In the spring of 2014, while covering the Steelers, I conversationally asked Mike Tomlin about James Franklin, whom he has known for years. The latter had yet to coach a game at Penn State and came across as caffeine with glasses and a shiny dome.
It is not an act, Tomlin told me about Franklin.
It is real.
Fast forward to December 2024. I ran into former Steelers GM Kevin Colbert while attending a Steelers Hall of Honor dinner. I asked him if he had been watching HBO’s “Hard Knocks.” The Steelers were one of four AFC North teams featured on the long-running series; it took Tomlin all of one episode to own “Hard Knocks.