Bill Tobin (born February 16, 1941) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player who is currently a personnel executive for the Cincinnati Bengals of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). Tobin played

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

for one season for the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

. He would later become the general manager of the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts along with the director of player personnel for the Detroit Lions in 2001.

Early life and education

Bill and his brother

Vince Tobin Vincent Michael Tobin (born September 29, 1943) is an American football coach and former college player who was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). During his four decades of coaching, he served as de ...

both were born on a farm near

Burlington Junction, Missouri Burlington Junction is a city in Nodaway County, Missouri, United States. The population was 537 at the 2010 census. History Burlington Junction was founded in 1879, and named for a Burlington railroad junction near the original town site. A po ...

. Their father Ed Tobin was a basketball captain at the

Conception Junction, Missouri Conception Junction is a city in Nodaway County, Missouri, United States, near the Platte River. The population was 198 at the 2010 census, at which time it was a town. History New Conception was laid out in 1895 when the railroad was extended ...

high school. The brothers both attended Maryville High School which is 16 miles from Burlington Junction but the family thought their sports prospects would be much better in the much bigger school (they commuted to the school). The brothers who are two years apart in age played on the football teams at the same time both in Maryville and at the University of Missouri football team. Bill played on the 1959 Maryville basketball team that was undefeated until losing the State Class M title game. Tobin attended the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

, where he played in the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

′

backfield The offensive backfield is the area of an American football field behind the line of scrimmage. The offensive backfield can also refer to members of offense who begin plays behind the line, typically including any backs on the field, such as the ...

next to

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Jim Johnson.

Career

During his time with the Indianapolis Colts, he drafted future Hall of Famers Marshall Faulk and

Marvin Harrison Marvin Darnell Harrison Sr. (born August 25, 1972) is an American Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver who played 13 seasons for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL), much of it with Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton ...

. He also drafted

Ken Dilger Kenneth Ray Dilger (born February 2, 1971) is a retired professional American football player. Early years Ken Dilger was raised in Mariah Hill, Spencer County, Indiana. He attended Heritage Hills High School in Lincoln City, Indiana where he p ...

, Tarik Glenn, and Adam Meadows, who would be cornerstones of the Colts

offensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...

. 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 Super Bowl V was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Colts and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

, a span of thirty years. He drafted Ray Buchanan and

Ashley Ambrose Ashley Avery Ambrose (born September 17, 1970) is a former professional American football cornerback for several NFL teams during the 1990s and early 2000s who most recently served as the cornerbacks coach at the University of Colorado. Ambrose ...

, who later started for the Falcons in the Super Bowl. Tobin was replaced as Colts general manager in 1997 by Bill Polian. Tobin is the brother of former NFL coach

. Tobin was recently 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 The 1994 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1994, at the Marriott Ma ...

after being criticized by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

analyst Mel Kiper Jr. for picking

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

Trev Alberts Trev Kendall AlbertsJim Offner '' Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier'', February 6, 2013, accessed July 8, 2013. (born August 8, 1970) is an American sports administrator and former football linebacker who is the director of athletics at University o ...

with the fifth pick in the draft, instead of

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

Trent Dilfer Trent Farris Dilfer (born March 13, 1972) is a former American football quarterback and analyst who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He is best known as the starting quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens during their Su ...

. While being interviewed by ESPN later in the broadcast, Tobin famously said "Who in the hell is Mel Kiper?!" 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tobin, Bill 1941 births Living people American football running backs Edmonton Elks players Houston Oilers players Indianapolis Colts executives Missouri Tigers football players People from Nodaway County, Missouri Players of American football from Missouri American Football League players