Mike Vrabel

I don't get the fascination with someone's "coaching tree" Would some of these coaches not be good if, say, Mike Reilly had hired them?
Here's a "tree" for you...…...Who was the coach that brought in Chuck Noll AND Al Davis?
















Sid Gilman.
I'd bet that 99% on here have no idea who he was.

 

I forget exactly how I felt when Vrabel left the Steelers. I would have liked to have kept him around. He started playing better his last year here.

 

He was 6-4 260 and they didnt know how to use him, not hard to figure out where to use him, belechick started him as soon as he signed him at OLB and due to injuries he had him play inside LB as as well as TE on offense, he earned 3 rings in his 8 years there and started for 2 years with the chiefs he had a good 13 year career, 3 years wasted here, and 10 years as a starter for pats and chiefs.....

 

Agree.

Lombardi's coaching tree, for example, is nearly completely bare. Only one coach of any note at all, Forrest Gregg, is in his tree, and let's face it, Gregg was not exactly world beater.

 

Forrest and tree.....I see what you did there...I think there’s a philosophical joke in there somewhere

 

Ha! Completely blew by me. I was so focused on Forrest I couldn't see the tree.

 

Precisely. He was and is great TALENT. Belecheat observed that quickly. The Steeler organization not so much. History provides the tale of the tapes.

 

Well we know Tomlin is the nut, but who are the branches?

 

They went down today but man vrabel did a heck of a job against a juggernaut team. And, they took down aIot of good teams during their ride. I take back my statement . Harbaugh shouldn't be coach of the year ... Vrabel should.

 

He basically popularised the long ball, no? Well before my time, though.

I agree about over-emphasising coaching trees. It's fun to look at certain inter-relationships in coaching development, but it's not the be-all and end-all.
For example, Tomlin has tended to use former HCs - Lebeau, Haley, Munchak - or promoted coaches who haven't yet left - Butler, Fichtner (we can but hope this changes soon...). So none of this is going to show up as a "tree", but it's as viable a strategy as any.

 

Playoff’s are not part of the criteria when deciding coach of the year.

 

Yeah, but I'm looking at how he coached them to get to the postseason. They started making some serious noise at the 3/4 mark. No one considered them a threat like the ravens were. He did a great job with the titans. If Tomlin had finished out strong like that ... he would've been considered

 

Sure if the Steelers had Derrick Henry the leading rusher they would've finished strong, and not rely on Duck to try and win games .

 

The Steelers also had 2 starters at OLB ahead of Vrabel.