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| Josh McDaniels and Mike Tomlin, two of the youngest head coaches in the league, face off on Monday night in Denver. |
Posted by ESPN.com’s Bill Williamson
When Josh McDaniels and Mike Tomlin face each other Monday night for the first time as head coaches, the football world will watch two of the game’s brightest young coaches at work.
Observers will also see two men who took strikingly similar paths.
McDaniels and Tomlin are bright, engaging men who worked their way up from being small-school athletes to Super Bowl-winning, coveted assistant coaches. Both took over for Super Bowl-winning legends in cities steeped in football tradition.
“These are two similar guys,” said retired safety John Lynch, who played under both McDaniels and Tomlin during his career. “Both Mike and Josh are highly intelligent, strong-minded football men. They really are similar.”
As we prepare for a pivotal AFC matchup in Denver, let’s look at the career paths taken by these 30-somethings who look as if they will be roaming the sidelines for a long time:
Age
McDaniels: 33 (33 when hired).
Tomlin: 37 (34 when hired).
The playing field
McDaniels: The son of a legendary high school coach in Canton, Ohio. He went to John Carroll, where he was a receiver.
Tomlin: Grew up in Newport News, Va. Tomlin was a standout receiver/tight end at William & Mary.
Reputation
McDaniels: A great quarterback coach who uses an energetic, friendly personality. But he’s not afraid to hurt feelings for the greater good of the team, and can be stern when needed. He’s a detail-oriented coach who has a firm grasp of the X’s and O’s part of the game.
Tomlin: A high-energy, never-say-die defensive-minded coach whose brain is like a sponge. He craves football knowledge. He is not afraid to challenge stars to be better.
The other side of the ball
Last week, I spoke with Gary Horton of Scouts Inc., who said he was impressed by McDaniels’ ability as a defensive coach. McDaniels has a strong knowledge of defenses, Horton said, enabling him to prepare his offensive players for what to expect. McDaniels has experience coaching on defense and Tomlin has some history coaching on offense.
McDaniels: He was a defensive assistant in New England for 2002-03. He worked with the defensive backs in 2003.
Tomlin: In 1995, he was the receivers coach at VMI and in 1997, he coached the receivers at Arkansas State.
Highlights as an assistant
McDaniels: He was with the Patriots during all three of their Super Bowl-winning seasons. He was the offensive coordinator when the team went 16-0 in the regular season and set an NFL record for scoring.
Tomlin: Tomlin was Tampa Bay’s defensive backs coach when it won the Super Bowl in the 2002 season. In 2006, he turned around Minnesota’s defense in his one season as a coordinator.
Highlights as a head coach
McDaniels: The Broncos won their first six games this season despite being expected to be a bottom-feeder in McDaniels’ first season. Denver is 6-1 and McDaniels is a favorite for the NFL Coach of the Year award.
Tomlin: Taking over for Bill Cowher, Tomlin cemented his own name in Pittsburgh’s history by winning the Super Bowl last year in just his second season as a head coach.
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