Throughout his 17 years as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin has had some incredible soundbites that have stuck with people.
Lovingly, they’re called Tomlinisms.
“The standard is the standard.”
“You blink and I’ll cut your eyelids off.”
“The secret is there’s no secret.”
The list goes on and on and on when it comes to Tomlin and the Tomlinisms.
While they can sometimes be viewed as ridiculous sayings to help fill conversation with Tomlin and the media, players gravitate towards them. The Tomlinisms stick with players, both past and present.
So when Tomlin revealed some of his favorite Tomlinisms on recent appearances on the “All Things Covered” podcast with former Steelers cornerback Bryant McFadden and current Steelers cornerback Patrick Peterson, as well as on an appearance of “Grillin’ N’ Chillin’” with Steelers tight ends Zach Gentry and Pat Freiermuth, ears perked up.
Ironically, Tomlin had three favorite Tomlinisms with McFadden and Peterson, and three different ones with Gentry and Freiermuth. Turns out, Tomlin loves his Tomlinisms. Who knew?
In his appearance with McFadden and Peterson, Tomlin laid out his three favorite Tomlinisms quickly, those being: the secret is there’s no secret; tedious repetition of routine actions makes us great; routine plays routinely.
“I’d probably say number one for just for practical purposes, is the secret is there’s no secret. I think we’re all looking for shortcuts of winning edge and so forth,” Tomlin said to McFadden and Peterson, according to video via the All Things Covered YouTube page. “And I always want to impress upon them, the rest of the staff and the players themselves that this is a process that we’re going through. And although we’re looking for the winning edge, short shortcuts aren’t one of them.”
In the game of football — and in life — there’s no shortcuts. It’s all a process, one that everyone has to go through. While young players may be looking for insider trading secrets from veterans and teammates in hopes of earning a roster spot and sticking around, Tomlin’s Tomlinism of “the secret is there’s no secret” is short, sweet and to the point.
All situations are different, but everything is a process. Put in the time, do the work, and you’ll be rewarded.
For coaches that have been around as long as Tomln and been as successful as him, the splash plays aren’t what catches his attention at this point. Sure, they’re great for highlights, like the George Pickens catch Tuesday in practice, but Tomlin is more interested in seeing the routine plays become, well, routine.
“Those of us that’s been in this thing, we know that true professionalism is making the ordinary plays on a regular basis,” Tomlin said to McFadden and Peterson. “That like clockwork things that we can depend on. … Routine plays routinely are the things that we value. And so that’s a catchphrase that I use to impress that upon young players that might think the spectacular is what’s gonna capture our attention.”
In true Tomlin fashion though, on “Grillin’ N’ Chillin'” he went with three different Tomlinisms to highlight. Safe to safe Tomlin loves all of his sayings that it’s hard for him to pick three favorites. Gentry and Freiermuth made it interesting, asking Tomlin to pick his three favorite Tomlinisms to take with him to a deserted island.
Tomlin’s choices? Don’t seek comfort; first rule of getting better — show up; learn to love to be miserable.
Well then.
After 17 years, some of the Tomlinisms can lose their luster, especially with the lack of playoff success in the last decade for the Black and Gold. Fact of the matter is though, players still gravitate towards them and the sayings stick with them. They are catchy sound clips, but they are easy, quick ways to get points across to players, coaches and media members from Tomlin. There’s meaning behind all of them.
Hopefully when his time comes to head into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he can find a way to work a number of favorite Tomlinisms into his induction speech.
