The Truth About Tomlin
| 13
|
by Dukeboy999
I want to take a minute to clear up a rumor that is spreading throughout the city of Pittsburgh. It is true, the new head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin, is a black man. And the Steelers record halfway through the season, no matter how good or how bad, will not change that fact. Having said that, sit quietly for a minute and just let the fact sink in. This is not 1965, and it may just be possible, that a black man is capable of running an NFL football team. So let us agree as a city, and a group of fans, not to use race as an excuse for reasons to get rid of Mike Tomlin when the Steelers go through the inevitable rough stretch.
After having brought the city five Super Bowl championships, it would seem like a good idea to trust the football decisions the Steelers front office decides to make. Furthermore, knowing that 67% of the players in the NFL are black, it is obvious to most that black men know just as much, if not more about the game of football than white men. The fact that some people are just too ignorant and outdated to accept the fact that a black man is running their hometown football team is ludicrous. No one wants to say it, but people throughout Pittsburgh have their doubts about the Steelers chances for success, for the singular fact that the new head coach is a black man. And this applies to every person sitting at home thinking to themselves “glad that’s not me” when they have never spent more than five minutes with a black person in their lives.
Now, it would go against human nature to say that seeing a black man running the sideline for the first time in a franchises history did not at least make you think for a second. So before you go off on a bigoted rant about how you don’t want some black guy running your beloved football team into the ground, sit back and do just that, think about it for a minute. It may be true that teams are forced to interview at least one minority candidate when searching for a new head coach because of the rule that Steelers owner Dan Rooney instituted. But Mr. Rooney would not hire a minority coach solely to prove that point. Dan Rooney would hire a minority coach because he believed in his heart, and in his head, that the minority candidate was the best man for the job.
Before the Russ Grimm and Ken Whisenhunt supporters of the city get all worked up about how one of those two deserved a shot because they came up in the Steelers organization, look at the facts. Although Grimm was being “considered” for head coaching jobs all over the league, he was never even offered a job. If Grimm isn’t good enough for the 31 other teams in the league, why would the Steelers want to hire him? There aren’t exactly a bunch of offensive line coaches shooting up to head coaching positions. And as for Ken Whisenhunt, the simple fact that the Arizona Cardinals hired him as head coach should show why it was a good decision by the Steelers not to hire him as head coach. Don’t get me wrong, both were great for the team during their time here. But both men just weren’t the right people for the job.
One of the main doubts I have heard around the city when hearing people speak of Tomlin, is that some of us still aren’t sure a black man can run a winning Steelers team. Is the city of Pittsburgh really outdated enough to have this opinion be a popular one city wide? If Tomlin was the new coach of an NFL team in Los Angeles, the fact that he is a religious man would be the main concern to many people. In Pittsburgh, a city a bit more white than most, the fact that he is a black man is the main concern. Join the 21 st century, and realize that a black man can be successful with a big time job, in a big time organization just as much as a white man can. The city should be giving this man the support he deserves as the head coach of their football team.
Besides, Steeler fans should trust the decision that the Rooney’s have made with the future of the franchise. Yes, a black man is going to be running the Pittsburgh Steelers this year and probably for many to come. And yes, it is about time for the city, and Steeler nation as a whole to accept that Mike Tomlin is a very capable coach. Now, if the Steelers happen to be 3-5 halfway through the season, it will be ok to criticize Tomlin. But it is unfair to say anything negative about a solid football coach, and then use his race as a reason. Tomlin will have a lot to do with the Steelers success or failure over the next few years, and let’s give him the same respect we gave Bill Cowher. Call him a bumbling idiot every time he blows a big game, and praise him when he wins the big ones. But Steeler fans everywhere should agree never use his race as a reason to criticize a good man.
