Quote:
Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon
When Casey Hampton - - Pro Bowl caliber player - - showed up over his assigned weight in the first training camp run by Mike Tomlin, Tomlin put him in a separate part of the training camp and did not allow Hampton to work out with the rest of the team until he cut his weight - - reportedly more than 30 pounds. THEN, he made Hampton do all the fitness tests that he would have done on day one of the camp - - run a mile in less than 8 minutes and stuff like that. THEN, he put Hampton through the fitness staff until the fitness staff said he was ready for play. AND ONLY THEN, did a Pro Bowl level player get to participate with his teammates.
Please note, Mike Tomlin's team won a Super Bowl soon after that.
Please note, the Player's Union had nothing to say about that.
Please note, the Steelers do not run a training camp that is informally known around the league as a "country club camp" - - the way the Redskins' training camp is known.
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Good stuff. That was probably one of the differences between when Gibbs was here and when Zorn got the HC job. I always said that Gibbs didn't have the best talent to work with, part of that was his doing, but at the same time the one thing I never doubted was Gibbs ability to coach. Thats part of the reason Vinny looked good to Snyder when he was part of the three headed dragon. Now you take a coach like Gibbs out of the picture and give Vinny free reign to add mediocre talent and you have the 5th overall pick in the draft.