You gotta love that.'

". . . [Bill] Cowher was 34 when he got the job. He had limited coordinator experience, too. So the idea of hiring Tomlin wasn't against what team officials like to call The Steelers' Way.

It just sent a message that things would be changing in 2007 . . . 'I think there was a need for change,' said a former Steeler who is on another team's roster this season. 'Not that (Cowher) had lost the team. I just think guys got a little too comfortable. We all did.

'We had just won the Super Bowl. You didn't notice it at first, but when we started out the way we did (2-6 to open the season), it was pretty obvious.'"

There's much more to the article, including a discussion of the varied responses by individual Steelers to the hiring of Mr. Tomlin.