Dan Rooney (42 page)

 

 

Noll: There was no question that Mel had great abilities from the beginning. He had the size, the speed, the ability to cover. The biggest thing with Mel was making sure that he was on the same page with the rest of the defense and would stay in the pattern of defense. He had a tendency to want to go off on his own and sometimes guess a
little bit. We weren't interested in guessers. We wanted to play a good solid defense, where you stayed within the pattern. He adapted to that very well. It ended up being to his benefit.

 

 

Noll: They were two outstanding football players, there's no question about it. They were talented. Had the ability to cover people out of the backfield. They had the speed and the size. They had the ability to read an offense and stay in pattern and not make mistakes. That was a big part of the whole thing.

 

 

Noll: There was some concern before we saw him in there. After he got in there, we saw his ability to take on blockers, to avoid blockers inside. He had great quickness and recognition to get to the hole. He would stand back there, with the design of the defense, and he could see where the play was going, and he'd beat the blockers to the hole. He had that kind of ability.

 

 

Noll: Jack Ham. From the outset, there was no question he had abilities to play. He had the ability to cover people out of the backfield, which we worked on very hard. He stepped right in there and picked it up without question. He played the run very well. He was a full, complete linebacker.

 

Noll: You know, you cannot have an offense if you do not have a solid offensive line. Number one, they have to be able to block for the run, which they did very well. We had good athletes in the line. We were able to not only straight block—you get these big three-hundred-pounders that do that—but we were able to pull and get to the outside. We were able to get a trapping game going, which fit our running backs very well, and it was all because of the agility and the ability of the offensive line. They had quickness. They had the ability to pull and move and run, and all those things came down to being able to move the football on the ground.

We were looking for guys who had quickness and agility. We didn't want the big fat guys who just leaned against somebody and that was the only thing they could do. We wanted to be able to move the football outside, inside, trap, and do all the things that you had to, and still be able to pass-protect.

 

 

Noll: Mike wasn't tall enough, he didn't weigh enough, but the thing that he had that made the difference was great playing strength. You could see it on the field. He would come off the ball with great quickness. He would block these guys. I can remember having some films of him against, I think it was UCLA. They had these huge, huge tackles. He just destroyed them. They moved the ball up and down the field. He not only blocked well on the run, but he also pass-protected well.

 

 

Noll: No question about it. He was a guy who came in as receiver but
did not have the great speed that you wanted there. He had size, and had the desire to be a good football player. He ended up working on the weights and putting on some pounds, and made the move to tackle extremely well. He ended up being a guy who could pull and run. We were able to tackle-trap with him, because he had that kind of ability, and we still used him as a tackle-eligible.

 

 

Noll: Well, he came in a tight end, an undersized tight end, and worked some on the weights. He got bulked up, and had good physical abilities. He had good movement, that type of thing. We ended up being able to get the maximum out of him when it came to pass protection. We'd work our tight ends on pass protection, because we'd keep them in to block, and he showed abilities there. And offensive line coach Dan Radakovich worked very well with him. He developed into an outstanding offensive tackle.

 

 

Noll: Well, there's no question he's got the ability and the talent to do it. What you have to make sure of is that you have the supporting cast around him. It looks like they have that: the receivers and the protection. And if you get the running game going along with it, there should be no problem.

 

 

Noll: He was something special as an athlete. He had the great speed and the size. The big thing with Rod, just like Mel Blount, was to
develop the discipline to stay within the pattern of the defense. He had a tendency to want to freelance a little bit, because he had the ability to do that type of thing. On occasion it was a big play, and on other occasions it hurt you. So, to get him to be a disciplined type of player was a big thing.

 

Cowher: The first thing I said to my wife was, “If I don't screw this thing up, I can be the head coach of the team where I grew up at my twentieth high school class reunion.” And I was a graduate of '75, and I wanted to make it to '95, so I was just hoping I could make it to three years. Everything had happened so fast that, you know, I think when you first get the job it's very overwhelming. I was overwhelmed for the first couple of weeks—I was trying to put together a staff, trying to hire a secretary, all the things that are entailed. But once you get into it, it still comes down to coaching and dealing with people. I didn't really have time to think about whether I could do it or not, because I was doing it whether I liked it or not. I had some success early, and that spawned a little bit of confidence so I could say to myself, “You can do this.”

 

 

Cowher: I think the bottom line was, I wanted it to be a tough football team. I wanted to be able to run the football and I wanted to be
able to play defense. I knew that you had to score points and I knew that you had to throw the ball. But I always thought that being a tough football team was important—I just felt that's how you played the game.

 

 

Cowher: I guess my first thought is that I have an unbelievably supportive wife who sacrificed a lot in raising our kids. I am so proud of each and every one of them. I think, secondly, that I played for an owner who was there for me as a father, as a friend, and as an advisor. As I worked for him, I learned a lot through Dan Rooney. I have so much respect for him.

We had a lot of good players and a lot of good coaches. There are a lot of people, not just myself, that were part of that success. I'll never think it was all done by me, because it wasn't. I was fortunate enough to have a lot of good people around me, and that allowed me to do something that I love. We had some good breaks. We were able to win early, and let's face it—if you don't win early in our profession, you may not be able to survive a couple of bad years. So I may have bought myself a couple of bad years by winning early and getting through that. Then also, winning the championship one year was the best thing about it.

I never came to the job thinking about whether I could make more money somewhere else. I was there because I was brought there to win a championship. Until I had done that, there would always have been a void. I'm not one that's much for change. Pittsburgh was a great place to grow up and it's a great place to raise a family. I was never looking to move from team to team. That never crossed my mind.

 

Cowher: I don't think there's any question about it. I was fortunate. Every year I would look around the league and see some of the things that were being done, and I would count my blessings because of who I was working for. Dan always had the ability to look at the game—for what it was and where it came from. I'm a purist myself, and so from that standpoint, our viewpoints on football meshed. I counted my blessings being able to work for a man like that.

 

 

Cowher: Just a great player who had unbelievable passion for the game. Very charismatic, great team guy, and the one guy I would say was able to understand the system. Accepted the role, and was one of the few guys I have ever been around that could still be a leader with a limited role. He had that ability and that makeup where the players respected him. I have nothing but the utmost respect for him. He was a guy I could turn to every week, and he was going to be there.

 

 

Cowher: Probably the best athlete I have ever coached. The guy was an unbelievable student of the game. He had a great feel for the game, and you couple that with athletic ability, without a doubt he was the best football player I coached in my fifteen years.

 

 

Cowher: Noble athlete. In all the years I watched centers, he did
things that I would have never thought a center could do. He was the quickest and fastest and strongest lineman, center that I've ever seen play. You want to talk about a guy that could light up a room; I've never seen a day come when he didn't have a smile on his face. He was a true pleasure to coach.

 

 

Cowher: Greg Lloyd was one of the toughest players we ever had. He was self-made. He was explosive and strong-willed, but he could also take a team on his back and lead them. He had demeanor on the field that was second to none.

 

 

Cowher: Carnell Lake was probably one of the better athletes that I've coached, coming from the standpoint of size and speed. Just a classy guy, too. Salt of the earth. He's a guy that could do it all. He could cover like a corner, he could hit like a safety. He just had that rare combination of size and of speed.

 

 

Cowher: Oh, the smile. It was so infectious. You talk about a guy that was the complete receiver. You look at receivers today, they are great returners, or they are great with the ball after the catch. They're great at the ball with using their size. I mean, there are guys that can just block. This guy is the complete package. And you want to talk about a student of the game, another guy who is self-made. He blocks, he catches, he runs—he can do it all. To me, his smile, his leadership, and the way he has passion for the game is infectious to a team.

 

Cowher: He may be second only to Rod Woodson—I just have not been with him long enough. But you want to talk about a guy with feel for the game, a student of the game with athletic ability, he's up there with Rod Woodson. He's another guy who is just a pleasure to be around; he's got that kind of Dermontti Dawson attitude. Every day you're around him he's got a smile on his face. He's a special person—a special football player.

 

 

Cowher: Kordell would do whatever you would ask him to do. He was an unbelievable athlete. He could play receiver; he could throw the ball. I like Kordell. I believe in him. Kordell had a way of being able to take over a game. He's a very, very competitive guy. Maybe limited in some of his skills as a quarterback, but you've got to remember how far he took us in the years he quarterbacked for us. For a guy with limited quarterback skills, his competitiveness, his athletic ability, and his will to win took him a long way in the National Football League.

 

Tomlin: So much of how Tony Dungy approaches what he does is based on his experience here. He makes no bones about that. He is very appreciative of the opportunity the Steelers gave him, how he was treated. He talked about the first-class manner in which the organization
was run. He came into the league as an undrafted rookie free agent, and the Steelers appreciated the way he approached his work. Tony Dungy was a student of the game as a player, a guy who didn't make mistakes. And he had what I refer to as great football character. He always felt those things were appreciated here.

He always talked a lot about the great people here—Donnie Shell and people like that, to say nothing of the love and respect he has for the Rooney family and Chuck Noll. There are so many stories, and I don't know if I can specifically point to one, but his experience with the Steelers definitely shaped his career and his personal life.