Bill Tobin (American football)
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| Position: | RB, FB | ||||||||
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| Date of birth: | February 16, 1941 | ||||||||
| Place of birth: | Burlington Junction, Missouri | ||||||||
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| College: | Missouri | ||||||||
| NFL draft: |
1963 / Round: 14 / Pick: 189 (By the San Francisco 49ers) | ||||||||
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Bill Tobin (born February 16, 1941) is a former professional American football player who played running back for one season for the Houston Oilers. He would later become the general manager of the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts. He also was director of player personnel for the Detroit Lions in 2001.
Tobin attended the University of Missouri, where he played in the Tigers′ backfield next to quarterback Jim Johnson.
During his time with the Indianapolis Colts he drafted Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk and future Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison. He also drafted Ken Dilger, Tarik Glenn and Adam Meadows, who would be cornerstones of the Colts offensive line. He also built a team in Indianapolis with Jim Harbaugh, who in 1995 led the NFL in passing and had a very successful run in the 1995 NFL playoffs, including the first playoff win for the Colts since Super Bowl V, a span of thirty years. He drafted Ray Buchanan and Ashley Ambrose who came to be tremendous players in the league and eventually started for the Falcons in the Super Bowl. It could be argued that Bill Tobin laid the foundation for the Peyton Manning era because of quality players he drafted.
Tobin was replaced as Colts general manager in 1997 by Bill Polian. Tobin is the brother of former NFL coach Vince Tobin.
Tobin is currently working as a scout for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Mel Kiper incident
While general manager of the Indianapolis Colts, Tobin gained some notoriety during the television broadcast of the 1994 NFL Draft after being criticized by ESPN analyst Mel Kiper for picking Nebraska linebacker Trev Alberts with the fifth pick in the draft, instead of Fresno State quarterback Trent Dilfer.
While being interviewed by ESPN later in the broadcast, Tobin famously said "Who the hell is Mel Kiper?!"[1] Tobin later called a press conference where he ranted about Kiper for several minutes, stating that Kiper had been biased against the Colts ever since they moved from Baltimore, Kiper's home.[2]
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