One area in which Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin truly excels is the ease with which he expresses indifference. Whether he’s outright saying he doesn’t care about something or suggesting that he doesn’t spend much time thinking about something one might reasonably guess a head coach of an NFL team would think about, he’s always letting us know what’s not on his mind.
And the latest thing that’s absent from his thoughts is his contract status. Following a report indicating the Steelers did not intend to work out a contract extension for him this offseason but that it in no way expressed any kind of displeasure with his performance, he was asked about the situation and he naturally said he hadn’t thought about it.
Going into Year 17, however, he did reflect an awareness of passing time. “I acknowledge I’ve seen more days than I’m going to see”, he told reporters, as head coach of the Steelers, via the team’s website. “That’s just the nature of this thing”.
Hired in 2007 at the age of 34, he became the youngest head coach to win the Super Bowl in 2008, though in the 14 ensuing seasons he has yet to duplicate the feat. Now 51 years old, he’s probably right that he’s closer to the end of his career than the beginning, but were it not the case, that would be quite a long career indeed.
Still, he’s never given any indications of retiring anytime soon nor thoughts of the game not driving him the same way it always has. Indeed, he suggested rather the opposite. When asked if there is heightened importance to this stage of his career because of there being less time ahead than time past, he said that it can serve as fuel that way.
But, he said, “I don’t know that it does. I’m on 10 always”.
And to his credit, have any of us ever seen him, on the job, at anything below a 10 in terms of passion and intensity? He’s always engaged in something along every stop of the way on the football calendar, including the offseason, when he loves to get out on the scouting circuit and on the field at Pro Days talking to players and even working them in drills.
I can only expect that this will be another “10” season from Tomlin in terms of his commitment to the job; even if he doesn’t always deliver ’10 performances, I cannot ever fault him for not putting everything that he ought to put into his responsibilities as the Steelers’ head coach.
His motivation is the work itself, and the responsibility that it carries. The day that he starts to lose that passion is the day that we know, or at least he knows, that he is fast approaching retirement. This year he will pass Lou Saban and Joe Gibbs and tie Paul Brown as the seventh-longest-serving head coach for a single organization in NFL history, behind only George Halas (Bears), Curly Lambeau (Packers), Don Shula (Dolphins), Tom Landry (Cowboys), Bill Belichick (Patriots), Steve Owen (Giants), and Chuck Noll.
That’s quite a run. And he’s still running. Always on 10.
