January 15, 2026 • 37 mins
Mark and Tom talk about Mike Defabo's story at the Athletic detailing Tomlin's final address to the team. Some Hockey talk too.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Mark Madden Show. Follow me on Twitter
at Mark Madden x. Bett has said the Steelers should
look at Stefanski, the former Bronze coach. They should, but
they won't. We got that SoundBite later. Stefanski is the
(00:21):
best choice, period. But of the seven people we know
they're interviewing, six are defensive coordinators. And I bet they're
interviewing that passing game coordinator from LA, the thirty year
old Shieldhouse or whatever his name is. I bet they're
(00:41):
interviewing him to be the head coach, but they try
to get him to be the offensive coordinator under whatever
defensive guru they appoint as head coach, which would be fine,
but he'd be dumb to do that. Stay right where
you are, young man, with Matthew Stafford. You're only thirty,
Sean McVay, keep it going. You'll do better than Pittsburgh
(01:06):
and Stefanski. You look at him, forty three years old.
That's pretty young. Two time Coach of the Year in
Cleveland offensive mind had been had the best defense in
the league.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
What's not to like?
Speaker 1 (01:23):
When did having head coach in the experience at the
NFL level become a bad thing to the Rooneyes. I'll
tell you when, I'll tell you why anyway, because that's
not how daddy and granddaddy did it. We gotta do
it how daddy and Granddaddy did it. We're the Roonies
and we know better. Yet the dead Rooneys, they knew better,
(01:44):
these Rooneyes, don't. Let's talk to Tom Opperman.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Tom. I thought that the Fables story was brilliant.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I'm sure you've read it, But all the love the
Steelers players had for their coach added up to a
thirty six, thirty to six loss against.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
You, exactly like if they really wanted him to stick
around so badly, if they really loved him so much,
they could have gone out on the field and played
a lot better in these playoff games, and then he
would absolutely still be here.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I don't know about that.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
No, I think he would probably be if they would
have won one of those games. I think this streak
wasn't as bad.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I think for him to stay they would have had
to win two playoff games. I think his mind had
been made up, at least if I'm him and now
we know a few of the details some unspoken about
his departure, That's what.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I would have done.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I would have wanted to get to the AFC Championship
game before I stayed because at that point the crowd
going to be back with you.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
And I'm told by the way.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Tom that the booing really did affect his family, which
is ridiculous because it happens to every coach in every city,
with every team.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Well, I'm not just talking about this year though, I'm
talking about like if there wasn't the seven game losing
streak in the playoffs, right if he's not on the
graphic as longest losing streak with Marvin Lewis for the
rest of time now, probably because that's a long losing
streak in the playoffs for a coach to end up
matching usually get fired before you reach seven straight playoff losses.
If it wasn't for that stuff, like if there was
a win somewhere in there because TJ. Watt wrecked a game,
(03:05):
where because Cam Hayward wrecked a game, I don't think
he walks away right now.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Well, like I said, if it was a factor that
he got booed, that his family was upset about that,
it happens with every team for sure, every city, every
coach except cop at Liverpool and I'm not kidding, but
coaches just get booed at some point.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yeah, it's like the life cycle, right, It's gonna happen eventually,
especially here in America. That's we demand success, right, and
the booze will come eventually for anybody, and they did
for Tomlin.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
But you know what's funny is Josina Anderson said that
the booze and the criticism came into play with Thomas family.
And while I did say at the time that Josina
will whie to further her agenda, I do believe she
talks to Tomalin. So now in light of what I've
heard since then, you know, after what she said and
other things that have kind of powed up whispered in
(03:56):
my ear, I believe that to.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Act like, you know, hearing the city boo Tomlin and
then that he's betraying him, and that the family be like, Wow,
I can't believe the city's betraying us. After all this
what are you talking about? This is results oriented. This
is what the name of the game is. You have
to win football games in the playoffs. If you don't,
there's the door you've been extended.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Mike Tomlin in the family.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
The longest leash that you could ever imagine anywhere else
that's not gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Wherever you go, would have been fired years ago. And
anywhere he goes least five years ago.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Uh you know, if you if you know, the the
underachieving with the Killer Bees, with Ben Bell and Brown, Yes,
would have been enough to get a lot of coaches
fired in a lot of places.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
That's kind of what just happened to his counterpart, Harball, right,
had an unbelievable offense that he's underachieving with you you
get tired.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, he goes to the Giants crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Although I got to say, and you know why he
went there, Jackson Dart likes a better job, like I
said yesterday, than the Steelers job.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
But Lamar ran Harball out of time. Yeah he wont.
He ran Tomlin out of time.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Very true, except the medium of course, and the fans booing.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Lamar won that power struggle. That's clear as day.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
But to your point, like, there was an offense that
is good enough to win a Super Bowl, maybe not
this year, but in years past, and Harbaugh hasn't delivered.
He delivered one AFC Championship game and they lost to
the Chiefs, it's underachieving with that and he got shown
the door.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Defabo said, the players criticized the coordinators, but not Tomlin.
But Tomlin hired the coordinators. And if the players don't
see that or just ignore it, then they're as dumb as.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
The fans, without question. And how can you not connect
those dots?
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Right?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
And that goes beyond what these players said in that
player's only meeting in two de faybo mark like with
the national media narrative, like Tomlin shows up the training
camp and sees the roster for the first time, right,
and it's like, oh, I got a polish this crap
and try to get it to the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Everything that happened good and bad in the last nineteen years,
Tomlin was by far the primary architect of and there's
no way he should be ennobled on his way out
the door. I said, he didn't fail, but he certainly
didn't succeed enough, and not given what he had to
work with. Maybe not right this second, but like I said,
during the Killer Bees era and with the Hall of
(06:10):
Fame quarterback.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
The fable did a great job.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I felt like he was inside the locker room the
way he constructed everything. And you know, there's not a
lot of reporting done in today's sports media world. There's
a lot of regurgitating done, but not a lot of
reporting in the fable. Clearly had a lot of guys
who trusted him in that locker room to tell him
very exactly what happened. Now, now it's very evident that
(06:35):
the players do love coach t Why should fans care
about that? It all added up to zilts that's what
the fans care about, But yet fans do.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
They shouldn't, but they do, like, oh he.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Affected the personal wise, I don't care, and nobody should care.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I like how you put it in your open when
you said, why should we care about the Steelers being
this one big happy lose family emphasis on the losing.
They were winning playoff games, not even super Bowls if
they were getting the AFC championship games, which Bill Kauer,
you know, got stuck in that mode for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
There. You take that though, that's.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
A really good season, Then I care about how it's
kumbaya and how Tomlin's so great personally, Like.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I don't even care. I don't care about that. That's fine.
You don't have to but I will like it's cool,
then it's a story, right, but winning has to come
with that.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
It's just that they're attempted to flect like you never
hear like I said, he should not be ennobled on
his way out the door after not winning a playoff
game in nine seasons and being double figured in his
last five playoff losses.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yeah, other teams around the league that haven't achieved anything
in a decade, which Steelers technically haven't because they haven't
won a playoff game, you don't hear about how how
great the environment is there and how everybody just loves
this coach who never wins.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
The new hire is going to be a defensive coordinator,
Like of the seven guys, they're interviewing six or defensive
coordinators and I I boy, who would have thought me
and Bettis would agree on something. It should be Stefanski
not even going to interview the guy, if you which
is which is management malpractice to not even interview him.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Now, I know you know you hired the coordinator before
and you started to win right away, but you've only
done that two times after Chucks were smart.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
These roonies are dumb.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
And it's also just the sample size is too small
to even say like, oh, well that's how you do it.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
We know we have the data for that.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Art Rooney said yesterday that we're not interested in wasting
a season right like, we're interested in competing right away.
Wouldn't you want to get a guy that is established
as a head coach and has competed in the AFC North.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
And offer them their best chance to win immediately to like,
But I think they're headed to a dark period. In fact,
part of me, and I'll talk about this later, the
cynic in me thinks Tom Win left because he knew
that the dark period was coming, with or without him coaching.
And now that that nineteen year no losing season streak
lives forever. The Fabo was so good that article that
(08:52):
we're going to bring him back again today. He was
on earlier this week. He'll join us at the bottom
of the hour. It's Smart Man Show one oh five
to nine by your art talking about not wanting to
waste a year. You went one in thirteen, you got Bradshaw,
you went six and ten, you got Ben. Didn't seem
like you have hought up a lot of waste, and
(09:13):
if you did, it was very temporary, cause you got Bradshaw,
cause you got Ben. It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh,
Philadelphia is in ton Let me check my calendar.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
It's been fifty years no cups. Tom.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
What should the Penguins do in the shootout? We talked
about that extensively with Pierre Maguire yesterday. She Loves is
one in five and there's a lot eleven goals in
sixteen attempts. Skinner's in goal tonight, but let's pray it
doesn't go to a shootout.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Am I allowed to indulge your fantasy and no offense.
It is a fantasy because they're never going to do
this of pulling she LOFs if he's the starting goaltender.
And you get to that point, I mean, Skinner's not
great at it, but he's better than she LOFs. I
feel like anybody's better than she loves at this point.
So that's what you gotta do. Do you want to
win to make the playoffs or not? Or do you
want to just you know, pay respect to tradition and
make sure that she loves feels okay.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
And doesn't have an uncomfortable moment of being pulled in
a shootout.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Well, Pierre got it right yesterday. Shiloffs looks like he's
frozen on shootouts, and that tells me he's well aware
how bad he is in shootouts. I mean, how could
he not know sixteen attempts, eleven goals a lot.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Yeah, exactly, So I guess you'd have to make the switch.
But they're never gonna do that. So just cross your
fingers and hope that he gets unfrozen in shootouts, hope
that he improves. You're allowed to get better, I guess,
But I don't see any reason for optimism that he's
going to just wake up in the middle of a playoff,
you know, push end of January, mid January, and just
be good at shootouts all of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
That's gonna be an off season of work type of thing.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
And I would sub him out for the shootout, but
I understand not doing that, even though I definitely would,
because I understand that respect in a hockey dressing room
is paramount. It's so important, and that would make Schiloff's look.
But then again, you would think the guys would support
(11:03):
the notion of trying to get enough points to make
the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
And how about embracing you know, your goaltending tandem as
a true tandem, you know what I mean, Like, Hey,
it's not like ah, she loves isn't good enough, and
well he isn't good enough in shootouts, but it's like, ah,
we think he sucks that we're gonna throw skinner in
there and shootouts. No, you're good in other areas, she LOFs,
and you're you're helping us in this playoff push, but
we need to go with the other goaltender just to
get this extra point tonight. And you should understand and
(11:27):
the team should understand that.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Well, pulling the goalie for the shootouts only been done twice,
so it's certainly a common thread in the entire league,
probably all of hockey everywhere, that you don't embarrass the
goalie of record by pulling him for the shootout. And
that stuff about not wanting to bring the other guy
in cold and risking injury, that's just a bunch of camouflage.
(11:52):
The Penguins have lost three straight tom despite very good
goaltending in all three games and in two games by Shilloffs,
but a week goal versus Tampa allowed by Sholloffs when
he dropped that rebound. Nonetheless, I think the goaltending has
been good, and not least Skinner, who's starting tonight.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, you know it was a week goal by she lost,
but other than the shootout was I thought he played
really well against Tampa Bay. Give up one goal in
regulation to a team that was on a ten game
winning streak heading into that game and is a lot
of offensive firepower.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
That's a job well done.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
It's really disappointing how much the offense has dried up
after their six game winning streak. In those six games, Mark,
they scored at least four goals in every single one
of those wins, and they've only scored two total in
the previous three.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
I'm no one to tell Sid how to play.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
He's no a top four player of all time, number
four in my book, But right now I don't think
he's shooting enough. Like against Tampa he passed up a
good chance to feed Ryan Shay. I mean, come on,
when Mario had an odd man break, he knew who
was with him on that break. Mario would have never
given the puck to Ryan Shay there. He would have,
you know, created his own shot. Like back in the day,
(12:57):
Mark Reki might get the puck, Gordy Rob would not.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, and Mark you pointed out way earlier in the
season because you're always right about everything. Right, when Sidney
Crosby was off to such a torrid pace to start
the year scoring goals, You're like, someone needs to score
goals on this team. So it's gonna have to be
eighty seven. He's gonna have toy forts. Yeah, he's got
twenty four right now. That's a lot for him right
now at this age. But you need more than that, Like,
(13:21):
he needs to be the one that's like, I'm going
to lead this team in goals by a wide margin
because the team needs that right now. That's the most
important thing he can do, I think for this team
this year.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Philly's in town tonight. Rick Talkin of course coaching the
former Penguin, but he's more of a flyer. That's where
he made his bones. He won all his rings with
the Penguins, but he made his bones in Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You know who my favorite flyer.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Is Thomas Trevor Zegris because he's a chicken scratch cheap
shot artist, okay, and he's become a panamime villain who
has restored some intensity to the rivalry between the teams.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
You had me in the first half there for a
little bit because that's exactly where I was going. I
was like, ah, Zegris, but that's what you want in
this rivalry, is that eh kind of animosity towards the
and it definitely needs that. And it's also good that
they're tied in the standings right now, right on the
outside looking in with games in hand on the teams
that are in.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Just such a massive game tonight between the two teams.
I will give Ziegra's credit.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I thought he was a show biz nimrod with the
Michigan and not much else Oude of Anaheim, but he's
become a real good all around well maybe not all well,
I mean he's the Flowers meeting.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Score eighteen goals twenty four says yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
He's getting a lot done more than Meetchkoff. Talk got
Zegre straightened out. Meetchkoff might be beyond straightening out. What
an awesome talent that really just isn't doing what he should.
Flowers played last night. That's like five times recently where
the Penguins will be playing a team that played the
night before. When the Penguins, didn't. They come to Pittsburgh
(14:46):
after losing four to at Buffalo last night, and that's
four losses in a row. So you'd think things are
set up fairly well for the Penguins this evening.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah, no question about it. And I'll tell you one
thing I'm really worried about real quick. If they lose,
it's a four game losing streak. That's a little streak, right,
A game losing streak, six game winning street, four game
losing streak. Like, you gotta find some consistency there.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
You do not make the playoffs that way.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Up next, Mike to Fable talking about his great story
at the Athletic one oh five nine.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
It's the Hooty Show weekday mornings at six.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Listen to the AX at home, at work, anytime on
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Speaker 2 (15:46):
When you Need a Lawyer ADX.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Great story today at the Athletic by my next guest,
he covers the Steelers A pleasure to welcome Mike de Fabo. Mike,
that was an excellent piece about the locker room when
tom went quit. How many players do you talk to,
because that was a complete reconstruction of the meeting.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Yeah. I talked to about a half dozen people who
are inside that room, and really the way that they
described it was they came into the meeting room and players,
some of them had an inklean. I mean, there was
a rumblings, but for the most part, they described themselves
as completely shocked. And basically Mike tom Win typically stands
up there at the end of every season, and you know,
(16:30):
he says he often says a phrase along the lines of,
you know, when when you don't get the job done,
there's consequences in this business. And some of us are
going to be here next year and some of us aren't.
And not every year, but most times some guys were saying,
He'll say, but it's back to the drawing board. And
instead of saying, but it's back to the drawing board,
(16:50):
that's when he said to them, listen, I want you
guys to hear this from you first. And at about
one fifteen he had walked into Omar to on Art
Rooney's office and had informed him of his decision, and
then he told the team. And it was important to
Mike Tomlin to tell the team first and for the
players to hear it directly from him. And one of
(17:12):
the biggest reactions was from TJ.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Watt.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
He was standing there and he just kept saying no, no, no, So,
you know, obviously on his show, Mark, I think that
we've been very fair in our criticism of Mike Tomlin.
But one thing that I think you got to say
is from his first day until probably his last, he
had the locker room and he had the players believing
in him.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
No No, I said that the players respect and affection
for Tomlin as legit Mike, and your story got that across.
I also suspect that they feel he's a victim in this,
which is absurd.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
Yeah, I think that, guys. Honestly, one of the quotes
that was within the story they said were guys angry
at the coordinators, yes, where they upset at the head man. No.
So they were not happy with the core at all.
I mean, and you look at even on the record
comments earlier this year, Patrick Queen after a game said,
(18:08):
I think we have schematic issues. There were a lot
of guys on defense that I think believed that that
they were talented, that they had talented players, and it
was the scheme and it was the coaching on defensive side,
and a little bit on the offense as well. They
had let them down. Now, wasn't that's true or not.
I'm just telling you what the.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Hap But Tomlin was the shadow defensive coordinator. Austin was
his errand guy, I mean they got to know that,
don't they well.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
And beyond that, Mike Tomlin did pick the coordinators, and ultimately,
when you're the head man, you're in charge of everything
that goes on beneath you. And I would say that
a failure to identify coordinators is right up there among
the list of things that Mike Tomlin didn't do well
and the reason why he's out the door now.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
A lot of the players seemed to say that they
only want to play for Mike Tomlin, or rather came
here specifically to play from tom Watch said he only
wants to play for Mike Tomlin. How will that affect
who returns and who doesn't.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
That's to Art Rooney kind of not that exact question,
but we asked him what was going to happen with
this roster and you look at it as we talked
about a couple of days ago, Mark, this is this
is a roster that's primed for a reset. In my opinion,
you've got a lot of these aging veterans. It's specifically
a guy like TJ. Watt where if there is a
time to trade him, it makes sense. So I think
truly it's going to come down to what's the vision
(19:31):
that this next coordinator has. And so I mean they're
interviewing a lot of different guys. You look at one guy,
Chris Shula from from the Rams. Right now, he has
the NFL's lowest paid defense and they're a top ten unit. Now,
if he steps into the NFL's highest paid defense and
decides he loves TJ. Watt, you know TJ's not going
to go anywhere. Also, like you know, TJ's surely is
(19:54):
going to have to sign off on it. So we
will have to see. But the bottom line is, wait, did.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Did you say, TJ. Watt's going to sign off on
who the coaches or Diamoss here?
Speaker 4 (20:04):
No no, no, that's not what I said.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
No no, why don't we know what that's more interesting?
Speaker 4 (20:09):
No no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
No no, but but yeah, I mean, like my thing
is with the players respect and affection for Tomlin. If
you don't want Tomlin booed, which some of them appear
to make an issue of, then don't get your ass
kicked by Houston and every coach gets booed everywhere.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
It's like they seem to think this was unique and outrageous.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Well, they just felt responsible for it. Like, truthfully, guys,
a couple of years ago, I remember doing a story
when Tomlin was at risk of this stupid non losing
season streak ending, and guys were saying, like, we really
don't want to be the group that does that, Like
we can't be known as a group that had the
first losing season. This is so much worse than that.
You know, these guys were like they felt responsible for it,
(20:52):
and they felt like it was They did feel like
it was their faulted. The players didn't play to their
potential and because of that, their coach lostage.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
I suspect the Steelers are in for a lengthy bad spell. Mike,
do you agree? And am I too cynical to say
that Tomlin knew that and might have wanted to dodge that,
because now his streak, as you called it, the stupid streak,
and I agree, of no losing seasons, is intact potentially
in perpetuity.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Yeah, I agree, because let's just start with when Mike
Tomlin inherited the roster, and it was a super Bowl
caliber roster with a young, star franchise quarterback in an outstanding,
dominant but aging defense. The defense aged out and then
like they an offensive line aged out, but the defense first,
(21:40):
and they've tried to rebuild that defense, and starting with
Cam Hayward and ending with the Micka Fitzpatrick's trade nine
first round picks on defense over ten years, they finally
got the defense back to a respectable level, just in
time to give Ben Roethlisberger a chance to make one
last run. And then Ben Roethlisberger ends up getting old
and they have to come up with something else. And
(22:01):
now that defense that was built to get Roethlisberger one
last chance to make a run, they're old themselves, and
they risk aging out without accomplishing anything. And that's what
you haven't solved the biggest and most important question quarterback
on the other side of the ball. So they've kind
of taken this lopsided approach to roster building where things
have been ce sawn from a really great team that
(22:22):
was Super Bowl caliber to one that was just offensive
minded and all they had was Le'Veon Bell and the
Killer Bees and they had to score a million points.
Then they built the defense up and they counted and
only won games when TJ. Watt had stripsacked fumble recoveries
and they were able to wreck the game that way.
Now that now it's like, for the first time that
I can remember in two decades, it seems like there
(22:43):
are a lot of questions on both sides of the
ball because that defense is getting old and the offense
has not done sixth yet.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
We're talking to Mike de Fabo, great story about Tomlin
leaving at the Athletic running currently now. We heard our
talk yesterday and he said the intent is to not
waste thee How can they not see the value in
wasting a year when they went one and thirteen and
drafted Bradshaw went six and ten and drafted Roethlisberger. I
know that maybe he just said that, but I suspect
(23:10):
he means it.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Yeah, and that's what I think. Maybe a fresh voice
coming in maybe can sell them on the idea of, look,
you don't you don't have to quit on every year.
You don't have to tank and try to get the
first overall pick and strape this thing down to the
bare bones. But you at least have to look at
it and say, let's trade. Let's cut Jalen Ramsey. You know,
(23:34):
let's cut Johnny Smith, right right?
Speaker 2 (23:36):
If you don't have to try to scrape together.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Nine and eight, yeah, you what you need to do
is say we're getting younger, We're we are going to
play Roman Wilson this year, or we're gonna just bury
Roman Wilson, like this year. Here's what I would have
done differently, Like here's an example of it. Roman Wilson
is a perfect example. Is he that bad? Is he
actually that bad? I don't think he's that bad, Okay,
(24:01):
I think he is somewhat playable, and he got nothing,
And how the heck is a player going to develop
on the sideline? So players just like that in that mold,
I think and and the other part of it is
this new coach is going to have the opportunity to
bring in his own staff. A lot of these got
(24:25):
I'm sure about Well, here's what I know, Mark, is
that a lot of the coaches on Mike Tomlins staff
feel like they got a raw deal because you know
how the Steelers do business, where they give you a contract,
They're never ever going to fire you under that contract,
but they also aren't going to likely extend you unless
you're doing really well well. A lot of these assistants
(24:48):
and court you know, Arthur Smith had one more year,
but Karl Lauston was on the last year of his deal.
Pat Meyer was on the last year of his deal.
Practically everybody was on the last year of their deal.
And so a lot of these guys are going to
be un employed in a week. And so there are
some who who say, man, like I wish I got
a heads up from Tomlin, or I wish that I
(25:08):
knew that this was coming, because I feel like right
now I'm scrambling for a job because I just lost mine.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
It seems very evident that the next tire is going
to be a defensive coordinator, doesn't it by my con
six of those they intend to interview, six of the
seven are defensive coordinators.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Yeah, at least for now, I'm sure that that list
isn't going to grow, but it is certainly significant to
me that Nathan Schielhas is the only offensive minded guy
that's currently known on that list. So I don't necessarily
hate if you're able to get the right guy, but
I've already stated my preference would be to go on
(25:47):
the offensive side. I feel like you want to buy
the brain, you want to buy the playbook, and it
just seems like that would be the prudent route. I mean,
a guy like Shilhas, for example, he played quarterback, also
coached every single position group on offense. Now he works
with Sean McVay, who practically everything he touches seems to
turn to gold, at least in the eyes of people
(26:09):
making coaching hires. I think he's a very attractive candidate,
but I don't I don't hate the you know, the
other RAMS coordinated that they're going to interview shul Up,
so I think, well, we'll have to see also if
like a guy like Clint Kubiak may or may not
be added. I don't know. Anything on that. I'm not
reporting that I'm speculating, but I wonder if more names
(26:31):
could come out that their offensive minded once some teams
losing the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
The only thing about Shieldhouse is he's only thirty.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
And even if he's wholly qualified, which I think he
may well be, especially for what I'd prefer in the
next head coach, Mike, I think that dressing room could
potentially eat him alive, and I think jealous assistant coaches
might hit him alive. Like I said, at age thirty,
the Steelers go young, but that's extremely young.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Yeah, older than that. He's thirty five, but he is
younger than me. The last time, where did I get thirty? I?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Oh, Davis webs started. That's what I'm thinking of my mistake.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Yeah, yeah, but still thirty five. None the left is
a pretty young guy. And I was just thinking about
this the other night. I mean, Mike Tomlin got hired
when I was I think seventeen years old, and I
was trying to figure out what the heck I was
going to do with my life and if I was
going to go into what profession. I didn't even know
what sports journalism was all about. And now you know
(27:31):
Nathan Schielhoffs. He is younger than me. He graduated from
college the same year as me, And so it just
really shows, like the dramatic difference the Steelers are going
from the longest tenured coach to potentially one of the youngest.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Well, I was forty seven when they hired Tomlin, and
I already wanted out of this this gig. Then Mike
been here, I am uh I would hire Stefanski. He's
forty three, he's young. He's an offensive mind who had
a great defense in Cleveland too. He worked with bad
quarterbacks and beat the Steelers an awful lot. He's two
(28:08):
time NFL Coach the Year. But that doesn't even seem
to be on their radar. Why do they just not
want a guy with any head coaching experience?
Speaker 4 (28:20):
You know, that's that's a good question. I guess there's
the fine line between a retread and like somebody with experience, right,
Like it's kind of a double edged conversation there. I
agree with you with Stefanska. I think that he would
be a good coach. Like to me, he's kind of
in the category of like, no one can succeed with
the Jets. It seems like there are people that I
(28:42):
know who've been offered I've heard of people being offered
good jobs with the Jets that are like, I'm not
doing it because like I'm going to get I'm going
to lose my job. I'm not going to succeed there.
And so the fact that Stefanski was able to have
success in a market, it seems like, you know, you
(29:02):
can't win there. And let's just point out the obvious.
He won a playoff game more recently than Palmlin and
he got fired too, so you know he's also a
capable guy.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, I mean I would at least consider I mean
I would at least interview for sure, but to not
seems like.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
And that Mark Mark. I just got a text message
that they are going to be interviewing Klay Kubiak. Who So,
Klay Kubiak is with the he's the forty nine Ers
offensive coordinators.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
It's Klay Kubiak.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
But there's also a Kubiak. They got Kubiaks all over
the world.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Just interview a bunch of teams, bring all the Kubiaks
in at the same time.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
We'll let him flight out for it.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
Maybe you can get both of them. But Tomlin's due.
The Steelers do seem to like, you know, family members
and bloodlines, right, maybe you could just get a package
deal family reunion here.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
When I heard our talk, my my takeaway was that
there's not going to be an organizational reset, that they're
gonna stress the same things and look for the coach
using the same method.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
And I don't agree with that.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
It's their team, and I understand the notion of tried
and true, but maybe these Ruonies ain't those Rooneyes.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
Yeah, And that's what I think in terms of getting younger, Like,
I think that you don't have to sell it to
people as a reset, you don't have to brand it
as a reset, but you can do the same thing
the Penguins did a couple of years ago where they're like,
we're gonna get younger, faster, harder to play against. That
was the model when they brought in guys before Pexau
and Burke went older, slower and stupider. But that's what
(30:45):
I think you got to do if you're the Steelers, like,
you've got to get younger. You've got to start preparing
this next roster for the future quarterback or surrounding him
with weapons. If not, you risk a Joe Burrow situation
where even if you get your quarterback and you hit
the lottery and you have the winning scratch off ticket,
if he doesn't have the right supporting cats around him,
you're gonna end up wasting years of a quarterback. And
(31:08):
so there is a formula in the NFL that a
couple of teams have used where you build a roster up,
you get the quarterback and he's like the missing piece,
and because he's on a rookie contract, you're able to
pay everybody else. I think that that's what the Steelers
need to do. But they need to get younger and
get more draft capital and roll over this roster in
order to do so.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
No question, the quarterback has to be the main piece
that's never gonna change. But if you build everything up
to be ready when he gets there, then it don't
take too long to win. My great work with the Athletic.
Fantastic story and thank you for coming on today.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Yeah absolutely, Mark, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
That's Mike de Fabo. You got to check out his
piece at the Athletic. It just it reconstructs that locker
room when Tom win quit. Just an amazing story. We
got Jerry Dulak at the top of the hour up
next to Trifecta this hour of the show to us
by our good friends at Shandorovich, Shndorovich and Fishman one
(32:04):
O five ninety X.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
Listen to the X everywhere you go, everywhere tell your
smart device. Let's play one oh five point ninety X
on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
It's the Mark Man who one X. The Febos story
was great. It's great that he came on.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
What crying Rogers, crying, Porter hyperventilating. If I'd have been Tom,
when I'd have been like Don Corleone and The Godfather.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
You connect like a man. What's the matter with you?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Uh, let's go down to the trifecta Tom, What do
we got.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
For today's Trifecta? Mark?
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Since we're having Michelle Terarian on the show today at
four point thirty to talk about his epic so frant,
I'm gonna go with some of the best coaching rants
ever in history. Spoiler alert. I'm gonna put Tarrian at
number one at the top of the list. I really
don't know if it gets much.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
And we'll be replaying the rant and then we'll have
coach terrying on at four thirty to relive the twentieth anniversary.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
It's so epic. Number three, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
There's a lot of football ones I could have chosen,
but I'm gonna go with Dennis Green, the Cardinals coach
in two thousand and six.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
The whole crown them. We are who they thought they were,
and we let him get away with it, and we
let him off the hook.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
And he just was so effusive in how the Bears
they played the Bears, and how they ain't crap who
they improved to six and oh by beating the one
in five Cardinals that night, and then the Bears went
on to win the NFC that season and go to
the super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
But they are who they thought they were. Because he
was just raving. He was insane. He's a big, fat
guy too, which made it better.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Number two. I'm gonna go with Hal McCray nineteen ninety three,
the Royals manager. When they asked him about just some
innocuous pinch hitting question, he went nuts. He started destroying
the entire dog like his clubhouse, his office, I.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Remember that, and ripped the phone out of the wall.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
And then, of course the famous line put that in
your f and pipe and smoke it and then Terry
number one.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Terry's gotta be number one.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Okay, let me tell you too that you may not
remember i'd put in there. Well one, everybody remembers what
was the coach? Who was the coach who went playoffs?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
I just had that off the list as an honorable mention. Yeah, playoffs.
I just want to win a game.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Just just because of that. I mean it was short,
but just it was more of a response than a ranto.
Another one and this is before your time, And it
wasn't on TV. It was only on audio tape. Tommy Lasorda,
the Dodgers manager, who was a total ass. This right,
Dave Kingman hit five on ones in the double hitter,
and and somebody asked, what Dave Kingman my favorite player
(34:31):
as a kid, also an ass? Somebody said, what did
you think of Kingman's performance? What did I think of
his performance?
Speaker 4 (34:38):
And then he like.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
That one's great, h you because you're straight down to
Bobby Knight like a billion times right, Like he just
had unbelievable meltdowns.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
He was just a jerk off.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Though the thing about Bobby Knight was he was just
an ass and you hated to laugh.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
But the stuff.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Remember when I asked him about his game face and
he started making all the all the contortions with his face.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Is that my game face?
Speaker 3 (34:59):
He was old Mike Gundy. Do you remember the college
coach for Oklahoma State. They I'm a man, I'm forty.
That famous rant when he attacked the reporters for that speech.
That was a complete and total meltdown. There's just so memory.
Mike Singletary, the famous Chicago Bear. He was coaching the Niners.
He's like, I cannot coach these guys. They don't want
to be a teammate.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Can't do it, can't coach them. But Terryan just and
Terry well, we'll talk about with Mike when he joined
the show. But like it was all planned, it was designed,
and what it was designed to do was to get the.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Young guys in line.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
He knew the old guys the PEngs had while they
were rebuilding were worthless, much like a few of the
old guys the peng was currently have is rebuilding. But
you wanted to make sure the young guys, you know,
you know, got got a little accountability force fed, and
that did the trick.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Yeah, and we're gonna play it. It's an entirety later it's
like three and a half minutes long. But the best part,
no spoilers. Everybody's hurry pot now the end to your
point there with the young guys, someone asked them, what
do you think about Mark talking about Flurry, and Terry's
just like, Mark's been great.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Thank God for that. That was it goes, thank you,
and then he leaves.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
My favorite line still is they say day care, I
know they don't.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
And don't forget Tom. I was there. I was, you know,
I was in you know then as now in the media.
I'm in the room.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
And when he said they say day care, I know
they don't, I like had to hide my face. Oh yeah,
just like it was so funny. I don't want him
to see me just cracking up. He called me. I
wonder if he'll call me John today. He used to
mistakenly do that back then.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
He called you Mark when we were coordinating with him
to do this, So I hope he'll remember that at
this point.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
I mean, you were in the room.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that was the
greatest sports rant from a coach that we've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
You saw it unfold live. And the thing was, at
the time I didn't know. The media didn't know. I mean,
Millan was the media guy then for the Penguins. He
knew because because Terryan said, and I think a couple
of people overheard him saying, watch this.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
But but you know, at the time, I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
But as soon as he left the room, everybody cracked
up because it was so great.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
And even if you knew he was going to do
something along those lines, there's no way you could have
been prepared to what he actually delivered.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Well, when Tomlin got you know, when Tomlin resigned, you
know what I thought to myself, I'm gonna say I care,
but they know I don't. Up Next, going to talk
Stillers with Jerry Dulac one oh five nine
This is the Mark Madden Show. Follow me on Twitter
at Mark Madden x. Bett has said the Steelers should
look at Stefanski, the former Bronze coach. They should, but
they won't. We got that SoundBite later. Stefanski is the
(00:21):
best choice, period. But of the seven people we know
they're interviewing, six are defensive coordinators. And I bet they're
interviewing that passing game coordinator from LA, the thirty year
old Shieldhouse or whatever his name is. I bet they're
(00:41):
interviewing him to be the head coach, but they try
to get him to be the offensive coordinator under whatever
defensive guru they appoint as head coach, which would be fine,
but he'd be dumb to do that. Stay right where
you are, young man, with Matthew Stafford. You're only thirty,
Sean McVay, keep it going. You'll do better than Pittsburgh
(01:06):
and Stefanski. You look at him, forty three years old.
That's pretty young. Two time Coach of the Year in
Cleveland offensive mind had been had the best defense in
the league.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
What's not to like?
Speaker 1 (01:23):
When did having head coach in the experience at the
NFL level become a bad thing to the Rooneyes. I'll
tell you when, I'll tell you why anyway, because that's
not how daddy and granddaddy did it. We gotta do
it how daddy and Granddaddy did it. We're the Roonies
and we know better. Yet the dead Rooneys, they knew better,
(01:44):
these Rooneyes, don't. Let's talk to Tom Opperman.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Tom. I thought that the Fables story was brilliant.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I'm sure you've read it, But all the love the
Steelers players had for their coach added up to a
thirty six, thirty to six loss against.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
You, exactly like if they really wanted him to stick
around so badly, if they really loved him so much,
they could have gone out on the field and played
a lot better in these playoff games, and then he
would absolutely still be here.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I don't know about that.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
No, I think he would probably be if they would
have won one of those games. I think this streak
wasn't as bad.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I think for him to stay they would have had
to win two playoff games. I think his mind had
been made up, at least if I'm him and now
we know a few of the details some unspoken about
his departure, That's what.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I would have done.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I would have wanted to get to the AFC Championship
game before I stayed because at that point the crowd
going to be back with you.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
And I'm told by the way.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Tom that the booing really did affect his family, which
is ridiculous because it happens to every coach in every city,
with every team.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Well, I'm not just talking about this year though, I'm
talking about like if there wasn't the seven game losing
streak in the playoffs, right if he's not on the
graphic as longest losing streak with Marvin Lewis for the
rest of time now, probably because that's a long losing
streak in the playoffs for a coach to end up
matching usually get fired before you reach seven straight playoff losses.
If it wasn't for that stuff, like if there was
a win somewhere in there because TJ. Watt wrecked a game,
(03:05):
where because Cam Hayward wrecked a game, I don't think
he walks away right now.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Well, like I said, if it was a factor that
he got booed, that his family was upset about that,
it happens with every team for sure, every city, every
coach except cop at Liverpool and I'm not kidding, but
coaches just get booed at some point.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yeah, it's like the life cycle, right, It's gonna happen eventually,
especially here in America. That's we demand success, right, and
the booze will come eventually for anybody, and they did
for Tomlin.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
But you know what's funny is Josina Anderson said that
the booze and the criticism came into play with Thomas family.
And while I did say at the time that Josina
will whie to further her agenda, I do believe she
talks to Tomalin. So now in light of what I've
heard since then, you know, after what she said and
other things that have kind of powed up whispered in
(03:56):
my ear, I believe that to.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Act like, you know, hearing the city boo Tomlin and
then that he's betraying him, and that the family be like, Wow,
I can't believe the city's betraying us. After all this
what are you talking about? This is results oriented. This
is what the name of the game is. You have
to win football games in the playoffs. If you don't,
there's the door you've been extended.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Mike Tomlin in the family.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
The longest leash that you could ever imagine anywhere else
that's not gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Wherever you go, would have been fired years ago. And
anywhere he goes least five years ago.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Uh you know, if you if you know, the the
underachieving with the Killer Bees, with Ben Bell and Brown, Yes,
would have been enough to get a lot of coaches
fired in a lot of places.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
That's kind of what just happened to his counterpart, Harball, right,
had an unbelievable offense that he's underachieving with you you
get tired.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, he goes to the Giants crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Although I got to say, and you know why he
went there, Jackson Dart likes a better job, like I
said yesterday, than the Steelers job.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
But Lamar ran Harball out of time. Yeah he wont.
He ran Tomlin out of time.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Very true, except the medium of course, and the fans booing.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Lamar won that power struggle. That's clear as day.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
But to your point, like, there was an offense that
is good enough to win a Super Bowl, maybe not
this year, but in years past, and Harbaugh hasn't delivered.
He delivered one AFC Championship game and they lost to
the Chiefs, it's underachieving with that and he got shown
the door.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Defabo said, the players criticized the coordinators, but not Tomlin.
But Tomlin hired the coordinators. And if the players don't
see that or just ignore it, then they're as dumb as.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
The fans, without question. And how can you not connect
those dots?
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Right?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
And that goes beyond what these players said in that
player's only meeting in two de faybo mark like with
the national media narrative, like Tomlin shows up the training
camp and sees the roster for the first time, right,
and it's like, oh, I got a polish this crap
and try to get it to the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Everything that happened good and bad in the last nineteen years,
Tomlin was by far the primary architect of and there's
no way he should be ennobled on his way out
the door. I said, he didn't fail, but he certainly
didn't succeed enough, and not given what he had to
work with. Maybe not right this second, but like I said,
during the Killer Bees era and with the Hall of
(06:10):
Fame quarterback.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
The fable did a great job.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I felt like he was inside the locker room the
way he constructed everything. And you know, there's not a
lot of reporting done in today's sports media world. There's
a lot of regurgitating done, but not a lot of
reporting in the fable. Clearly had a lot of guys
who trusted him in that locker room to tell him
very exactly what happened. Now, now it's very evident that
(06:35):
the players do love coach t Why should fans care
about that? It all added up to zilts that's what
the fans care about, But yet fans do.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
They shouldn't, but they do, like, oh he.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Affected the personal wise, I don't care, and nobody should care.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I like how you put it in your open when
you said, why should we care about the Steelers being
this one big happy lose family emphasis on the losing.
They were winning playoff games, not even super Bowls if
they were getting the AFC championship games, which Bill Kauer,
you know, got stuck in that mode for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
There. You take that though, that's.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
A really good season, Then I care about how it's
kumbaya and how Tomlin's so great personally, Like.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I don't even care. I don't care about that. That's fine.
You don't have to but I will like it's cool,
then it's a story, right, but winning has to come
with that.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
It's just that they're attempted to flect like you never
hear like I said, he should not be ennobled on
his way out the door after not winning a playoff
game in nine seasons and being double figured in his
last five playoff losses.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yeah, other teams around the league that haven't achieved anything
in a decade, which Steelers technically haven't because they haven't
won a playoff game, you don't hear about how how
great the environment is there and how everybody just loves
this coach who never wins.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
The new hire is going to be a defensive coordinator,
Like of the seven guys, they're interviewing six or defensive
coordinators and I I boy, who would have thought me
and Bettis would agree on something. It should be Stefanski
not even going to interview the guy, if you which
is which is management malpractice to not even interview him.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Now, I know you know you hired the coordinator before
and you started to win right away, but you've only
done that two times after Chucks were smart.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
These roonies are dumb.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
And it's also just the sample size is too small
to even say like, oh, well that's how you do it.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
We know we have the data for that.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Art Rooney said yesterday that we're not interested in wasting
a season right like, we're interested in competing right away.
Wouldn't you want to get a guy that is established
as a head coach and has competed in the AFC North.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
And offer them their best chance to win immediately to like,
But I think they're headed to a dark period. In fact,
part of me, and I'll talk about this later, the
cynic in me thinks Tom Win left because he knew
that the dark period was coming, with or without him coaching.
And now that that nineteen year no losing season streak
lives forever. The Fabo was so good that article that
(08:52):
we're going to bring him back again today. He was
on earlier this week. He'll join us at the bottom
of the hour. It's Smart Man Show one oh five
to nine by your art talking about not wanting to
waste a year. You went one in thirteen, you got Bradshaw,
you went six and ten, you got Ben. Didn't seem
like you have hought up a lot of waste, and
(09:13):
if you did, it was very temporary, cause you got Bradshaw,
cause you got Ben. It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh,
Philadelphia is in ton Let me check my calendar.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
It's been fifty years no cups. Tom.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
What should the Penguins do in the shootout? We talked
about that extensively with Pierre Maguire yesterday. She Loves is
one in five and there's a lot eleven goals in
sixteen attempts. Skinner's in goal tonight, but let's pray it
doesn't go to a shootout.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Am I allowed to indulge your fantasy and no offense.
It is a fantasy because they're never going to do
this of pulling she LOFs if he's the starting goaltender.
And you get to that point, I mean, Skinner's not
great at it, but he's better than she LOFs. I
feel like anybody's better than she loves at this point.
So that's what you gotta do. Do you want to
win to make the playoffs or not? Or do you
want to just you know, pay respect to tradition and
make sure that she loves feels okay.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
And doesn't have an uncomfortable moment of being pulled in
a shootout.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Well, Pierre got it right yesterday. Shiloffs looks like he's
frozen on shootouts, and that tells me he's well aware
how bad he is in shootouts. I mean, how could
he not know sixteen attempts, eleven goals a lot.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Yeah, exactly, So I guess you'd have to make the switch.
But they're never gonna do that. So just cross your
fingers and hope that he gets unfrozen in shootouts, hope
that he improves. You're allowed to get better, I guess,
But I don't see any reason for optimism that he's
going to just wake up in the middle of a playoff,
you know, push end of January, mid January, and just
be good at shootouts all of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
That's gonna be an off season of work type of thing.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
And I would sub him out for the shootout, but
I understand not doing that, even though I definitely would,
because I understand that respect in a hockey dressing room
is paramount. It's so important, and that would make Schiloff's look.
But then again, you would think the guys would support
(11:03):
the notion of trying to get enough points to make
the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
And how about embracing you know, your goaltending tandem as
a true tandem, you know what I mean, Like, Hey,
it's not like ah, she loves isn't good enough, and
well he isn't good enough in shootouts, but it's like, ah,
we think he sucks that we're gonna throw skinner in
there and shootouts. No, you're good in other areas, she LOFs,
and you're you're helping us in this playoff push, but
we need to go with the other goaltender just to
get this extra point tonight. And you should understand and
(11:27):
the team should understand that.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Well, pulling the goalie for the shootouts only been done twice,
so it's certainly a common thread in the entire league,
probably all of hockey everywhere, that you don't embarrass the
goalie of record by pulling him for the shootout. And
that stuff about not wanting to bring the other guy
in cold and risking injury, that's just a bunch of camouflage.
(11:52):
The Penguins have lost three straight tom despite very good
goaltending in all three games and in two games by Shilloffs,
but a week goal versus Tampa allowed by Sholloffs when
he dropped that rebound. Nonetheless, I think the goaltending has
been good, and not least Skinner, who's starting tonight.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, you know it was a week goal by she lost,
but other than the shootout was I thought he played
really well against Tampa Bay. Give up one goal in
regulation to a team that was on a ten game
winning streak heading into that game and is a lot
of offensive firepower.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
That's a job well done.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
It's really disappointing how much the offense has dried up
after their six game winning streak. In those six games, Mark,
they scored at least four goals in every single one
of those wins, and they've only scored two total in
the previous three.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
I'm no one to tell Sid how to play.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
He's no a top four player of all time, number
four in my book, But right now I don't think
he's shooting enough. Like against Tampa he passed up a
good chance to feed Ryan Shay. I mean, come on,
when Mario had an odd man break, he knew who
was with him on that break. Mario would have never
given the puck to Ryan Shay there. He would have,
you know, created his own shot. Like back in the day,
(12:57):
Mark Reki might get the puck, Gordy Rob would not.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, and Mark you pointed out way earlier in the
season because you're always right about everything. Right, when Sidney
Crosby was off to such a torrid pace to start
the year scoring goals, You're like, someone needs to score
goals on this team. So it's gonna have to be
eighty seven. He's gonna have toy forts. Yeah, he's got
twenty four right now. That's a lot for him right
now at this age. But you need more than that, Like,
(13:21):
he needs to be the one that's like, I'm going
to lead this team in goals by a wide margin
because the team needs that right now. That's the most
important thing he can do, I think for this team
this year.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Philly's in town tonight. Rick Talkin of course coaching the
former Penguin, but he's more of a flyer. That's where
he made his bones. He won all his rings with
the Penguins, but he made his bones in Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You know who my favorite flyer.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Is Thomas Trevor Zegris because he's a chicken scratch cheap
shot artist, okay, and he's become a panamime villain who
has restored some intensity to the rivalry between the teams.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
You had me in the first half there for a
little bit because that's exactly where I was going. I
was like, ah, Zegris, but that's what you want in
this rivalry, is that eh kind of animosity towards the
and it definitely needs that. And it's also good that
they're tied in the standings right now, right on the
outside looking in with games in hand on the teams
that are in.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Just such a massive game tonight between the two teams.
I will give Ziegra's credit.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I thought he was a show biz nimrod with the
Michigan and not much else Oude of Anaheim, but he's
become a real good all around well maybe not all well,
I mean he's the Flowers meeting.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Score eighteen goals twenty four says yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
He's getting a lot done more than Meetchkoff. Talk got
Zegre straightened out. Meetchkoff might be beyond straightening out. What
an awesome talent that really just isn't doing what he should.
Flowers played last night. That's like five times recently where
the Penguins will be playing a team that played the
night before. When the Penguins, didn't. They come to Pittsburgh
(14:46):
after losing four to at Buffalo last night, and that's
four losses in a row. So you'd think things are
set up fairly well for the Penguins this evening.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah, no question about it. And I'll tell you one
thing I'm really worried about real quick. If they lose,
it's a four game losing streak. That's a little streak, right,
A game losing streak, six game winning street, four game
losing streak. Like, you gotta find some consistency there.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
You do not make the playoffs that way.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Up next, Mike to Fable talking about his great story
at the Athletic one oh five nine.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
It's the Hooty Show weekday mornings at six.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Listen to the AX at home, at work, anytime on
the iHeart Radio app one the X.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
Rob King here. Staying connected to your Steelers has never
been easier. Tune into Steelers Nation Radio on one O
two point five HD two for non stop black and
gold coverage, five day talk shows, expert analysis and insider insight.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
It's all Steelers, all the time.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
Steelers Nation Radio on one O two point five HG
two and streaming anytime on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
When you Need a Lawyer ADX.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Great story today at the Athletic by my next guest,
he covers the Steelers A pleasure to welcome Mike de Fabo. Mike,
that was an excellent piece about the locker room when
tom went quit. How many players do you talk to,
because that was a complete reconstruction of the meeting.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Yeah. I talked to about a half dozen people who
are inside that room, and really the way that they
described it was they came into the meeting room and players,
some of them had an inklean. I mean, there was
a rumblings, but for the most part, they described themselves
as completely shocked. And basically Mike tom Win typically stands
up there at the end of every season, and you know,
(16:30):
he says he often says a phrase along the lines of,
you know, when when you don't get the job done,
there's consequences in this business. And some of us are
going to be here next year and some of us aren't.
And not every year, but most times some guys were saying,
He'll say, but it's back to the drawing board. And
instead of saying, but it's back to the drawing board,
(16:50):
that's when he said to them, listen, I want you
guys to hear this from you first. And at about
one fifteen he had walked into Omar to on Art
Rooney's office and had informed him of his decision, and
then he told the team. And it was important to
Mike Tomlin to tell the team first and for the
players to hear it directly from him. And one of
(17:12):
the biggest reactions was from TJ.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Watt.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
He was standing there and he just kept saying no, no, no, So,
you know, obviously on his show, Mark, I think that
we've been very fair in our criticism of Mike Tomlin.
But one thing that I think you got to say
is from his first day until probably his last, he
had the locker room and he had the players believing
in him.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
No No, I said that the players respect and affection
for Tomlin as legit Mike, and your story got that across.
I also suspect that they feel he's a victim in this,
which is absurd.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
Yeah, I think that, guys. Honestly, one of the quotes
that was within the story they said were guys angry
at the coordinators, yes, where they upset at the head man. No.
So they were not happy with the core at all.
I mean, and you look at even on the record
comments earlier this year, Patrick Queen after a game said,
(18:08):
I think we have schematic issues. There were a lot
of guys on defense that I think believed that that
they were talented, that they had talented players, and it
was the scheme and it was the coaching on defensive side,
and a little bit on the offense as well. They
had let them down. Now, wasn't that's true or not.
I'm just telling you what the.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Hap But Tomlin was the shadow defensive coordinator. Austin was
his errand guy, I mean they got to know that,
don't they well.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
And beyond that, Mike Tomlin did pick the coordinators, and ultimately,
when you're the head man, you're in charge of everything
that goes on beneath you. And I would say that
a failure to identify coordinators is right up there among
the list of things that Mike Tomlin didn't do well
and the reason why he's out the door now.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
A lot of the players seemed to say that they
only want to play for Mike Tomlin, or rather came
here specifically to play from tom Watch said he only
wants to play for Mike Tomlin. How will that affect
who returns and who doesn't.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
That's to Art Rooney kind of not that exact question,
but we asked him what was going to happen with
this roster and you look at it as we talked
about a couple of days ago, Mark, this is this
is a roster that's primed for a reset. In my opinion,
you've got a lot of these aging veterans. It's specifically
a guy like TJ. Watt where if there is a
time to trade him, it makes sense. So I think
truly it's going to come down to what's the vision
(19:31):
that this next coordinator has. And so I mean they're
interviewing a lot of different guys. You look at one guy,
Chris Shula from from the Rams. Right now, he has
the NFL's lowest paid defense and they're a top ten unit. Now,
if he steps into the NFL's highest paid defense and
decides he loves TJ. Watt, you know TJ's not going
to go anywhere. Also, like you know, TJ's surely is
(19:54):
going to have to sign off on it. So we
will have to see. But the bottom line is, wait, did.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Did you say, TJ. Watt's going to sign off on
who the coaches or Diamoss here?
Speaker 4 (20:04):
No no, no, that's not what I said.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
No no, why don't we know what that's more interesting?
Speaker 4 (20:09):
No no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
No no, but but yeah, I mean, like my thing
is with the players respect and affection for Tomlin. If
you don't want Tomlin booed, which some of them appear
to make an issue of, then don't get your ass
kicked by Houston and every coach gets booed everywhere.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
It's like they seem to think this was unique and outrageous.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Well, they just felt responsible for it. Like, truthfully, guys,
a couple of years ago, I remember doing a story
when Tomlin was at risk of this stupid non losing
season streak ending, and guys were saying, like, we really
don't want to be the group that does that, Like
we can't be known as a group that had the
first losing season. This is so much worse than that.
You know, these guys were like they felt responsible for it,
(20:52):
and they felt like it was They did feel like
it was their faulted. The players didn't play to their
potential and because of that, their coach lostage.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
I suspect the Steelers are in for a lengthy bad spell. Mike,
do you agree? And am I too cynical to say
that Tomlin knew that and might have wanted to dodge that,
because now his streak, as you called it, the stupid streak,
and I agree, of no losing seasons, is intact potentially
in perpetuity.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Yeah, I agree, because let's just start with when Mike
Tomlin inherited the roster, and it was a super Bowl
caliber roster with a young, star franchise quarterback in an outstanding,
dominant but aging defense. The defense aged out and then
like they an offensive line aged out, but the defense first,
(21:40):
and they've tried to rebuild that defense, and starting with
Cam Hayward and ending with the Micka Fitzpatrick's trade nine
first round picks on defense over ten years, they finally
got the defense back to a respectable level, just in
time to give Ben Roethlisberger a chance to make one
last run. And then Ben Roethlisberger ends up getting old
and they have to come up with something else. And
(22:01):
now that defense that was built to get Roethlisberger one
last chance to make a run, they're old themselves, and
they risk aging out without accomplishing anything. And that's what
you haven't solved the biggest and most important question quarterback
on the other side of the ball. So they've kind
of taken this lopsided approach to roster building where things
have been ce sawn from a really great team that
(22:22):
was Super Bowl caliber to one that was just offensive
minded and all they had was Le'Veon Bell and the
Killer Bees and they had to score a million points.
Then they built the defense up and they counted and
only won games when TJ. Watt had stripsacked fumble recoveries
and they were able to wreck the game that way.
Now that now it's like, for the first time that
I can remember in two decades, it seems like there
(22:43):
are a lot of questions on both sides of the
ball because that defense is getting old and the offense
has not done sixth yet.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
We're talking to Mike de Fabo, great story about Tomlin
leaving at the Athletic running currently now. We heard our
talk yesterday and he said the intent is to not
waste thee How can they not see the value in
wasting a year when they went one and thirteen and
drafted Bradshaw went six and ten and drafted Roethlisberger. I
know that maybe he just said that, but I suspect
(23:10):
he means it.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Yeah, and that's what I think. Maybe a fresh voice
coming in maybe can sell them on the idea of, look,
you don't you don't have to quit on every year.
You don't have to tank and try to get the
first overall pick and strape this thing down to the
bare bones. But you at least have to look at
it and say, let's trade. Let's cut Jalen Ramsey. You know,
(23:34):
let's cut Johnny Smith, right right?
Speaker 2 (23:36):
If you don't have to try to scrape together.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Nine and eight, yeah, you what you need to do
is say we're getting younger, We're we are going to
play Roman Wilson this year, or we're gonna just bury
Roman Wilson, like this year. Here's what I would have
done differently, Like here's an example of it. Roman Wilson
is a perfect example. Is he that bad? Is he
actually that bad? I don't think he's that bad, Okay,
(24:01):
I think he is somewhat playable, and he got nothing,
And how the heck is a player going to develop
on the sideline? So players just like that in that mold,
I think and and the other part of it is
this new coach is going to have the opportunity to
bring in his own staff. A lot of these got
(24:25):
I'm sure about Well, here's what I know, Mark, is
that a lot of the coaches on Mike Tomlins staff
feel like they got a raw deal because you know
how the Steelers do business, where they give you a contract,
They're never ever going to fire you under that contract,
but they also aren't going to likely extend you unless
you're doing really well well. A lot of these assistants
(24:48):
and court you know, Arthur Smith had one more year,
but Karl Lauston was on the last year of his deal.
Pat Meyer was on the last year of his deal.
Practically everybody was on the last year of their deal.
And so a lot of these guys are going to
be un employed in a week. And so there are
some who who say, man, like I wish I got
a heads up from Tomlin, or I wish that I
(25:08):
knew that this was coming, because I feel like right
now I'm scrambling for a job because I just lost mine.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
It seems very evident that the next tire is going
to be a defensive coordinator, doesn't it by my con
six of those they intend to interview, six of the
seven are defensive coordinators.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Yeah, at least for now, I'm sure that that list
isn't going to grow, but it is certainly significant to
me that Nathan Schielhas is the only offensive minded guy
that's currently known on that list. So I don't necessarily
hate if you're able to get the right guy, but
I've already stated my preference would be to go on
(25:47):
the offensive side. I feel like you want to buy
the brain, you want to buy the playbook, and it
just seems like that would be the prudent route. I mean,
a guy like Shilhas, for example, he played quarterback, also
coached every single position group on offense. Now he works
with Sean McVay, who practically everything he touches seems to
turn to gold, at least in the eyes of people
(26:09):
making coaching hires. I think he's a very attractive candidate,
but I don't I don't hate the you know, the
other RAMS coordinated that they're going to interview shul Up,
so I think, well, we'll have to see also if
like a guy like Clint Kubiak may or may not
be added. I don't know. Anything on that. I'm not
reporting that I'm speculating, but I wonder if more names
(26:31):
could come out that their offensive minded once some teams
losing the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
The only thing about Shieldhouse is he's only thirty.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
And even if he's wholly qualified, which I think he
may well be, especially for what I'd prefer in the
next head coach, Mike, I think that dressing room could
potentially eat him alive, and I think jealous assistant coaches
might hit him alive. Like I said, at age thirty,
the Steelers go young, but that's extremely young.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Yeah, older than that. He's thirty five, but he is
younger than me. The last time, where did I get thirty? I?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Oh, Davis webs started. That's what I'm thinking of my mistake.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Yeah, yeah, but still thirty five. None the left is
a pretty young guy. And I was just thinking about
this the other night. I mean, Mike Tomlin got hired
when I was I think seventeen years old, and I
was trying to figure out what the heck I was
going to do with my life and if I was
going to go into what profession. I didn't even know
what sports journalism was all about. And now you know
(27:31):
Nathan Schielhoffs. He is younger than me. He graduated from
college the same year as me, And so it just
really shows, like the dramatic difference the Steelers are going
from the longest tenured coach to potentially one of the youngest.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Well, I was forty seven when they hired Tomlin, and
I already wanted out of this this gig. Then Mike
been here, I am uh I would hire Stefanski. He's
forty three, he's young. He's an offensive mind who had
a great defense in Cleveland too. He worked with bad
quarterbacks and beat the Steelers an awful lot. He's two
(28:08):
time NFL Coach the Year. But that doesn't even seem
to be on their radar. Why do they just not
want a guy with any head coaching experience?
Speaker 4 (28:20):
You know, that's that's a good question. I guess there's
the fine line between a retread and like somebody with experience, right,
Like it's kind of a double edged conversation there. I
agree with you with Stefanska. I think that he would
be a good coach. Like to me, he's kind of
in the category of like, no one can succeed with
the Jets. It seems like there are people that I
(28:42):
know who've been offered I've heard of people being offered
good jobs with the Jets that are like, I'm not
doing it because like I'm going to get I'm going
to lose my job. I'm not going to succeed there.
And so the fact that Stefanski was able to have
success in a market, it seems like, you know, you
(29:02):
can't win there. And let's just point out the obvious.
He won a playoff game more recently than Palmlin and
he got fired too, so you know he's also a
capable guy.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, I mean I would at least consider I mean
I would at least interview for sure, but to not
seems like.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
And that Mark Mark. I just got a text message
that they are going to be interviewing Klay Kubiak. Who So,
Klay Kubiak is with the he's the forty nine Ers
offensive coordinators.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
It's Klay Kubiak.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
But there's also a Kubiak. They got Kubiaks all over
the world.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Just interview a bunch of teams, bring all the Kubiaks
in at the same time.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
We'll let him flight out for it.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
Maybe you can get both of them. But Tomlin's due.
The Steelers do seem to like, you know, family members
and bloodlines, right, maybe you could just get a package
deal family reunion here.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
When I heard our talk, my my takeaway was that
there's not going to be an organizational reset, that they're
gonna stress the same things and look for the coach
using the same method.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
And I don't agree with that.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
It's their team, and I understand the notion of tried
and true, but maybe these Ruonies ain't those Rooneyes.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
Yeah, And that's what I think in terms of getting younger, Like,
I think that you don't have to sell it to
people as a reset, you don't have to brand it
as a reset, but you can do the same thing
the Penguins did a couple of years ago where they're like,
we're gonna get younger, faster, harder to play against. That
was the model when they brought in guys before Pexau
and Burke went older, slower and stupider. But that's what
(30:45):
I think you got to do if you're the Steelers, like,
you've got to get younger. You've got to start preparing
this next roster for the future quarterback or surrounding him
with weapons. If not, you risk a Joe Burrow situation
where even if you get your quarterback and you hit
the lottery and you have the winning scratch off ticket,
if he doesn't have the right supporting cats around him,
you're gonna end up wasting years of a quarterback. And
(31:08):
so there is a formula in the NFL that a
couple of teams have used where you build a roster up,
you get the quarterback and he's like the missing piece,
and because he's on a rookie contract, you're able to
pay everybody else. I think that that's what the Steelers
need to do. But they need to get younger and
get more draft capital and roll over this roster in
order to do so.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
No question, the quarterback has to be the main piece
that's never gonna change. But if you build everything up
to be ready when he gets there, then it don't
take too long to win. My great work with the Athletic.
Fantastic story and thank you for coming on today.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Yeah absolutely, Mark, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
That's Mike de Fabo. You got to check out his
piece at the Athletic. It just it reconstructs that locker
room when Tom win quit. Just an amazing story. We
got Jerry Dulak at the top of the hour up
next to Trifecta this hour of the show to us
by our good friends at Shandorovich, Shndorovich and Fishman one
(32:04):
O five ninety X.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
Listen to the X everywhere you go, everywhere tell your
smart device. Let's play one oh five point ninety X
on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
It's the Mark Man who one X. The Febos story
was great. It's great that he came on.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
What crying Rogers, crying, Porter hyperventilating. If I'd have been Tom,
when I'd have been like Don Corleone and The Godfather.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
You connect like a man. What's the matter with you?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Uh, let's go down to the trifecta Tom, What do
we got.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
For today's Trifecta? Mark?
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Since we're having Michelle Terarian on the show today at
four point thirty to talk about his epic so frant,
I'm gonna go with some of the best coaching rants
ever in history. Spoiler alert. I'm gonna put Tarrian at
number one at the top of the list. I really
don't know if it gets much.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
And we'll be replaying the rant and then we'll have
coach terrying on at four thirty to relive the twentieth anniversary.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
It's so epic. Number three, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
There's a lot of football ones I could have chosen,
but I'm gonna go with Dennis Green, the Cardinals coach
in two thousand and six.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
The whole crown them. We are who they thought they were,
and we let him get away with it, and we
let him off the hook.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
And he just was so effusive in how the Bears
they played the Bears, and how they ain't crap who
they improved to six and oh by beating the one
in five Cardinals that night, and then the Bears went
on to win the NFC that season and go to
the super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
But they are who they thought they were. Because he
was just raving. He was insane. He's a big, fat
guy too, which made it better.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Number two. I'm gonna go with Hal McCray nineteen ninety three,
the Royals manager. When they asked him about just some
innocuous pinch hitting question, he went nuts. He started destroying
the entire dog like his clubhouse, his office, I.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Remember that, and ripped the phone out of the wall.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
And then, of course the famous line put that in
your f and pipe and smoke it and then Terry
number one.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Terry's gotta be number one.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Okay, let me tell you too that you may not
remember i'd put in there. Well one, everybody remembers what
was the coach? Who was the coach who went playoffs?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
I just had that off the list as an honorable mention. Yeah, playoffs.
I just want to win a game.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Just just because of that. I mean it was short,
but just it was more of a response than a ranto.
Another one and this is before your time, And it
wasn't on TV. It was only on audio tape. Tommy Lasorda,
the Dodgers manager, who was a total ass. This right,
Dave Kingman hit five on ones in the double hitter,
and and somebody asked, what Dave Kingman my favorite player
(34:31):
as a kid, also an ass? Somebody said, what did
you think of Kingman's performance? What did I think of
his performance?
Speaker 4 (34:38):
And then he like.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
That one's great, h you because you're straight down to
Bobby Knight like a billion times right, Like he just
had unbelievable meltdowns.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
He was just a jerk off.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Though the thing about Bobby Knight was he was just
an ass and you hated to laugh.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
But the stuff.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Remember when I asked him about his game face and
he started making all the all the contortions with his face.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Is that my game face?
Speaker 3 (34:59):
He was old Mike Gundy. Do you remember the college
coach for Oklahoma State. They I'm a man, I'm forty.
That famous rant when he attacked the reporters for that speech.
That was a complete and total meltdown. There's just so memory.
Mike Singletary, the famous Chicago Bear. He was coaching the Niners.
He's like, I cannot coach these guys. They don't want
to be a teammate.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Can't do it, can't coach them. But Terryan just and
Terry well, we'll talk about with Mike when he joined
the show. But like it was all planned, it was designed,
and what it was designed to do was to get the.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Young guys in line.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
He knew the old guys the PEngs had while they
were rebuilding were worthless, much like a few of the
old guys the peng was currently have is rebuilding. But
you wanted to make sure the young guys, you know,
you know, got got a little accountability force fed, and
that did the trick.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Yeah, and we're gonna play it. It's an entirety later it's
like three and a half minutes long. But the best part,
no spoilers. Everybody's hurry pot now the end to your
point there with the young guys, someone asked them, what
do you think about Mark talking about Flurry, and Terry's
just like, Mark's been great.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Thank God for that. That was it goes, thank you,
and then he leaves.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
My favorite line still is they say day care, I
know they don't.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
And don't forget Tom. I was there. I was, you know,
I was in you know then as now in the media.
I'm in the room.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
And when he said they say day care, I know
they don't, I like had to hide my face. Oh yeah,
just like it was so funny. I don't want him
to see me just cracking up. He called me. I
wonder if he'll call me John today. He used to
mistakenly do that back then.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
He called you Mark when we were coordinating with him
to do this, So I hope he'll remember that at
this point.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
I mean, you were in the room.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that was the
greatest sports rant from a coach that we've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
You saw it unfold live. And the thing was, at
the time I didn't know. The media didn't know. I mean,
Millan was the media guy then for the Penguins. He
knew because because Terryan said, and I think a couple
of people overheard him saying, watch this.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
But but you know, at the time, I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
But as soon as he left the room, everybody cracked
up because it was so great.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
And even if you knew he was going to do
something along those lines, there's no way you could have
been prepared to what he actually delivered.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Well, when Tomlin got you know, when Tomlin resigned, you
know what I thought to myself, I'm gonna say I care,
but they know I don't. Up Next, going to talk
Stillers with Jerry Dulac one oh five nine
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