Tomlin Offers Pep Talk

No talk of spygate. No prospectus on the coming season. Instead, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin delivered a pep talk for “the game of life” Saturday at St. Vincent College in Unity.

Tomlin, 36, was the university’s commencement speaker. He follows by a year President Bush.

The Steelers head coach was greeted by graduates waving Terrible Towels.

“This is too much,” Tomlin said, adding his address to students was “a pre-game speech. I’m pretty good at those.”

Tomlin, of course, is somewhat familiar with St. Vincent. For the past 42 years, the college has been the home of Steelers training camp every summer. Tomlin is entering his second year as the team’s head coach.
He sounded like an old pro.

When Tomlin said, “I’d like to encourage you to trust your preparation,” he made four years of study sound somewhat like two-a-day drills.

“I’d like to reassure you the first minute of the game doesn’t decide the game,” he continued. “We may have great success. We may trip coming out the door. Whatever happens, press on with the same spirit and determination that got you here today.”

Tomlin is scheduled to speak at the William & Mary College graduation today. He graduated from the Virginia school in 1996 with a degree in sociology.

Shortly after introducing him, St Vincent President, H. James Towey presented Tomlin with a Bearcat football jersey bearing his college number — 4.

In the processional, Tomlin walked alongside Dr. Barbara Loe, who received an honorary doctoral degree. Loe’s family stretches far back into the monarchical history of China, before the coming of the communists in 1948.

The two struck quite a pose — the tall Tomlin and the petite doctor.

Tomlin told the 300 students who received their diplomas yesterday that they will be “measured in many ways,” and sometimes the numbers on the scoreboard will be irrelevant. It’s always important, Tomlin said, “how you play the game of life.”

“You must give back,” he said. “You must make this a great place to live.”

“Play to win,” Tomlin emphasized, but also play in a “manner that will exhibit what we are about as a people.”

He told the graduates to “continue the wild dreams you dreamed when you were young.”

Tomlin said he had rubbed shoulders with leaders at the top of their games, and every one “dreamed wild, limitless dreams when they were young,” and they continued to do so throughout their lives.

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune Review

Related: Tomlin tells Grads to dream big - [Peter King]