Merril Hoge Shares Mike Tomlin’s Biggest Flaw As Head Coach

I agree with Hoge....Building a staff was by far Tomlin's biggest weakness

 

Yup.

 

As I have stated numerous times he didn’t want to be replaced internally by anyone who would outsmart him. He hired personnel that were mid tier level coordinators. It’s a damn shame to because he would have been more successful had he not been so stubborn. His coaching tree is a joke.

 

Hodge only repeating the obvious. Nothing new here.

 

Knoll probably thought the same.

 

I think describing Canada, Austin, Fictner, and even former position coaches like Sarrett and Klemm as mid level is being very generous.

I think Sarrett is the only one that got a job in the NFL after leaving the Steelers. No chance Austin gets a DC position again either.

 

He walked into a platinum situation. Leaders, franchise QB, solid and elite players, top notch coordinators. If he would have just been the head coach and hired qualified staff and not puppets who he micromanaged he would have had better success like his beginning. And don't give me the non losing season BS. And look at how he left it with a roster full of questions.

But being a narcissist that in lies the issue as he got more power.

Just glad he is no longer the head coach. How it ended and he stepped down is fodder for debate.

I'm excited again because a new day is on the horizon. I knew how it would end again this season. And it did. As it did for a decade. Rinse and Repeat. I didn't get fished in.

I do wish Tomlin well as he was a part of bringing us a 6th Lombardi...

 

I go back and forth with something. And that's if MT should be as much of a shoe in for the HOF as most (particularly in the media) seem to think. I think he gets in. An unpopular opinion but, to be a no doubt HOF coach I'd think you'd need to have some sort of coaching tree.

And I can't help it, but the early years weren't teams he built (I know this isn't new news here). Even if you look at the roster for the loss to Green Bay in 2010, it was still overwhelmingly majority Cowher players on D, and key components on offense still Cowher players (new faces primarily WR and Pouncey).

I look at guys like George Siefert who inherited the Walsh 49'ers. Siefert is not in the HOF, won 2 super bowls (his first right after taking over for Walsh and his second a few yrs later) and isn't in the HOF. He had a shorter career than Tomlin and took on the upstart Panthers to end his career (if he retired after the 9'ers he might be looked at differently). That said if you look at his coaching tree, his contribution go well beyond his wins and losses. He produced super bowl winning head coaches, and a bunch of names all football fans know.

I appreciate what Tomlin did for the Steelers. And there was plenty of good. But I think the media would do well to contextualize his tenure historically with things that matter. HOF is about greatness, not an award for how long you can be slightly above average.

 

Quite possibly the best words I have heard to describe Tomlin's inability to select/manage staff.

 

This is why I dislike Steelers Depot articles lately. Carney took Hoge's interview on another media platform grabbed some good soundbites and proceeded to write a whole article on his opinion on Tomlin's "lone" weakness using Hoge's soundbites as proof of his theory.

First off I think Hoge nails it as he usually does but let's be clear Tomlin had more than this "lone" flaw. Heck Carney tries to claim a strength in getting his team ready to play every Sunday when the record clearly shows that was more a weakness than anything. Let's not even get into Tomlin's itch guys, his belief that you dont lose your starter job due to injury, the refusal to give up on a player that was clearly a mistake, the word salad he spewed when they'd isn't take advantage of obvious mismatches like guys signed off the street to play against. There are a lot of bad traits that could be talked about.

I dont disagree with the spirit of the article just that is a very narrow look at a complex problem.

 

Early in my career I learned there is a big difference between telling them what to do and teaching them how to think on their own what to do

I didn’t want yes men (or women) but I did want them thinking with the same logic I do

I told my staff everywhere I worked or owned I will support you if you make a bad decision as long as you had a good logical reason for the decision you made

But.. if I asked you why and you respond I don’t know.. then you are toast

 

Funny story I bought a Hoge jersey off the site I use a lot back in 2014 or something. It was spelled right when I ordered it then two weeks later it changed to Hodge. Sure enough it arrived with the dreaded "d" on the name plate. My mom was able to take the name plate off. Cut the d out and sew it back on. She thought it looked terrible but i said for 25 dollars no one will notice and I liked it.

 

The coaching tree aspect gets thrown around a lot but Tomlin had no philosophy to impart to other coaches. He was so zen and each season is a journey that he didnt have that style other coaches have and develop a tree from.