Mike Tomlin Says He Has Not Given Coaching One Iota of Thought: What He Did Not Rule Out
Mike Tomlin got asked the question everyone in the NFL wants answered, and his answer was a careful piece of nothing.
On an NBC Sports conference call Wednesday, Front Office Sports reporter Mark Maske asked the former Pittsburgh Steelers coach about returning to the sideline. “Haven’t given one iota of thought about coaching,” Tomlin said. Then he kept talking, and that is where it got interesting.
“I’m sure that, you know, some of that’s going to come up in the not-too-distant future,” he said. “But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
Those two sentences do not belong to a man who has stopped thinking about coaching.
He Left on His Own Terms, Which Changes Everything
Tomlin stepped down on Jan. 13, 2026, a day after Houston beat the Steelers 30-6 in a wild-card game in Pittsburgh, the most lopsided home playoff loss in franchise history. He was not fired. He told team president Art Rooney II he wanted to try something else.
“After much thought and reflection, I have decided to step down as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Tomlin said in the team’s statement.
Nineteen seasons, a 193-114-2 regular-season record, a Super Bowl XLIII title over Arizona, a Super Bowl XLV loss to Green Bay, and not one losing season. Only Tom Landry opened a head coaching career with a longer streak. Tomlin’s 193 wins tie Chuck Noll’s franchise record.
His playoff record was 8-12, and he lost his last seven postseason games by double digits. That is the part Pittsburgh remembers. The rest of the league remembers the 19 seasons.
The Market Is Already Building Around Him
Maske reported on Oct. 30 that Tomlin is expected to be in heavy demand, and that a high-ranking official with one NFL team said Tomlin would top any opening’s list. The same official suggested his willingness to return could prompt a team or two to create an opening.
Here is the catch: there are no openings. Not one NFL head coach has been fired this season. Maske reported on Nov. 1 that the league is overdue, and an agent told him, “It’s coming. It always does. Just wait for it.”
The Associated Press listed the obvious candidates on Nov. 6: Jim Harbaugh with the Chargers, Aaron Glenn with the Jets, Nick Sirianni in Philadelphia, Dan Quinn in Washington, Shane Steichen in Indianapolis.
The Detail Nobody Is Talking About
Tomlin signed a three-year extension in June 2024 that runs through 2027. Maske reported the deal was structured through the 2026 season with a team option for 2027, and that the option’s status is unclear. The Steelers did not respond to a request for clarification.
If Pittsburgh still holds his rights, a team hiring him may have to pay Pittsburgh for the privilege. Denver sent New Orleans first- and second-round picks to hire Sean Payton in January 2023.
That is the scenario the league should be working through, and nobody has resolved it.
The Cowher Problem
Tomlin is 54 and working for NBC’s Football Night in America alongside Maria Taylor, Jason Garrett and Devin McCourty. Front Office Sports reported his NBC contract bars him from jumping to another network but leaves him free to coach again. He made roughly $16 million a year in Pittsburgh. Top studio analysts make around $5 million. A source close to the situation told Maske money is not the issue.
Bill Cowher, the man Tomlin replaced, was supposed to come back too. He never did. Neither did John Madden. Tomlin sounds like a man enjoying himself, and he said as much on the New Heights podcast in October: “I’m having a ball, man. It’s part-time work, full-time pay.”
He works his first Steelers game as a broadcaster Sunday night in Cincinnati, where 6-2 Pittsburgh plays 6-2 Cincinnati for first place in the AFC North. Mike McCarthy has the job now. Aaron Rodgers is the quarterback.
Tomlin will be in the studio talking about a team he built, with a league waiting on him to say one word. He has not said it yet.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
