NFL: Steelers re-sign the contract with Mike Tomlin
In the wake of a new season in the National Football League (NFL), the Pittsburgh Steelers have extended the contract of their head coach Mike Tomlin for the next two years. Tomlin is one of the youngest coaches in North American football who has been attached to the Steelers since the last three seasons.
The process of contract extension started early this month but the Steelers’ President Art Rooney was out on vacations. This was why the management could not announce it as an official statement until Rooney was back at work.
The extension was very much expected as President Rooney had already mentioned it on several occasions during the offseason that the team had plans to ink a new agreement with Mike Tomlin to extend the period of his last contract with the Steelers which started in 2007. Mike Tomlin was the potential contender for the post of head coach as he led the Steelers to win two division titles, one American Football Conference championship (AFC), and a Super Bowl Championship in 2008. In addition, he was the youngest coach to win the Super Bowl championship. All these factors added more value to his personality and strengthened his position as the Steelers coach. However, a low record of 9-7 in the last year and some other turbulent offseason activities proved to work as a detractor for Tomlin and made his position a bit suspicious.
Besides this, the Steelers’ have a policy to sign a coach before he starts the final season of a contract. Considering all the pros and cons, the Pittsburgh Steelers finally made the official announcement on Friday that they had signed the foregoing coach on a two-year agreement extension till the 2012 season, with an alternative choice for 2013.
Somehow, a different report was published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week on July 13, 2010 that Tomlin’s contract has been extended till 2014. Tomlin signed his prior agreement with the Steelers in January 2007 and replaced the successor Bill Cowher who was coming on a 2.5 million dollar per season deal. His new contract in the running year is expected to at least double the previous amount. Last week, a league source informed the NFL Network that Tomlin has signed this new contract for 5 million dollars per year.
Mike Tomlin is Pittsburgh Steelers’ third coach since 1969. Chuck Noll was the first person to lead the Steelers as a coach and he spent quite a lot of time serving the team. He worked with the Steelers from 1969 to 1991 and built a solid footing for the team. After Chuck Nole, the next in line was Bill Cowher who took the responsibilities as the head coach in 1992. Bill Cowher was attached with the Steelers for fifteen seasons but the two sides did not reach on an agreement in 2006 and Cowher left the team which paved the way for Mike Tomlin to join the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Afterwards, Tomlin proved to be an idyllic head coach to maintain a strong history and tradition for the Steelers. He was the youngest coach in terms of age but he possessed the qualities of a leader. He promised to bring more titles to Pittsburgh and he really kept his words.
Now that he has committed to spend more years with the Steelers by signing a new contract, it is a very good indication for the team. Tomlin has the unique ability to lead the team and motivate the individual players. In the upcoming season, the Steelers will really take some advantage of this genius coach. This time around, Tomlin also had a fair opportunity to shake off the bad impression which was associated with the Steelers due to some bad performances in the last season.
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