When Mike Tomlin stepped down after 19 years as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, many thought his next step would be television, not coaching. Today, we learned that’s correct.
Per Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, Tomlin is “headed to NBC to be a top studio analyst on its Sunday night pregame show, Football Night In America.”
The 54-year-old former coach was seen watching his daughter’s volleyball games and places other than the gridiron. Then he signed a representation deal, signaling the move to television was imminent. A few weeks later, NBC won the Tomlin sweepstakes, a contest rumored to have included Fox Sports.
Now the second-winningest coach in Steelers history, and the winningest Black head coach in NFL history, will be paired with host Maria Taylor, former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett and former Patriots defensive back, Devin McCourty on the primetime set, a fitting place for one of the greatest coaches in NFL history.
Tomlin took over for Bill Cowher, who coached the Steelers for 16 seasons, in 2007, becoming only the franchise’s third head coach in history.
In his first season, he took an 8-8 team to 10-6, an AFC North title and a playoff appearance. A year later, he became the third Black head coach to lead a team to the Super Bowl (behind Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith in Super Bowl XLI in 2006) and, at 36, the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl (Sean McVay has since leapfrogged him).
Two years later, Tomlin led the Steelers back to the Super Bowl where they fell to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.
For 19 straight seasons, Tomlin never had a losing season, tying Bill Belichick and coming in second to legendary Dallas Cowboys head coach, Tom Landry, who had 21. More impressively, per ESPN, “Tomlin’s 19 consecutive seasons without a losing campaign is now five seasons longer than any other such streak to begin a NFL head coach’s career.”
Tomlin finished his tenure in Pittsburgh with a regular season record of 193-114-2, tying him with legendary Steelers coach Chuck Noll.
And while his critics will call him out for his lack of recent playoff success, the fact that he zero losing seasons is something many Hall of Fame coaches can’t claim- not Don Shula (1), George Halas (6), Tom Landry (8), Paul Brown (4), Marty Shottenheimer (2), Dan Reeves (9), Chuck Knox (8), Bill Parcells (5), Tom Coughlin (8), Mike Shanahan (7), Tony Dungy (1), Bill Belichick (8), Andy Reid (4), Pete Carroll (5), Sean Payton (4) or his former rival, John Harbaugh (3).
So now, after an almost two decade, Hall of Fame worthy career in Pittsburgh, Tomlin will be sharing his amazing insight with fans every Sunday night in the fall on NBC.
