The franchise’s leadership has been constant, providing and maintaining an environment that players, fans and pundits alike have come to expect from the Steelers.
The Rooney family has had prime ownership rights of the franchise since the team’s inception in 1933. Art Rooney Sr. purchased the team with earnings ($2,500) he won at a New York race track. Also, in the last 37 years, the Rooney family has hired three coaches.
Chuck Noll Takes the Reigns
The Steelers' success began when Chuck Noll was hired in 1969. In 1968 Noll was the defensive coordinator under Don Shula for the Baltimore Colts. The Colts posted a 13-1 record that season and set a NFL single season record for fewest points allowed (144).
Beyond Baltimore, Noll had only one previous coaching stint, an assistant’s job with the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers. He was just 37 years old when Dan Rooney hired him.
Noll compiled a 209-156-1 record in 33 seasons as he led the team to four Super Bowl wins in 1971, 1972, 1975 and 1978. He is the only coach to win four Super Bowls.
More important than the gaudy record and the Super Bowl wins, Noll – aided by the Rooneys – laid out a game strategy for the organization that still carries them today: strong defense, a pounding running game, and smash-mouth physicality.
Noll’s defenses were so lauded in the 1970s that they earned the nickname, “The Steel Curtain,” described by Judy Battista of The New York Times in a January 2009 article as a defense that “defined greatness in the halcyon days of the 1970s.”
Bill Cowher’s Time
After Noll retired in 1992, the Rooney family hired Bill Cowher. Like his predecessor, Cowher held only two NFL coaching positions before the Steelers job and was a young hire at the age of 34.
Previously, Cowher held the special teams/secondary coach positions under Marty Shottenheimer in Cleveland. He later followed Shottenheimer to Kansas City to take the defensive coordinator position.
Cowher gained his success by adhering to Noll’s set standard. According to NFL.com senior columnist Vic Carucci in a November 2008 article, “When Bill Cowher coached …no one questioned whether the tradition was being upheld. His teams were known for their hard-hitting defense, power-oriented offense, and that prominent chin … with a figurative sign that said, "Go ahead, take your best shot."”
Cowher responded with 15 years, a 161-99-1 record, nine division titles and one Super Bowl victory in two appearances.
Mike Tomlin Steps In
After Cowher stepped down after the 2006 season, Art Rooney II headed the search for Cowher’s predecessor and received criticism for his hire of little known, 34-year-old Mike Tomlin.
Just as Noll and Cowher before him, Tomlin held only two previous coaching jobs in the NFL and accepted the Steelers job as a young hire. He was defensive backs coach with Tampa for five years and the Viking’s defensive coordinator for one year.
However, because the Rooneys passed over two in-house candidates - offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and assistant head coach/offensive line coach Russ Grimm – who are Caucasian and were deemed the logical choices, many pundits and fans speculated that the hire was based solely on Tomlin’s African-American heritage.
(In 2003 the NFL incorporated the “Rooney Rule,” – so named because Dan Rooney is the chairman of the NFL’s diversity committee - which requires teams to interview a minority candidate for a head coaching opportunity.)
Tomlin has since closed the debate by posting a 34-6 record, two division titles, and a Super Bowl victory in his first two seasons.
As NFL.com’s Pat Kirwan said in an August article about watching the Steelers in training camp, “Granted Bill Cowher is no longer the coach of the Steelers, but there is a consistency about the Steeler organization that transcends the coach.”
Same System, Same Results
Part of the brilliance of those hires is that the Rooney’s realized they had stumbled across a formula for winning and never wavered from it.
Dan Rooney ensured that what he, Chuck Knoll and Art I implemented in the mid-1960s – a system of great defense, a solid running game, and smash-mouth football – continued to live-on through Cowher and Art II ensured it with Tomlin.
Cowher shared the new Steelers affinity for the physical style of play. He parlayed Knoll’s success into tradition that kept the Steelers on top for over a decade by winning their division 8 out of 15 years.
When Tomlin was hired some speculated that because he was tutored by Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin, he would be inclined to turn the Steelers 3-4 defense into the Dungy/Kiffin developed “Tampa 2.”
When asked to explain his plans for the defense at a 2007 press conference, Tomlin again closed the debate by responding, “Why try to fix something that isn’t broken?”
He retained 73-year-old Dick LeBeau, designer of the “Blitzburgh – Fire Zone,” and kept the 3-4. On the way to their sixth Super Bowl title in 2008, Tomlin and LeBeau’sdefense finished number one in every major statistical category except one.
Hall of Famers
Out of the 20 Steeler Hall of Famers, 15 are from the positions needed to maintain a consistent defense and running game. There are four running backs, one fullback, three offensive lineman and seven defensive players currently representing the franchise.
More inductees from such positions may follow as players from the 1980s - 2000s could garner Hall attention. Players such as RB Jerome Bettis, C Dermontti Dawson, OG Alan Faneca, S Troy Polamalu, , LB Greg Lloyd, LB Levon Kirkland, LB Hardy Nickerson, LB Kevin Greene, and S Donnie Shell.
In a league where teams are perpetually trying to develop the new fad (see: Wildcat, 2008-2009 Miami Dolphins), the Steelers have relied on one formula to catapult them to more Super Bowl wins than any other team. Consistency is the first catalyst in the formula.
Steelers Build Through the Draft
Pittsburgh Steelers Style of Play
Pittsburgh Steelers Winningest Franchise
