Hines Ward played for just two head coaches in an NFL career that spanned from 1998 to 2011. Which means those guys, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin, were doing something right. And now that Ward himself is a head coach, in charge of the XFL San Antonio Brahmas, he’s not just following their model. He’s speaking it.
In a feature piece from Go Erie that covered an autograph signing with Jack Ham, Jerome Bettis, and Ward in attendance, Ward briefly talked about his coaching career and how he’s integrated some of the Cowher/Tomlin language into it.
“Sometimes, I found myself saying a lot of things Coach Cowher and Coach Tomlin said to me as a player that I’m now repeating,” he told Go Erie’s Mike Copper.
Cowher was his head coach for the majority of his career. Together, they won Super Bowl XL, beating the Seattle Seahawks 21-10, with Ward named MVP. He finished the game with five catches for 123 yards and a touchdown catch off a trick play thrown by WR Antwaan Randle El, a college quarterback and great gadget player.
After Cowher retired, Mike Tomlin was hired in 2007. In 2008, the Ward and the Steelers brought home another Lombardi, beating the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 in one of the most exciting Super Bowls in history.
Tomlin, of course, is among the most quotable NFL head coaches and his “Tomlinisms” have become incredibly popular. “The Standard Is The Standard,” “Routine Plays Routinely,” “The Secret Is There’s No Secret” are ones repeated by him and now by his former players.
Following his playing days, Ward got into coaching. He returned to Pittsburgh as an intern in the summer of 2017, teaching then-rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster, before being hired by the New York Jets in 2019. Most recently, he was hired as the XFL Brahmas’ head coach as the league returned following a hiatus due to the pandemic. His first season wasn’t ideal, the team going just 3-7, though it lost several close games.
Ward told the paper it’s been a “blessing” to coach this group and he’ll return for the 2024 season. Expectations will be high because, if you haven’t heard, The Standard Is The Standard. That’ the message Ward will be sharing with his players next year.
