Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is not one to miss practice. In fact, one of his Tomlinisms is that “the first rule of getting better is showing up.”
But on Friday night while the Steelers were at Latrobe Memorial Stadium for their traditional Friday Night Lights practice in front of 13,000 fans, Tomlin had something more important to partake in: presenting the Hall of Fame gold jacket to former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive back Ronde Barber.
Tomlin, along with former Buccaneers safety John Lynch and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, presented the jacket to Barber Friday night in a ceremony in Canton, according to video shot by Tampa Bay Times Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud.
On Thursday night, Barber revealed that Tomlin would be in Canton to support Barber’s enshrinment. That began with recognition last night during the Hall of Fame Game between the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns and included a Gold Jacket dinner Friday night. The official ceremony is Saturday starting at noon.
Tomlin coached Barber as Tampa Bay’s defensive backs coach from 2001 to 2005. Last night, Barber named Tomlin as a key reason why he had a Hall of Fame career, one in which he picked off a league-best 10 passes in Tomlin’s first year with the team. The two have remained close friends since then with Barber’s daughter even attending William & Mary, where Tomlin went and starred in football.
