Steelers owner prioritizes leadership, casting a wide net for a coach. Expect a surprise candidate in their open-minded search.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have no set criteria for their next head coach. So, it is difficult to predict who will replace Mike Tomlin.
"I think when you start the search, if I've learned anything, it's to have an open mind," Steelers owner Art Rooney II said Wednesday, a day after Tomlin resigned following 19 seasons. “When we had Mike in for his first interview, I certainly wasn't expecting that he was going to be our next head coach. I think you go through the process and be diligent, and hopefully you come out with the right guy."
Tomlin was relatively unknown when Pittsburgh hired him to replace the retiring Bill Cowher in 2007. Tomlin had spent only one season as the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator.
Most of the media covering the Steelers believed that offensive line coach Russ Grimm would be promoted to head coach. However, Pittsburgh pulled a surprise and hired Tomlin, who was then just 34.
While the Steelers might cast a wide net in their search, Rooney says there is one attribute in the next coach that is nonnegotiable.
'I think there are a lot of things that go into being a successful head coach," Rooney said. “Number one is leadership, and trusting this person can stand up in front of your team day in and day out and hold their attention and have them motivated to do what they do. So, that's the most important."
Rooney and general manager Omar Khan will lead the search, and vice president of player personnel Dan Rooney Jr. is also expected to play a part. Art Rooney II said the Steelers’ chain of command won’t change with the next coach, who will have a large say in roster construction just as Pittsburgh’s previous coaches.
“I expect the new head coach, like Bill Cowher, like Mike Tomlin, like Chuck Noll, will be very involved in preparing for the draft and working closely with Omar and his staff and making sure we're ready,” Rooney said. “I think it's too early to say what effect (the search) is going to have on the roster. The new coach obviously is going to have a lot to say in that. I think part of the discussion with candidates will be our roster, and how they view our roster, what they would do with our roster, and making sure we're all comfortable with that plan.”