Dan Rooney Quotes (52 Quotes)

He's meant so much as a player, but he's also done so much as far as motivating and showing these young people just what they should do. He's been a real leader.

She put people on a path for success. She just kept you going and made you feel this was the most important thing you had to do at this particular time.

We've always felt that when you change coaches, you become like an expansion team, because you're starting over, in a sense. Football is our family business, and we tend to believe that you're better served with stability. We kind of think that patience isn't such a bad virtue to have.

It was a compromise by all parties and I think that makes it great.

We're going to the Super Bowl to win it, not to just be there. This is one of the great moments in the whole history of the league and I've been around a long time.

We do have a certain way we do things. We do lose some players to free agency, but maybe we want to lose some of those. It's very easy for people to say 'you need to do it this way' or 'you need to change.' That's when you have to stand up and stick with the way you do things.

I think I should know because I usually had the best seat in the house on my back.

He's got an opinion and a temper.

What made him was his strength. This was a time players didn't have strength. I remember we were playing the Giants at Forbes Field one time and it was a very close game, and they were moving the ball. He sacked the quarterback three times in a row.

Being from Pittsburgh had a little to do with hiring him, because we had coaches in the past who didn't believe in Pittsburgh the way Bill and Chuck Noll do. They thought Pittsburgh was a special place.

We've got the draft, and we'll find some college free agents and sign a veteran free agent in a spot where we think we need help.

I could see in him a guy who would have success over the long haul. And that's what he's been. His roots have helped him. He's not one of those people who come to Pittsburgh and look around and think he's in some provincial town. He knows Pittsburgh, he understands the people, and he thinks of it as home. It's great to have him.

We'd have trouble (winning). The cap has been a great thing for the league. Our relation with labor has been very good, and that helps us. It's a great system. I hope we can get together soon and extend the agreement. People are working on that.

I'll never forget this because our doctor told (Rooney) he didn't think Rod would be able to make the trip and that they were thinking about checking him into the hospital,

We're going to operate the way we always do, and that is try and take care of our own. The team that took us to the Super Bowl and won are the guys that we're looking for. We think it's to their advantage and to our advantage to do it that way.

This is definitely a very important decision.

If that kind of stuff won games, we'd all be doing them, including me.

The amount of the revenue difference was 7, 8 million, you'll have to use that correctly. We're going to operate the way we always do, that's try to take care of our own. The team that took us to the Super Bowl and won are the guys we're looking for. We think it's to their advantage, it's to our advantage to do it that way.

I thought it was a good idea, but I wasn't sure how it would be received. That's why it's only on one side of the helmet. Then we took it from there, and we had everybody asking questions and I said, 'Let's keep it that way. It's really a novelty.

I would say this probably compares to our first time, Super Bowl IX. It's very similar, these young guys we have, just like the players then. It's really their turn, their time up. The kind of people they are, it's a close team, they've done things the hard way although it probably worked out, home and away.

Mike speaks up all the time. I don't see him taking any back seat.

When it went to the one year, I did think it had a good chance to pass. I thought it might make it.

Over my dead body. That's not something we need.

We've got the best labor deal in sports. We've got the best league. He's been our leader. The whole way he's done this has been wonderful.

I guess what all this does is determine some specific measurement that may equate to athletic ability. But it's hard to get excited if a guy doesn't play well on film.

The biggest thing he passed on, and I hope we continue it, is to treat people right.

It's not going to happen. You need too many yes votes. I think the commissioner wants to see what the people think and say here at the meeting. It's something good to talk about, and we'll have some interesting discussion about it, but I don't see it pass

If you have good people, why change If you keep making changes all the time, you're like an expansion team, always starting over. Stability is everything. I believe if you get the right person, he's going to come through.

It feels great today, I'll tell you that. The coach already told me we're going to the Super Bowl to win it, not just to be there.

If anything, since March more people have come to realize it's a bad idea,

It starts before the draft. We interview them, and we talk to them about it. We want players who are a good fit for our locker room. And having smart players, that's an important phase of it.

I think the potential for us having that kind of rivalry is good, but you have to play them, ... I was asked by a writer in Houston about what I thought of the rivalry of Houston (Texans) and Pittsburgh, and I laughed and said, 'We've only played them onc

Somebody could change coaches and still win, but doing it the way we do it is us. It's the way we do things, the way our organization puts things together and looks at things. Stability is important.

There are 32 teams so I think there are 32 different ways to operate. We just try to do things that fit within a certain philosophy. We want that philosophy to be evident at every level of the organization.

Estate taxes make every one of us nervous. If there's an owner who isn't, he has his head in the sand.

Other traditionalists say memories of a league where owners bailed each other out keep the NFL's sense of unity strong. People try to compare this to a normal business, ... It isn't.

Pete brought us into the modern times with the television and other things. Paul has really taken us and made us a business entity.

We've always been very close to the community, and we do what's necessary for Pittsburgh. I like to see that, and I think the Fords are the same way. I like Detroit.

Oh, it's going to be a civil and orderly process. I don't think it will be too contentious.

It's wonderful. I think it's a great thing for this city.

It's a tough, expensive agreement. But I think we'll be fine. We'll have to watch our expenses and things like that, and be fiscally responsible. But it's a great thing. This gives us labor peace for a while, which is what separated the National Football League from other sports. It's good for the players, and I think it will be good for the league.

I think it could be done by July. We'll get it together after this meeting, sit down and talk and then come up with a plan. But we're too busy here right now. That's my opinion.

Of course, Wellington was right. He always thought of the league.

It is going to be by itself, I think. That is what our hope is, to do it that way.

We're the last people who were here during that time. It's really great to see this new generation come on, this generation of players, generation of coaches, it's really an exciting time. They've done well and they've earned it. I look at this as a separate thing this is not one for the thumb, it's one for these guys.

I'm not really for that. But I have to listen to what's being said. He's not the commissioner for the small markets. He's not the commissioner for the big markets. They have the same goal.

I would have hoped there would have been more minority hires right now.

The complaining about Bill was not in Pittsburgh. The fans know it's not our style to be impulsive. This is a tough league, which makes good coaching very meaningful. In a time of parity, when things can happen fast, that's vital.

We have people in the organization who believe in the way we do things. That's very important when the fingers are pointing at you to change.

Ernie's physical and relentless style of play helped the Steelers earn a reputation for being one of the NFL's toughest teams in the 1950s. He was undersized for his position, but his strength and power were among his greatest assets.