Mike Tomlin said earlier this week he intends to look at any and all changes he can make this offseason to ensure the Steelers don't miss the playoffs again in 2019.
That could include a number of changes in personnel, how the Steelers do things, and what coaches they do it with.
Two things that likely won't change -- unless Tomlin gets an ultimatum from Art Rooney II -- are his offensive and defensive coordinators.
Tomlin is loyal to offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner and defensive coordinator Keith Butler. And adding some outside ideas could be something Rooney tells Tomlin is necessary, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, which has struggled to keep up with the offense despite an influx of first-round draft picks every season since 2013.
To understand why Tomlin is so loyal to Fichtner and Butler, you have to go back to when he was first breaking into coaching after graduating from William & Mary in 1995. Tomlin's first job took him to VMI, where he served as receivers coach under eventual West Virginia University head coach Bill Stewart. Not coincidentally, Stewart's son, Blaine, was hired by Tomlin as a coaching assistant in 2018.
After leaving VMI, Tomlin joined the staff at the University of Memphis in 1996 as a graduate assistant on the staff of Rip Scherer. Also on that staff was Butler.
In 1997, Butler was hired as defensive coordinator, and Fichtner as the offensive coordinator, on Joe Hollis' new staff at Arkansas State.
It was while Hollis, Butler and Fichtner were assembling the rest of their staffs that Tomlin's name came up.
"I heard all about him from Buts (Butler)," Fichtner told me. "He had coached with him at the University of Memphis and I knew all of those guys. He said, ‘You’ve got to meet with this guy.’"
That didn't happen right away, though, and Tomlin was hired at Tennessee-Martin. It was during the offseason while working there that Fichtner and Tomlin crossed paths.
“We were looking for positions. I had heard about this guy,” Fichtner told me. “All of a sudden, I see him walk down the hall and I didn’t even know it was him. He’s with the high school coach and they’re talking. They’re holding us up. He’s at Tennessee-Martin and I’m thinking, ‘Who is this brash dude?’ He’s keeping the coach away from an appointment we had scheduled with my head coach. I’ve got the head coach here. This isn’t just me. And I’ve known that (high school) coach forever. He knew we were going to be there. They hold us up and he knows he’s holding us up and the kid is standing there behind them.
“All of a sudden, he’s leaving and I put it together,” Fichtner continued. “That’s the guy Buts was telling me about. I ran down the hall and said, ‘Dude, here’s my number.’ I didn’t have a business card. I said, ‘You and me need to talk.’ We offered him a job the next morning. He came over from UT-Martin to us. Buts stole him the next year and put him on defense. I only had him one year. But what you knew was he had a passion for the game. He was sharp. He’s probably the best person I’ve been around at seeing 22-man football.”
Their paths have been crossing since. As Fichtner mentioned, Tomlin only worked as an offensive coach for one season. He made the switch over to the defensive backfield the next season, working under Butler, because that was the quickest path for a minority to become a coordinator and then head coach in the NFL.
Of the 24 minority head coaches who have been hired in the NFL, 16, including Tomlin, have a defensive background. And in his mid-20s, Tomlin was rising fast.
He left Arkansas State after just two seasons to join Rick Minter's staff at the University of Cincinnati. Also on that staff were future Tomlin assistant coaches Larry Zierlein and Amos Jones.
In 2001, Tomlin was hired by Tony Dungy as his defensive backs coach in Tampa Bay. In 2002, two more future Tomlin assistants, Kirby Wilson and Richard Mann joined that staff when Dungy was fired and replaced by Jon Gruden. In 2004, current Steelers strength and conditioning coach Garrett Giemont was hired to do the same job with the Buccaneers.
In 2006, Tomlin left the Bucs to join Brad Childress' staff in Minnesota as defensive coordinator. His defensive line coach on that team was Karl Dunbar, whom he hired in 2018 to replace longtime Steelers defensive line coach John Mitchell.
The following season, Bill Cowher and the Steelers parted ways. Butler was the outside linebackers coach of the team and Tomlin was just another name GM Kevin Colbert added to the list of candidates to replace him.
Dan Rooney and Art Rooney were impressed with the young coach, and he eventually emerged as the top candidate.
And soon after he was hired, his staff followed, with a couple of caveats. Per the Steelers, the defensive and offensive coordinators, Dick LeBeau and Bruce Arians, would be kept.
Jones, Zierlein and Wilson were members, along with Butler and Fichtner, of Tomlin's initial staff with the Steelers. Giemont was hired as strength and conditioning coordinator.
Others have come and gone, including some who have been fired by Tomlin, but Giemont, and more importantly, Butler and Fichtner remain. They were there almost from the beginning.
And that could be why Tomlin has been so loyal to Butler in particular, when the results haven't lived up to expectations.
The past two seasons, Tomlin has shared the defensive play-calling duties with Butler, who took over as defensive coordinator from LeBeau in 2015. And that, in itself, could be part of the problem with the defense. While Butler is involved with the game planning and still does some play calling, as the head coach, Tomlin can and does overrule him in critical situations.
“He’ll look up, see the play and say, ‘Oh, yep, three-technique missed an assignment.’ It’s that quick,” Fichtner said. “It’s like a chess game. He just sees it. Some people just see it and beat you and you don’t even know you’re getting played. He’s very good at that.”
It also means his attention can be pulled away from some of the big picture things needed from a head coach. We'll find out in the coming days and weeks whether that means making minor changes on his staff or major ones called for from above, including making a move that would test his loyalty.
MORE STEELERS
• There are some within the Steelers organization who believe Antonio Brown just might be mentally unstable. And to be honest, he has certainly been acting erratically recently, starting with a rant in the spring about not truly being free to do what he wants. It was an irrational argument from Brown that day in June and his strange behavior continued throughout the season. I hosted a radio show with the receiver for two years, and he has always been a narcissist. To be frank, he needed to be considering where he came from, homeless at age 16 on the streets of Miami's Liberty City neighborhood. But his behavior in the past year rises way above that. -- Lolley
• The suggestion this situation with Brown started with the team MVP vote is false. Brown and Ben Roethlisberger had an altercation at the team walkthrough Wednesday morning. The team didn't vote on the MVP award until Thursday. It was announced later that day. Perhaps that was the final straw for Brown, but it wasn't why he was apparently feigning a knee injury, or at the very least playing up a minor injury issue. -- Lolley
• I'm told you can expect the Steelers to try to rework Bud Dupree's contract this offseason, regardless of what happens with Brown's situation. Dupree is slated to make $9.2 million next season after the Steelers picked up his fifth-year option, but he's obviously not a player worth that much money. Dupree had a career-high 42 tackles and 13 quarterback hits this season, but he saw his sack total drop to 5.5 after getting 6 in 2017. He made more of an impact rushing off the right side of the defense, and certainly T.J. Watt thrived on the left side, a switch that was first reported last spring on this site. Together, those two combined for 18.5 sacks, the highest total for two starting Steelers outside linebackers since James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley had 20.5 in 2010. But the Steelers aren't interested in paying Dupree $9.2 million, so if he won't take a pay cut on a long-term deal, he's a candidate to be released. -- Lolley
PENGUINS
• When Riley Sheahan fired a wrist shot past Devan Dubnyk on New Year's Eve in St. Paul, Minn., it was his fifth goal of the season and first in 11 games. It was a tremendous shot and one he'd be wise to repeat. He's on pace for 11 goals this season — which would match his total from 2017-18 — but he's capable of more. And he's betting on it. Sheahan was a restricted free agent last summer but the Penguins did not extend him a qualifying offer as both sides remained confident a deal would be worked out. It was, but it wasn't the one the organization had been hoping for. On July 27, the team announced it had re-signed Sheahan to a one-year, $2.1 million contract for this season, a slight increase over the $2.075 million he made in 2017-18, a contract he'd originally signed with Detroit. A source told me Sheahan rejected a three-year extension from the Penguins last summer. Instead, he chose to bet on himself this season with a chance to cash in this summer as an unrestricted free agent. Sheahan's strengths lie in his faceoff ability and as a penalty killer, but he's been used primarily as a winger on the fourth line this season. Still, he could conceivably command more than the $2.1 million he's earning and could price himself out of the Penguins' plans. Potentially, the Penguins could also be without Derick Brassard, another pending UFA and potential trade piece. That would certainly pave Teddy Blueger's path to the NHL. -- Chris Bradford in New York
• The Penguins are not shy about stating that Kris Letang is having a Norris Trophy-type season. However, they also believe Sidney Crosby should garner consideration for the Selke Trophy, awarded annually to the league's best defensive forward. It's not out of the realm of possibility. Prior to last season, Crosby had received votes in the previous five seasons, getting as many as 21 votes in 2014-15. However, this season is different. Not only has Crosby moved into the top 12 in scoring after putting up 18 points in the last 10 games, it's how he's doing it. With Evgeni Malkin and Brassard mired in protracted slumps, Crosby has been carrying the Penguins offensively. Furthermore, and most importantly for the Selke, he's winning a career-high 56.5 percent of his faceoffs to rank among the league leaders who qualify. Also, he's become a regular on the penalty kill during his team's current 12-2-1 run. Crosby hasn't scored a shorthanded goal since Nov. 27, 2010 -- five weeks before suffering a career-altering concussion in the 2011 Winter Classic -- but if he can score one or two of those, it would go a long way toward furthering his Selke credentials. Like the Norris, the Selke is voted on by members of the Pro Hockey Writers' Association, but it's an award based largely on reputation. Since 2011-12, the Selke has been almost the sole property of Patrice Bergeron and Anze Kopitar. Bergeron, a four-time winner, has been hampered by injury this season while Kopitar's Kings are near the bottom of the NHL standings and highly unlikely to reach the postseason. That creates an opening for Crosby, who is certainly deserving of consideration. -- Bradford
• Walk around any NHL dressing room the last 10 days or so and you’ll find the TV tuned into the World Junior Championship. While most NHLers are years removed from playing in it or even knowing who some of the current participants are, the tournament is still of great interest. There’s national bragging rights and a few friendly wagers on the line. In Canada, the nation which has traditionally dominated (except this year, of course), the tournament has become as much a part of the holiday season as poinsettias. However, interest is growing in the U.S. thanks to the NHL Network, which has carried the tournament the last few years. That’s a good thing, according to Jack Johnson, who has represented Team USA at various international events including the WJC. He said he didn’t even know about the tournament until he was 16 or 17, not long before he was eligible to play in it. “It doesn’t get the notoriety it should in the United States, but I think it’s growing,” he said. “Having it in North America, having it hosted in the United States every couple years, that helps a lot.” — Bradford
PIRATES
• Troy Tulowitzki wound up signing with the Yankees this week, ending the Pirates’ hopes of landing the five-time All-Star after his release by the Blue Jays last month. Word has it Tulowitzki wanted assurances from the Pirates he would be the starting shortstop in 2019 and they were not ready to commit to that after he sat out all last season because of surgery on both heels. Tulowitzki was only going to accept a part-time role with a legitimate World Series contender or, because he is a native of the Bay Area, the Athletics or Giants. -- John Perrotto
• Meanwhile, the Pirates continue to monitor the market for free agent Freddy Galvis in the hope the shortstop's asking price will drop as spring training draws closer. Working in the Pirates' favor is that not many teams are looking for shortstops this winter. -- Perrotto
• The chances of Francisco Cervelli being traded are becoming remote as a glut of catchers remain available. The Marlins' J.T. Realmuto is still a good bet to be traded and Yasmani Grandal and Martin Maldonado remain on the free-agent market. -- Perrotto
• Left-handed reliever Tyler Lyons, who agreed to terms on a minor-league contract recently, will get a legitimate chance to make the team in spring training. The 30-year-old was designated for assignment by the Cardinals last season after compiling an 8.64 ERA in 27 appearances. However, the Pirates are optimistic they can help Lyons return to his 2016-17 form, when he had a combined 3.09 ERA in 80 games and 102 innings. -- Perrotto
HOUNDS
• Even before the $73 million transfer of Christian Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund to Chelsea — a record for an American player — was announced earlier this week, his father, Mark Pulisic, knew he was going to be spending a little more time watching his son play. Though the Hounds have not made an official announcement, the elder Pulisic stopped in at the DKPittsburghSports.com offices at Highmark Stadium to say goodbye, confirming he was stepping away after two years — 2017 in Rochester and 2018 in Pittsburgh — as the top assistant to longtime friend and former college teammate Bob Lilley. Lilley said Dan Visser would move into the top assistant role for his third full season with the team after he arrived with former coach Dave Brandt midway through the 2016 season. — Matt Grubba
