Professor

Steelers warming to Tomlin

excerpt:

The arrival of any new boss generates anxiety in the workforce. The job Mike Tomlin walked into as the new Steelers coach carried its own predicaments.

He stepped into a situation where few 34-year-olds tread. He released one of their most popular and well-known players, fined another because he skipped a mandatory practice after blasting the team for not treating him fairly in contract negotiations, and listened to his quarterback tell him over dinner that he had to gain the trust of his team.

That does not mention the fact that he replaced Bill Cowher, the longest-tenured coach at 15 years in the NFL, and that the team he would run was one year removed from winning a Super Bowl.

As another former Steelers coach, Chuck Noll, often said, if it were easy, anyone could do it.

"A lot of guys," receiver Hines Ward said yesterday, "were griping early: 'Ah, we used to do it like this, we used to do it like this.'

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