"Hey, Chief, this is for
you. This guy right here, he's not my father,
but he's my father. I love you, man."
Talking about his stepfather Leslie Copeland
Talking about his stepfather Leslie Copeland
MIKE TOMLIN2008 MOTOROLA COACH OF THE YEAR2008 DAPPER DAN SPORTSMAN OF THE YEARYoungest head coach to win the Super BowlIn his second season as head coach, Mike Tomlin took his five-time Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers to Super Bowl XLIII and defeated the Arizona Cardinals 27-23, winning an unprecedented 6th Lombardi Trophy for the Rooney's and the Steeler Nation.At age 36, Coach Tomlin became the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl game. One of Coach Tomlin's talents is applying the right quote to the right football or life moment, so we're going to share some of his quotes leading up to and through his Super Bowl XLIII victory. Some of his quotes are new, and others are worth repeating.
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"Classic AFC North warfare." "Big men on blades of grass... the most
violent team is going to win." "We're going to guard against feelings of
entitlement. We're simply going to be blue collar humble and start a
process of building our football team." "When you step into the stadium, it's not
too big for some, and maybe it's too big for others. People usually
distinguish themselves positively or negatively when you start
playing football games." "We've gotta have Steeler kind of tempo in
our play" "I'm not concerned about avoiding anything
that happened three years ago or worried about letdowns or things of
that nature. When you use the term 'letdown' you proceed with the
assumption that this is a continuation of something that happened in
the past." "The '08 Steelers are the '08 Steelers,
we're here team-building for '09, we're not assuming anything,
that's a dangerous thing. We're going to guard against feelings of
entitlement. We're simply going to be blue-collar and humble and
we're going to start a process of building our football team.”
"I don't view it as something like I won the
lottery. I'm proud of the sacrifices and the accomplishments of the
men involved, but it was something I thought we were capable of. So
the end result doesn't register the response that winning the
lottery or something of that nature, where you have to pinch
yourself." "I'm a private person by nature, this is what I do, it's not who I am."
"Hungry is a word that I've been analyzing here of late. It's not
hunger that drives me, it's not hunger that needs to drive our
football team. Hunger and thirst are things that can be quenched. We
have to be a driven group, we have to seek greatness." "It's not something that I'm going to
attempt to avoid. I think if I attempt to avoid it, I may
acknowledge the possibility of it happening exists." "In order to be a candidate for a
championship caliber team you have to work hard, but within that we
have to find a delicate balance of working smart." "I'm always moving to new challenges. I'm a moving on kind of guy." "Steeler Nation, you leave us all
speechless, man. We just appreciate the love. How about the
Steelers? How about the greatest fans in the world? How about number
six? Thank you, we love you guys." "I actually
never even touched it (the Lombardi trophy during the postgame
celebration). I see five of them every day when I go to work. I know
what they look like. I'm just glad that I can do my part in terms of
contributing to that trophy case." "I'm very blessed to be hired by the Rooney family. They took a chance on a 34-year-old coach with not a long resume. They took a little criticism for it, and I took it personal. I wanted to ante up and add to their legacy."
"We don't live in our fears, we live in our hopes."
"Steeler football is 60 minutes. It's never
going to be pretty. Throw style points out the window, but these
guys will fight to the end. We didn't blink."
"Nothing stays the same in this game, a few will come and go, those
that remain, the roles will change, some will ascend, some will
descend, that's the nature of today's NFL. Our focus will be about
being The One at the end of the season." "What
he did tonight is similar to what he did for us in the month of
January. In big moments, we know what we can get from him." "I wouldn't want to have won this any other
way, with everybody contributing. I'm just glad I could do my part
to contribute to that trophy case."
"The personal sacrifices she made for my
brother and me, and allowed us to do what it is we desire to do. In
the midst of it all, we had a tough upbringing. But never once did
we think that there was something we couldn't do. She's as big a
reason as any why I do what I do today." "You won't hear me say words like 'repeat'
or 'defending' because it will be brand new. This group will always
be special to me. Sometime soon that group will be placed with
others in history, they'll be just that, history." "It was my intent to come in here in 2007 and
draw some hard lines in the dirt as a basis of forming a
relationship with our football team. It's a heck of a lot easier to
pull back than it is to put down."
"I'm probably more in my comfort zone here with the football team
than I was a year ago. Not that I wasn't comfortable but this is
more of who I am." "There are 30 other teams I'm sure that would
love to have the burden that we have this week. So from that
standpoint we're going to embrace it." "There's going to be some joyful lifting for us if you will in terms of some of the tasks we have to do."
"I'm not going to get enamored with where we are right now." "This group understands the standard that comes with being a Pittsburgh Steeler." "There's some above-the-neck preparation that
we'll continue big. There's some below-the-neck preparation that
some guys need." "Playoff time comes around, you just have to be the same guy. You gotta do the same things that got you there." "...we're in January, it's time for young
guys to grow up." "I tend to attack the challenges that are right in front of me, the ones that I have today." "It's never been our goal (just) to get to the Super Bowl. I think that our guys will keep that in perspective. We're going to Tampa to do the job." "To be quite frank, it is
not normalcy waiting for us on the other end." "We're going to be a humble group. We're
going to be a grounded group. We're going to be a selfless group." "What we are doing here today pales in
comparison to what's going on in our nation's capitol with President
Obama's inauguration" "Iron sharpens iron."
"I am not a proponent of the Gatorade bath"
"We are definitely not going to cut him out.
We are going to save a seat on the bus for 86."
"But I am not a jewelry guy. It is more
about the experience for me than it is the ring." "Change is part of this business, it's going
to happen. Sometimes it's going to be more unpleasant than others,
but it's the nature of what we do." "Be where you're at." |
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