News of the three-year extension for Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has dominated the NFL landscape the last few days as the Steelers ensured that the future Hall of Fame head coach continues in the Steel City through at least the 2027 season.
That news of the extension had many players fired up Monday afternoon and evening as their head coach was properly rewarded for the work he’s done in recent seasons keeping the Steelers competitive and in the playoff picture despite issues under center and on offense in general.
Special teams ace Miles Killebrew is one of those players who is thrilled Tomlin is locked up long-term.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday following the first minicamp practice, Killebrew stated that he’s “honored” to be on a Mike Tomlin-coached team. He called Tomlin a “perfecter of his craft,” which makes him a great head coach in his eyes.
“He knows how to win. He’s a great leader. Anyone who’s heard him speak will say that he’s a great motivator,” Killebrew said of Tomlin, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “Every time I’m in a team meeting, it’s like a master class in leadership and preparation. So, he leads the team well, and I’m honored to be on a Mike Tomlin-coached team.”
Killebrew isn’t making any ground-breaking, enlightening statements regarding Tomlin there. But it’s rather fitting that all of the players who speak so highly of Tomlin talk about the same thing time and time again: great leader, great motivator, really knows how to run a team meeting and prepare his guys.
It’s what has led to a bunch of success throughout Tomlin’s career, putting him in the Hall of Fame conversation. Granted, there are plenty of reasons to criticize Tomlin too, like the no playoff wins since 2016, holding onto Matt Canada too long, and believing that Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky could be the answer at the quarterback position post-Ben Roethlisberger.
All of that is fair.
But there is something there with the players overall. They still respond to Tomlin. He still has a profound impact on them on and off the field.
“A lot of people will classify him as a player’s coach. I don’t think that that’s necessarily an insult. I think that that just means that he can connect with us on a level that maybe is not easy for every coach to do,” Killebrew said of Tomlin. “And that doesn’t take away from his preparation and his professionalism. I think he does it on par with the greats who have done it before him. And so it’s exciting.
“It encourages us to bring a level of professionalism, so that we can compete in this culture.”
Tomlin is a master motivator and communicates extremely well with his players. His ability to be transparent and honest with players is well respected and has helped keep him around a long, long time as the head coach of the Steelers. He’s demanding, too, and gets the best out of players, all while massaging egos in an effort to do the most important thing in football: win.
