Anybody who hears him speak probably isn’t surprised that Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is regarded as a gifted orator and motivator. It’s an opinion highlighted every offseason but seems to have been magnified this year.
Part of the reason for that is because the Steelers have brought in more outside veterans than usual, and it’s those veterans who have spoken on the subject, either implicitly or explicitly contrasting his motivational abilities with those of their previous coaches.
The Steelers themselves participated in the discussion by sharing a short speech that Tomlin gave to his players as they were preparing to go on break before training camp. It was a powerful speech, and it reminded former NFL defensive back Jason McCourty of his own rookie season, when he heard Tomlin speak at a rookie symposium at which he was in attendance.
“I was just like, ‘At this point if ever in my career I could get a chance to play for this guy, I would love the opportunity’”, he recalled thinking, during a Good Morning Football segment. “He’s a guy where he leaves you with what I call ‘tweetables’. Things that you can just pull out in any conversation and you can just tweet it and people know exactly what you’re talking about”.
McCourty is a player who flew under the radar for most of his career. The identical twin of brother Devin, who was drafted in the first round by the New England Patriots, Jason came out a year earlier, got drafted in the sixth round, and stayed at safety. He finally got more attention when he joined his brother in New England near the end of his career.
But coming out of the Rutgers program under Greg Schiano, it’s no surprise that Tomlin’s particular message resonated with him, both as a young professional and even today in his mid-30s and having already retired.
“When he says ‘reasonable expectation’, if you’re a young guy sitting in that room, you’re like, ‘Man, I gotta step my game up’”, he said. “If you’re Cam Heyward sitting in that room, ‘As good of a player as I’ve been, I have to do more’”.
He also talked about how the things Tomlin related are not just tied to football, but rather things you can apply to all different parts of your life. “Any time Mike Tomlin speaks, you just get fired up”, he said. “Every time you hear him, you’re like, ‘My goodness, The Standard just rose up another level’”.
Of course, the degree to which some fans can tolerate cliches is proportionally tied to the frequency with which the Steelers have success in the postseason. Considering the fact that the Steelers have not won a single playoff game since 2016, one might say that the patience for the verbiage is wearing thin. It’ll sound much better the next time Tomlin’s team makes a playoff run, I’m sure.
