It was just a few months ago that Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had this to say about what goes on behind closed doors as a team.
“There’s just certain things as a leader that I talk to the collective about, that I have zero intentions of sharing with the larger public,” Tomlin said via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “I can’t give you all the ingredients to the hot dog. You might not like it.”
Fast forward to the beginning of December and HBO’s Hard Knocks is putting all the ingredients to the hot dog on display. It turns out it wasn’t the public that might not like it. They love it.
It was Tomlin who didn’t want to share all of his secret sauce that goes into being a successful football coach.
Pat McAfee was praising Mike Tomlin for his coaching shown behind the scenes on Hard Knocks through the first two episodes via the Pat McAfee Show today on ESPN.
“They’re giving away all your shit right now through Hard [Knocks],” McAfee said.
“That’s why I was so fundamentally against it,” Tomlin said with a smile.
He was half joking because earlier in the interview, Tomlin mentioned how Hard Knocks hasn’t created that many challenges for the Steelers overall. He said when guys start trying to be something they’re not because of the cameras, that’s when it becomes a distraction. They are trying to act as if the cameras aren’t present as much as it’s possible to do so.
There really haven’t been any negatives so far. The Steelers have been portrayed in a very positive light. The meetings are run well, Tomlin is dynamic speaking in front of his group, and then the informal conversations with his players in one-on-one settings are often extremely insightful.
For example, Hard Knocks showed Tomlin making sure WR George Pickens’ head was on straight after the pick-six on the opening drive against the Bengals in Episode 1. It also showed how Tomlin challenged Nick Herbig against Orlando Brown and then watched him cash in on that challenge with a forced fumble during the game.
Things like that are what make Tomlin the best leader of men. That’s one of the biggest components of being a successful coach.
In his first 17 years as the Steelers’ head coach, Tomlin managed to avoid the Hard Knocks cameras. Mostly that’s because the Steelers were consistently successful over that span, but the in-season Hard Knocks to cover the entire division circumvented those rules.
Tomlin’s goal is to make sure the Steelers are good enough to never have to be on the show again.
If he’s worried about someone emulating him, best of luck to whomever attempts to do so.
