PITTSBURGH — It's no wonder the Steelers are thrilled to have Mike Tomlin locked up as their coach through at least the 2024 season. They love his consistency and his stability. They love the way he leads and represents the team. They love that he is, by all accounts, a decent human being.
Tomlin's value seems even greater after the events of the past few days with Jon Gruden and Urban Meyer.
Gruden resigned as Las Vegas Raiders coach Monday night after a series of his offensive emails became public. His racist, anti-gay, anti-women rants made it clear beyond reasonable doubt that he is a real creep.
Meyer should resign or be fired as Jacksonville Jaguars coach. That became clear after the way he handled video that showed him in a compromised situation at a bar with a woman who was not his wife. Just know that his many critics referred to him as "Urban Liar" when he was coach at Ohio State and Florida. He, too, is a creep.
Gruden had to resign or he would have been fired. It's clear the NFL leaked his emails, which were sent between 2010-18 when he worked as an ESPN "Monday Night Football" analyst and discovered during the league's ongoing investigation into workplace misconduct within the Washington Football Team. Many were sent to Washington president/general manager Bruce Allen, a former colleague with the Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Gruden used a racist trope to describe NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith. He criticized the league's hiring of women as referees and its drafting of gay players, whom he referred to as "queers." He routinely referred to Roger Goodell by using a homophobic slur and criticized him for putting too much emphasis on player safety.
The list of Gruden's repulsive emails went on and on. There can be no conclusion other than that he is a hateful person.
Smith responded to Gruden's email from 2011 that "Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michelin tires."
"The email from Jon Gruden — and some of the reaction to it — confirms that the fight against racism, racist tropes and intolerance is not over," Smith tweeted this week. "This is not an email as much as it is about a pervasive belief by some that people who look like me can be treated as less ...
"Football has to be better."
Gruden apologized to Smith "for the insensitive remarks," adding, "I had no racial intentions with those remarks at all."
Right.
The email about Smith was revealed last week. It's no coincidence the Raiders put on a lifeless performance in a 20-9 loss Sunday to the Chicago Bears. The other emails were made public after that game.
How could Gruden continue to co-exist with his Black players? How about with his defensive end, Carl Nassib, a former Penn Stater, who came out as gay in June? It's clear now Gruden was being a phony when he publicly supported Nassib.
Gruden had to go.
So does Meyer.
"He has zero credibility in that stadium," a Jaguars player told Michael Silver, formerly of Sports Illustrated. "He had very little to begin with."
This was after Meyer did not return home with his team after it lost a Thursday night game Sept. 30 at Cincinnati. He said he stayed in Ohio to visit with his grandchildren but was shown on a video at a Columbus club with an unidentified woman dancing in his lap.
Meyer skipped a team meeting the following Monday, Oct. 4, to dig out of his mess.
"He was too scared," the player told Silver.
Meyer has apologized for his actions.
Of course, he apologized.
Hall of Famer Tony Dungy was among many to criticize Meyer for not going home with his team, saying he never did that as a coach and never saw another coach do it.
"I just don't know how you do that and say, 'Hey, I'm going to stay in Ohio.' That was the mistake to me," Dungy told NBC's "Brother from Another" podcast. "What happened in the bar or whatever, that's secondary. You go back with your team. That's your responsibility as the head coach to make sure everybody lands on that plane, safe, everybody gets back to the facility, then you do what you have to do."
How does Meyer, in his first season, continue as the Jaguars coach? The team is 0-5 and, going back to last season, has lost 20 in a row. He was a questionable hire to start — as the Jaguars player told Silver — coming from the college game. Now this?
I want to finish with something Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis said Monday when I asked him about how Tomlin handled the Steelers' 1-3 start and three-game losing streak before their win Sunday against the Denver Broncos. He never played for Tomlin but knows him well.
"He doesn't dip low. He doesn't go high. He is right down the line. He just stays the same," Bettis said.
"He is the calming influence, regardless. If you are playing well, he's going to bring you back to earth. If you are not playing well, he's going to tell you where you need to get to and how you do it. 'This is what we need to do. This is how we are going to do it. These are the steps we need to take.'
"As a player, that's what I love to see."
That's one of many reasons why Tomlin has lasted 15 seasons and counting with the Steelers.
That's why a lot of NFL teams would love to have him.
I can think of at least two, in particular.
