PITTSBURGH — It’s not exactly newsworthy that Mike Tomlin spiked speculation about him leaving the Steelers for another coaching job. He did the same just two years ago, when the rumor mill got churning that Washington owner Dan Snyder had interest in Tomlin after firing Jay Gruden five weeks into the 2019 season.
On that October Tuesday, Tomlin firmly but calmly stated he was not listening to any of that outside noise.
“I’m not worried about that, to be quite honest with you. … Guys, I’m the head coach of a 1-4 football team that’s going on the road to play a Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback with my third quarterback,” Tomlin said Oct. 8, 2019. “You think I’m worried about anything this week other than that?”
About the only thing that was the same this Tuesday, when Tomlin was asked about prominent alumni linking his name to openings at LSU and USC, was that it was the final exchange of his weekly news conference. If Tomlin didn’t quite say “no” to a question about another NFL vacancy, he torched the idea that he’d ever leave the Steelers for the college level. And by the time he was done with his 38-second answer, he actually sounded offended that it was even posed to him in that setting.
“Hey guys, I don’t have time for that speculation,” Tomlin began, mildly enough. Then, he hit the hole like Najee Harris.
“I mean, that’s a joke to me. I’ve got one of the best jobs in all of professional sport. Why would I have any interest in coaching college football? That’ll be the last time I address it. And not only today, but moving forward. Never say never, but, never. OK? Anybody else got any questions about any college jobs? There’s not a booster with a big enough blank check.”
As is custom, a Steelers spokesperson prompted reporters for any further questions, doubtful as that seemed. But then Tomlin broke out another stiff-arm.
“Thank you,” he said, tongue-in-cheek. And still, he wasn’t quite ready to leave the podium just yet.
“Anybody asking Sean Payton about that?” Tomlin sneered. “Anybody asking Andy Reid about stuff like that?”
It’s likely not a coincidence that Tomlin mentioned two men whose careers have been so similar. Both Payton and Reid have 15-plus years in the head coaching game. Both have won one Super Bowl, like Tomlin.
But neither have been posited as candidates during this latest hiring cycle for two power programs in the SEC and Pac-12. Tomlin even considering those opportunities was first bandied about last week by Doug Whaley, who worked in the Steelers front office from 2000-10, on the 93.7 The Fan morning show. Whaley last worked for an NFL team in 2017, but he was fired by the Bills after four seasons as their general manager.
Tomlin does have two sons, Dino and Mason, currently playing college ball at Maryland and Columbia, respectively. But he also has a daughter who’s still in high school, and he hasn’t been in the college ranks since 2000 when he was defensive backs coach at Cincinnati.
Not to mention Tomlin and the Steelers agreed to a three-year contract extension this past April to keep him in Pittsburgh through 2024. That’s a longer-than-usual commitment from Steelers ownership coming off an AFC North title in 2020, and Tomlin left no doubt Tuesday that the feeling is mutual — and that he doesn’t have much desire to recruit teenage kids, listen to gripes from parents and everything else that comes with coaching in the college game.
