Cam Heyward sat down with his longtime former head coach, Mike Tomlin, on his Not Just Football podcast, reflecting on how Tomlin began his NFL head coaching career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. During a segment, the two also reflected on Tomlin’s first training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe back in 2007.
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Heyward asked Tomlin about the grueling training regimen that he put the players through during his rookie season, noting, “I’ve heard from so many different players that you tried to kill him during camp. Debo said that the first time we ever talked to him and asked him, he said he worked hard.”
Tomlin did not deny the aggressive approach, responding directly, ” did. I did, man. I was 34 years old. Think about that. I mean, like James Farrior, for example, I had played against James in college twice. Like I got the job, James was like, ‘How you do that? What’s up?’ Like he’s a Virginia guy. We had stumped over the same ground. We had a a real similar friend group. We we knew of each other, that type of deal. I just learned a long time ago, man, that you better establish some boundaries early on. I always had been the young coach, as a position coach when I first broke into the league; I was 27- 28 years old.
I got secondary coach coaching job in Tampa, and I’m coaching Lynch, who’s a year older than me and, like a multiple-time pro bowler when I got there… So it wasn’t the first time for me establishing a relationship with a collective. It was just a bigger collective. It was a team. But I went through the same things in Tampa as a positional coach.”
Tomlin explained how difficult it was to coach a roster of established veterans after being hired as head coach at just 34 years old. He was coaching players like James Farrior, whom he had previously played against in college.
Tomlin had previously coached seasoned Pro Bowlers, which also shaped his hardline stance, noting that it was easier to be tough in the beginning.
“At every stop along the way, I had to establish a rapport. And a lot of times, man, you got to let them know that you mean business. It’s easier to be tough early and then work it back and then work it back. It does not work being buddy and then trying to get tough when necessary. And so that first camp, everything that you heard about that first camp is true.”
Heyward also brought up one of the most assertive moves of that era, putting Casey Hampton on the PUP.
“He put Hamp on PUP to start the season!” to which Tomlin replied, confirming that he had indeed done so, while sharing another example from Minnesota to set the boundaries clearly.
“I did the same thing to Pat Williams the year before in Minnesota. I learned lessons along the way when I was applying them. I knew that I would potentially cost that group by working them the way that I did in camp, and invariably I did. But I laid a foundation that allowed us to be Super Bowl champions in year two. I just had to develop that rapport with the collective from a coach-player perspective.”
Tomlin had placed Pro Bowl nose tackle Casey Hampton on the Physically Unable to Perform list for conditioning issues, and did the same to Pat Williams to prove nobody was above the baseline standard.
While the demanding regimen ran down the team’s legs late in 2007 during a 10-6 campaign, Tomlin stood by the long-term payoff.
Mike Tomlin also revealed that he relied on psychological strategies to command his locker room. Rather than targeting backups to make examples, he chose to big game hunt.
“I think too many times coaches chase backups and young guys to make points. And I just think you capture the attention of the group more effectively if you big game hunt.”
Heyward experienced Tomlin’s motivational tactics firsthand in his career. Before a matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, Tomlin praised their offensive line pedigree to anger Heyward and Bud Dupree.
Heyward also explained how Tomlin praised former Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett in meetings to spark an intense reaction from edge rusher T.J. Watt.
When Heyward stopped reacting to such comparisons, Tomlin pivoted by pitting the defensive captain against himself. Mike Tomlin began praising “2017 Cam” in film sessions to provoke him.
“He got to a point in his career where I couldn’t necessarily touch him with others… and so I touched him with him. Which is crazy, man.”
Even working as a TV analyst today, Tomlin is still pushing those exact same buttons. Heyward shared that his former coach actually hits up his old stars with weekly texts about their upcoming matchups.
Tomlin even admitted on air that he drops specific comments completely on purpose, laughing about how a small circle of people watching knows exactly what game he’s playing, and explaining that whenever you push guys like that, they almost always step up and deliver.