It's Tomlin; Steelers get new boss....

I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall during Mike Tomlin's interview with the Rooney's.

But one thing is for sure, Tomlin must've blown them away.

After a flurry of speculation, in what has to be described as a major surprise to Steeler fans, Tomlin is the next head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In the press conference this afternoon, Tomlin confirmed that Dick Lebeau would be retained as defensive coordinator, but would not comment on any other Steeler assistants, all of which are under contract for 2007.

He also said that the Steelers would at least go a season or two using the 3-4 defense, but the possibility exists that he may switch to a 4-3 eventually.

The signing of Tomlin throws about 200 questions into the air now, some of them being;

• How does this change the offense, specifically the "run first" philosophy ??
• Will it get Heath Miller a pass thrown his way more than every 300 throws ??
• Does it change the priorities that the team may have had in the upcoming draft ??
• If he's eventually considering going to a 4-3, will they draft positions such as defensive ends and middle linebackers in the high rounds now ??

Geez, and a whole lot more. We'll know a lot more over the next couple of weeks.

Congratulations Mike, Steeler Nation expects a hell of a lot from you, I hope you know that by now. If you don't, you'll know it very soon.