Whenever I see Mike Tomlin walk the sidelines as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I often think of his one year as the Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator. That was 2006. Freshly hired Vikings head coach Brad Childress hired Tomlin to be his defensive coordinator. As soon as I saw Tomlin in action I knew that he wouldn't be in Minnesota very long. He was young and energetic. He had a presence that demanded attention. You wanted to follow him. The players loved him. He would be a head coach soon. In 2007, the Pittsburgh Steelers were looking for a head coach to replace the retired Bill Cowher. The Steelers don't hire coaches very often. They're thorough and they make sure that they get their guy. They were looking for only their third coach since the late '60s. All indications were that guy would be one of current Steelers coaches Ken Whisenhut or Russ Grimm. That ended when Tomlin entered the process. He was hired shortly after his interview. With a Super Bowl championship already and a yearly contender, it's obvious that the team got their guy. Tomlin's too brief Vikings career reminds me of Tony Dungy's too brief Vikings career of twenty years ago. When the Vikings hired Dennis Green to be their head coach in 1992, Green quickly hired Dungy to be his defensive coordinator. Dungy's impact on the Vikings defense was immediate. He wasn't going to be in Minnesota for very long. It turned out to be four years. The floundering Tampa Bay Buccaneers hired Dungy to change their ways. He certainly did. The Buccaneers became talented and contenders quickly. For a team with a history that was mostly pathetic, not quite winning it all wasn't enough. Tampa Bay fired Dungy after the 2001 season. The team that he built and coached won the Super Bowl the very next season. Dungy landed on his feet with the Indianapolis Colts. His Super Bowl championship in 2006 with the Colts showed that he could, in fact, win the big one. So, two former Vikings defensive coordinators would go on to win Super Bowls with other teams. Very sad.
As a Vikings fan, I loved that Tony Dungy and Mike Tomlin were the defensive coordinators of the team. As a Vikings fan, I hated that they left for head coaching opportunities. Opportunities that I'd hoped would come with the Vikings. It's not that I didn't like Dennis Green and Brad Childress as the Vikings head coaches at those times. Green had a very efficient coaching career with the team. He didn't have much success in the playoffs but he did a great job of getting them there. Still, I had a feeling that Dungy would succeed as an NFL head coach and I did hope that success would be with the Vikings. It was far too early in Childress' career to truly judge his coaching chops. He was only on the job for a year when Tomlin moved on. Tomlin's departure did lead to Childress hiring Leslie Frazier as defensive coordinator. My hope is that Frazier is the defensive coordinator that didn't get away. That he will bring to the Vikings the success that Dungy brought to the Colts and Tomlin brought to the Steelers. He certainly seems to have the team moving in the right direction.
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