Mike Tomlin and Dick LeBeau Are The Heart and Soul of the Steelers

There is no team in the NFL in which the coaching carousel does not revolve. Except the Pittsburgh Steelers.

When I was born in 1972, the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers was Chuck Noll.  Since then, there have only been two coaching changes at the top of the Steelers.

Current head coach Mike Tomlin, as Bill Cowher before him, came to the Steelers with no head coaching experience. Prior to taking the reigns in Pittsburgh, Tomlin was the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings.

In his single season with Minnesota, Tomlin's squad was ranked eighth in total defense and first against the run. The Vikings held opponents to less than 100 yards rushing in every game.

For five years previous to that, Tomlin was the defensive backs coach in Tampa Bay.

When he was hired by the Steelers, Tomlin said his top priority was to bring back defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau because of his success with the 3-4 alignment.

LeBeau returned to the Steelers five years ago. Prior to that, he was a coach for the Steelers for six years in the 90's under Bill Cowher and has had a long and storied career in the NFL.

He played for the Detroit Lions, starting a corner back-record 171 games. He is also tied for seventh all time with 62 career interceptions.

LeBeau started his coaching career in 1973 with the Philadelphia Eagles. He also coached for the Green Bay Packers and Cincinnati Bengals, before the Bengals hired him as their defensive coordinator in 1984.

He was on the staff as defensive coordinator for both of the Bengals' Super Bowl appearances. LeBeau then joined the Steelers in 1992, to serve under Cowher as defensive coordinator.

Following his tenure in Pittsburgh, he returned to Cincinnati in 1997 as assistant head coach, and later was promoted to head coach three games into the 2000 season.

After little success in Cincinnati, LeBeau spent one season in Buffalo as the Bills assistant head coach before returning to the Steelers in 2004.

He is also credited with creating the "zone blitz" scheme.

As a team, the Pittsburgh Steelers are very loyal to the people that bring them success. They proved it with Chuck Noll, and again with Bill Cowher. The loyalty of the players is due in large part, to the loyalty of the team.

If history is set to repeat itself, I look for the team of Mike Tomlin and Dick LeBeau to be running the show in Pittsburgh for a long time to come.