Mike Tomlin has served because the Pittsburgh Steelers’ head coach since 2007, and this offseason grew to become the longest-tenured lively head coach in American skilled sports activities. However nobody can coach perpetually, leaving NFL Community’s Tom Pelissero to marvel if that finish date may very well be prior to later.
Becoming a member of The Wealthy Eisen Present Friday afternoon, Pelissero made waves by suggesting Tomlin may very well be yr to yr. Not as an official report however studying the tea leaves in the case of a long-term coach who seemingly has questions on his future yearly.
“They’re in win-now mode as they’re yearly with Mike Tomlin, who himself is at the least considerably on a year-to-year foundation as he enters his nineteenth season because the Steelers’ head coach,” Pelissero informed Eisen.
His remark was tucked right into a broader dialogue about T.J. Watt’s contract state of affairs. However the assertion caught Eisen’s consideration, who was fast to observe up for clarification.
“My perception is Mike Tomlin would be the head coach of the Steelers for so long as he needs to be,” Pelissero informed the present. “However he’s coming into his nineteenth yr. There may be not a variety of precedent within the fashionable NFL, Invoice Belichick apart, for someone occurring 20 years with one crew.”
Few coaches have reached Tomlin’s longevity. In an period the place coaches are fired on the slightest little bit of hassle, Tomlin has stood the check of time. Of the 32 NFL groups, solely three have had the identical head coach since 2016: John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens, Andy Reid and the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, and Tomlin’s Steelers.
Tomlin himself was a shocking choice, beating out inside favorites Russ Grimm and Ken Whisenhunt when employed in 2007, a contemporary confronted who entered the NFL solely years earlier. His longevity displays coaches from an earlier period. The George Halas and Vince Lombardis of the world, NFL legends who formed the sport to its current type.
Pittsburgh has a wealthy historical past of holding head coaches longer than another franchise. Since 1969, the crew has solely had three: Chuck Noll, Invoice Cowher, and Tomlin. Over the identical timeframe, there’s been double the variety of popes. Noll and Cowher stepped down on their very own accord and Tomlin is more likely to do the identical. Pelissero simply believes that point may very well be drawing close to.
“Yearly, now we have a narrative of some crew reaching out on Mike Tomlin,” he informed Eisen. “May you find yourself buying and selling for him? Yearly, there’s some stage of rumblings about, might Mike Tomlin determine to do one thing else. I’m not saying he’s sitting there proper now fascinated by, he’s going to stroll away after the season. I’d simply say that you simply get into these conditions and yearly we’re speaking about what somebody’s future goes to be, that ought to offer you a fairly clear indication you’re on a year-to-year foundation.”
Pelissero adopted up by repeating he has no indication the Rooney household would fireplace or commerce Tomlin regardless of the crew’s lack of current playoff success. No head coach has been fired in Pittsburgh since Invoice Austin in 1969. Coach trades are media fodder however not often materialize, particularly for lively coaches. The final a type of to happen was Herm Edwards in 2006. However Pelissero thinks Tomlin might quickly sufficient step down.
“Does Mike Tomlin say in some unspecified time in the future, do I must do one thing completely different?” he mentioned.
Final June, Tomlin signed a contract extension by way of the 2027 season that’s reportedly price $50 million. Although he hasn’t typically mentioned his future plans, he’s proven no public indicators of being sad along with his job. When rumors swirled after the 2023 season, Tomlin stormed out of a press convention when requested about his future and later informed reporters he had no plans of stepping down. Nonetheless, that day will ultimately come.
“When the calls maintain approaching Mike Tomlin and whenever you’re developing on 20 years as a head coach, it’s solely pure that at a while every part goes to come back to an finish,” Pelissero famous. “Mike Tomlin would be the one amongst chance to decide on when that comes.”
Pelissero ended by noting “we’ll see how this season goes,” one other ominous remark addressing Tomlin’s future.
Regardless of teaching for practically twenty years, Tomlin is simply 53 years previous. With coaches like Pete Carroll and Belichick nonetheless going into their 70s, it’s theoretically doable for Tomlin to teach one other 20 years. He was employed as one of many NFL’s youngest head coaches, giving him an extended timeline than most. Immediate success, a Tremendous Bowl win his second season, gave him fast job safety. Rooney’s feedback even through the Steelers’ playoff win drought have largely been optimistic and supportive of Tomlin. The mega-extension he signed is proof sufficient.
Pelissero is speculating greater than typical for an insider. His feedback are additionally contradictory. On one hand, he acknowledges the Steelers have zero plans to fireplace or commerce Tomlin however constantly referenced that media chatter as a basis for his perception Tomlin may very well be yr to yr. In any case, Tomlin figures to be teaching by way of his present contract, leaving him in control of the crew for at the least three extra seasons.
