William Gay is taking what he learned from Mike Tomlin as a player and applying that to his time as a coach. In another reminder of how very old we all are, Gay will renew his Steelers connection this weekend, only he will be coaching against Pittsburgh. Hired as the Washington Commanders’ assistant defensive backs coach this season, Gay will hope to beat the Steelers after playing with them for years.
“I’m gonna hit you with a Mike Tomlin saying,” Gay said via The Athletic’s Ben Standig when asked if Washington is building its team like Pittsburgh. “The secret sauce is there is no secret sauce.”
In other words, there’s no magic to building a strong culture and roster. It’s about identifying the right people in the front office and coaching staff to identify the right people on the field. It’s intentional and is always being cultivated through constant evaluation.
It’s clear Washington is heading in the right direction. One of the NFL’s biggest surprises, the Commanders are 7-2 and leading the NFC East. Should they make the playoffs, it’ll be their first appearance since 2020 (a year where they won the division at 7-9) with a chance to win their first playoff game since 2005. If Washington can reach 11 wins, certainly an attainable goal, it’ll be its most victories since 1991. For context, that’s the last year Washington won the Super Bowl.
Gay was part of Tomlin’s inaugural draft class in 2007. He spent two stints with the team and won the fan base over after being under the microscope for the front half of it. After his career ended in 2018, he transitioned to coaching, first as a Steelers intern in 2019 before becoming a college coach in 2020. Unfortunately, COVID seemed to disrupt his plans until the Commanders tabbed Gay as an assistant for this season under new head coach Dan Quinn.
Though it’s hard to ignore the history on the other side of the field, Gay will have to adopt another Tomlin-ism to lock in and help Washington come away with the win. This week, the Steelers are just the nameless, gray faces to take care of.
