A Steelers fan’s sad goodbye to Coach T

When the Houston Texans whooped my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers 30-6 Monday night, it hurt. But it didn’t come close to the pain of reading Tuesday that head coach Mike Tomlin is stepping down.

As a child, I had always been a “Steelers fan” in the way Erin is a “Packers fan.” She doesn’t know when they are playing, and she thought Donald Driver was a quarterback. Yikes.

“I just knew he was important,” she says in defense.

But in 2009, I was at my grandparents’ house during Super Bowl XLIII, the Steelers versus the Arizona Cardinals in Tampa. My dad has been a Steelers fan since he was a child, so I naturally was rooting for our team.

We were eating chili out of mugs (this will always stick with me as I thought it was so cool) when at the very end of the first half, Arizona had a first-and-goal at the 2-yard line, down 10-7.

Kurt Warner dropped back and threw to the end zone where it was intercepted at the goal line by James Harrison. As he ran it back, he got into traffic around midfield, but blocks by his teammates saw him explode through, tip-toeing the line and making it back for the 99-yard pick six to end the half.

I remember being baffled that Harrison was not selected as the Super Bowl MVP that year. The title went to Santonio Holmes who posted nine receptions for 131 yards and a touchdown. My dad tried to explain that one play doesn’t make you Super Bowl MVP, especially as a defender, but I was still adamant it should have.

That was the play that made me a real Pittsburgh Steelers fan. I was 13 years old. It was just Tomlin’s second season as head coach. So for the last 17 years, I’ve only known him.

It’s always been a point of pride for Steelers fans. We’ve only had three head coaches since 1969. That’s a mark of a successful team and organization. For reference, multiple NFL teams have had more than eight head coaches in the 21st century alone. The Las Vegas Raiders have had 28 since their founding in 1960.

In his 19 years as head coach, Tomlin is famous for never having a losing season. The worst the team has done is .500. His overall record as head of this organization is 193-114-2.

It’s not just his successes that make me love Mike Tomlin. It’s also his attitude, his character and, of course, his amazing one-liners, often referred to as “Tomlinisms.”

Perhaps his most famous is “the standard is the standard.” For Christmas last year, I got my dad a shirt made by Tomlin’s wife that has that line on it.

“That’s our motto; that’s our creed; that’s our approach,” Tomlin explained. “But it’s just words. The guys make those words come alive by delivering time and time again. Football is our game; our business is winning, and our intentions are to handle business. That’s what ‘the standard is the standard’ means every time I say it.”

While there are dozens of Tomlinisms, a few stick out.

He used one of my favorites this year after the 4-3 Steelers defeated the 7-1 Indianapolis Colts 27-20 one week after losing 35-25 to the Packers.

A reporter asked how he could explain such a drastic difference in performance when Tomlin hit him with a classic.

“There’s a fine line between drinking wine and squashing grapes in this business,” he said. “It’s nothing dramatic... We’re still the same group that stunk it up last week.”

While these lines relate to football, they also relate to life. One small behavior or action can cause a massive change in outcome. That means you can make big changes in small ways.

Another one he’s famous for is his reference to “nameless gray faces.” It doesn’t matter what team they are playing next. “We do not care about nameless gray faces,” he says.

This references an ability to control oneself, and no one else. This is something I certainly can use in my life. Who cares what the “nameless gray faces” on the internet say about a story, a political event or anything else? I can only control myself.

I’ll share just a couple more favorites with you because I could talk for pages about how much I love and will miss Mike Tomlin.

• Don’t blink. Cut your eyelids off.
• We’re still squirreling those nuts.
• I can’t give you all the ingredients to the hot dog. You might not like it.
• Never say never, but never.
• Don’t seek comfort.
• If you’ve got red paint, you paint the barn red.

“I don’t really think a lot about what I say,” Tomlin told a reporter once. “I’m just trying to use words to vividly capture the imagination of our guys so they remember the messages, so they can have it engrained in their minds, so they can somehow make it come alive inside stadiums on the grass.”

I’m scared to be a Steelers fan without Mike Tomlin at the helm. I’m scared my favorite player, Cam Heyward, will retire this year. I’m hopeful Aaron Rodgers retires. I don’t know what the future of Pittsburgh football looks like, but I’ll always bleed black and gold.

Thank you for 19 years Coach T. You’ll be sorely missed.