When
you think of the NFL amongst all the great owners across the league, it often seems
that there is one name that isn’t talked about nearly enough, the
Rooney family. The Pittsburgh Steelers
have long been one of the most prestigious teams in all of football. The Steelers are one of the oldest franchises
in the NFL as their inaugural season was way back in 1933. This franchise dates back to the early 1900s, almost a century old, yet remarkably so the Rooney family ownership continues. The Rooney family and the Pittsburgh Steelers
began their relationship in 1933 when Art Rooney purchased the franchise for
$2,500. It all began for Art as a franchise
fee that he then purchased for $2,500 to obtain ownership of a team that
could be based in the city of Pittsburgh.
Art Rooney was already a well-known sports figure to the public before bringing a football franchise to Pittsburgh.
Art loved baseball and it obviously showed when he decided to name his
new NFL team the Pittsburgh Pirates which was also the name of Pittsburgh’s MLB
team.
The
Pittsburgh Steelers have had a long list of head coaches since the team was
established 91 years ago. This organization
has had a bunch of good head coaches over that time. However, in my opinion, there may be a tremendous number of people who'd be willing to say that the last three coaches they’ve had are probably the best in this team’s
respected history. Let’s go to the team’s
14th head coach, Chuck Noll.
Noll had coached the Rooney-owned Pittsburgh Steelers for an
incredible 23-year stint. In Noll’s time
with the Steelers, he coached them to four Super Bowl titles. He was only one of four head coaches in NFL
history to have coached one team for 23 consecutive years. After Chuck
Noll retired, the Steelers hired their now-previous Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Cowher, who served as the Steelers' head coach from 1992 to 2006. Cowher had also led them to their fifth
Super Bowl win.
When
Bill Cowher chose to retire and be a studio analyst for The NFL Today, Cowher left
behind a still talented roster for a new head coach to acquire to continue to add
towards the Steeler’s Lombardi Trophy count.
During Mike Tomlin’s first season as Pittsburgh’s head coach, he
excelled immediately, winning the AFC North with a 10-6 record, while they also
finished as the number one defense. Tomlin
set records for most wins in the first two seasons as Steelers head coach plus he became the only coach in team history to win the division each of the first
two years. He turned heads left and
right in the Steel City, winning over all of Pittsburgh’s hearts. I mean how could he not; the man did everything
you could possibly do to earn the fan's trust; he even defeated their AFC North
rivals the Cleveland Browns the first time he matched up with them, which is yet
another achievement that no other previous Steelers head coach had ever accomplished. During the 2008 NFL season, Mike led the Steelers to their sixth Super Bowl victory.
Two years later Pittsburgh was back in another Super Bowl after missing
the playoffs altogether in 2009, though unfortunately, this time Aaron Rodgers and the
Green Bay Packers played spoiler in a 31-25 win over the Steelers.
One
thing you may’ve heard over the past 17 years, that should come as no
surprise is that during head coach Mike Tomlin’s tenure with Pittsburgh, he's never had a losing season. You can say it's because of the defense or because of the teams scouting or whatever, but one thing is clearly says is that he’s pretty much a top 10 coach All-Time in NFL history. This is of course just my opinion, but I would love to know how other people feel about Mike Tomlin’s
career. He’s currently in his 18th
season and as of now I firmly believe that coach Tomlin will not only continue
to be their coach for the next 4-6 years, I also believe when his coaching
career comes to an end that he will for sure be a first ballot Hall
of Famer. If you asked me whether I believe
if Mike Tomlin would manage to win another super bowl in Pittsburgh, I think I would probably say no, however Tomlin can certainly coach for another
20 years if he chooses and though I may say no to him getting another title
where he is it doesn’t mean he can’t somewhere else.
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