Yesterday I took Steelers President Art Rooney II to the woodshed for comments he made in his 1-1 with WTAE’s Ashley Liotus. Today I’ll flip the script and defend his back.
Rooney has taken a lot of heat for seemingly taking the Steelers 8-year playoff drought in stride and, most of all, for his steadfast support of head coach Mike Tomlin.
- Much of that criticism is justified.
That justification does not, however extend to inventing facts to distort the historical context in which Rooney is making his decision.
The late Dan Rooney with his son Art Rooney II. Photo Credit: SteelersWire.com
Mike Tomlin in the Bullseye
There are a lot of reasons to find fault with Mike Tomlin. No head coach is perfect. Chuck Noll spent much of the ‘80s refusing to use the shotgun or throw to the tight end. His inability to communicate with Art Rooney Jr. transformed the NFL’s best draft organization a dysfunctional one.
The Steelers 8-year playoff victory drought suffered under Mike Tomlin’s watch has been well documented. There’s no need to recount the legion stats reveal how and why the Steelers have lost those playoff games.
- But these losses should be considered individually, not collectively.
- And the most recent loss is the one that’s most damming.
The Baltimore Ravens ridiculed the Steelers defense in the AFC Wild card.
That’s worrying on multiple levels.
By bringing together T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Cam Heyward, Patrick Queen and Joey Porter Jr. the Steelers have bet big that their defense can compete and defeat the Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jacksons, Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen’s that dominate the NFL today.
- At Christmas and again in the playoffs, two elite quarterbacks humiliated the defense.
That calls into question the basic operating philosophy which Mike Tomlin has used to guide the franchise. It says here that Art Rooney II is far better qualified to judge Mike Tomlin’s fitness to continue to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers than I am.
It also says here that commentators have every right to question Art II’s judgment.
Disagreement ≠ License to Distort Facts
While it’s the press’s job to disagree with Art Rooney II and question is stewardship of one of the NFL’s most storied franchises, they are not entitled invent their own facts.
- Yet, this is what’s happening.
Tim Benz’s recent article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review provides a perfect example. After assailing Art Rooney II for being “paralyzed by fear when it comes to making a change because it’d be shattering the family-ownership tradition of never firing a coach since Chuck Noll was hired in 1969” engages in creative history.
Benz asserts:
However, Noll was certainly eased out by Rooney’s father, Dan, after the 1991 season. And Rooney’s dad also put a little more heat on Bill Cowher after three straight playoff misses from 1998-2000 than Tomlin has ever felt during this drought.
Viewed in that light, Art Rooney II really casts a far smaller shadow than his father Dan Rooney did. Doesn’t it?
That’s certainly how Benz wants you to see Art II. Unfortunately he’s wrong.
Chuck Noll at St. Vincents cerca 1991. Photo Credit: Al Tielemans/Sports Illustrated
Let’s start with Chuck Noll in 1991. He’s how Dan Rooney describes it in his 2007 autobiography,
At the end of the 1991 season, Chuck told me it was time for him to retire. At first I was surprised. He’d been our coach for twenty-three years. That’s a lifetime in the NFL. As far as I was concerned, the job was his for as long as he wanted it. I wasn’t happy, but I understood his thinking, and in that end I think he made the right decision to leave when he did.
In Ed Bouchette’s 1993 book Dawn of a New Steel Age, Dan Rooney told him, “I wanted him back. Definitely.” Bouchette’s book makes clear that a lot of nuance accompanied Rooney’s statement, but nothing to support Noll being “eased out.”
- Still skeptical? Still believe Benz?
If you don’t accept Dan Rooney’s words, maybe you’ll accept those of Noll’s wife and son. In the book His Life’s Work and the documentary A Football Life: Chuck Noll, they both share Noll’s private revelation made in the middle of the 1991 season that “’We have a Super Bowl team. I’m just too tired.’”
- If anything, Chuck Noll eased himself out.
Let’s shift to the dance between Dan Rooney and Bill Cowher.
For those unaware, Bill Cowher’s 1998 Steelers finished 7-9 losing their last 5. They finished 1999 6-10, losing 6 of their last 7 games. The 2000 Steelers finished 9-7, but missed the playoffs.
- Benz boasts that Dan Rooney held Bill Cowher’s feet to the fire.
Except he didn’t. After Kordell Stewart faltered during 1998, the Steelers extended his contract. The end to the 1999 season was ugly, far uglier than anything seen during the Tomlin era. Rooney responded by firing Director of Football Operations Tom Donahoe.
- Cowher and his entire staff returned.
And when that staff failed to return the Steelers to the playoffs for a third straight year, what did Dan do? He extended Cowher’s contract. Just as Rooney extended Cowher’s contract after the 2003 Steelers finished 6-10.
If that’s supposed a boss holding his employee’s “feet to the fire” then where do I sign up?
Bill Cowher hands Dan Rooney the Lombardi Trophy. Photo Credit: AP, via Tribune-Review
Time will tell whether or not Rooney’s continued faith in Tomlin becomes another example of “The Steelers Way” in action or whether it reveals that it has run amok.
- In the meantime, there are plenty of legitimate criticisms to be made of both Tomlin and Rooney.
But suggesting that Rooney’s support for Tomlin is out character for either the franchise or the family is simply wrong.
