JANUARY 21: Giants general manager Joe Schoen confirmed that the Giants spent weeks doing their homework on Tomlin in case he did become available, per Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post. Their research likely showed what PFR has reported for several weeks: if Tomlin left Pittsburgh, he would take a TV gig for at least a year before evaluating his options to return to coaching.
JANUARY 20: It appears Mike Tomlin‘s resignation as the Steelers’ head coach last week will lead to at least a one-year absence from the sidelines. It may even be a permanent retirement from coaching.
As a guest on Wake Up Barstool on Tuesday, Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer revealed that “probably seven teams” have contacted him to inquire about Tomlin’s availability (via Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot). Tomlin isn’t interested, according to Glazer, who’s friends with the coach.
Asked if Tomlin could emerge as a candidate for the newly available job in Buffalo, Glazer replied: “That’s not happening. Mike T’s done.”
Based on Glazer’s comments, we may have seen the last of Tomlin as a head coach after 19 seasons. Now 53 years old, Tomlin took over in Pittsburgh as a first-time head coach in 2007 and went on to compile a 193-114-2 regular-season record with eight division titles, including an AFC North crown in 2025, 13 playoff berths, two AFC championships and a Super Bowl title.
The Steelers didn’t post a sub-.500 season under Tomlin, adding to his impressive list of accomplishments, but playoff success was elusive in the second half of his Steel City tenure. The Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since 2017, and they dropped their last six postseason contests under Tomlin. His Steelers stint ended with a 30-6 wild-card round blowout at the hands of the Texans.
Although his time in Pittsburgh featured plenty of early January disappointment over the past several years, it’s no surprise teams would have interest in giving the potential Hall of Famer a second chance as a head coach. That’s especially the case when considering the unusually high number of HC vacancies this winter.
The Bills became the 10th opening of the offseason when they fired Sean McDermott on Monday, though the number is down to six after the Falcons (Kevin Stefanski), Giants (John Harbaugh), Dolphins (Jeff Hafley) and Titans (Robert Saleh) made hires. The Giants began working toward an agreement with Harbaugh late Wednesday, but a member of their ownership reached out to Tomlin before then, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports. Tomlin informed the Giants he doesn’t plan to coach in 2026, leading the team to pour all its efforts into reeling in Harbaugh. They officially reached a deal last Saturday.
Unlike Harbaugh, who was a free agent, the Giants would have had to work out a trade to bring in Tomlin. The Steelers still hold Tomlin’s contractual rights for another season, per Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. If Tomlin sits out 2026 and returns to coaching after that, he’d be free to sign anywhere, but it’s now fair to wonder if he’ll ever roam the sidelines again.
Pulling a Bill Cowher
At some point he’ll be back.
A man gets to sleep a lot more and sleep in his own bed when he does TV. The pay won’t be too shabby either.
I saw an interview with Bill Cowher a while back; one of the things he said was, “There’s a lot less stress talking about a football team than there is coaching one.”
I reckon a 53-year old’s doctor and wife don’t mind him taking the off ramp from that level of stress.
Tomlin is not the right guy for a rebuild
That’s why the steelers dumped him
He’s only good at taking over established teams .. and slowly ruining them
Tomlin never had a losing season in Pittsburgh. Can’t say that for any other coach currently in the NFL.
That’s such an overrated stat that it’s not even laughable anymore. I’ll say it again, I think Tomlin is a good man and generally a good coach, but he’s not NFL diety. National media fawned over him as they did Belichick until very recently. He had a lot of rope to build a team of his own once Cowher era super-players faded into the sunset and couldn’t do so. And he benefitted from an owner who was giggly with ideas like the longevity shtick, the consecutive non-losing season thing and the idea of always being competitive. Yeah, most Steelers fans are consumed with the thought that the franchise should always be in the hunt for a ring, but Tomlin’s stubborn streak in everything from the hiring of yes men as assistants to Neanderthal game strategies was always a stumbling block
Give him a team with stud players in place and maybe he’ll get to the mountain top. But to rebuild with his ideas, no sir
Except he did a rebuild after their Super Bowl win. Literally the whole roster turned over except Roethlisberger, and the team still didn’t tank because he’s that good of a coach. Heck, they’ve been rebuilding now since 2021 without much more than a league average QB if they’re lucky most years since then, or maybe you think their terrible offensive lines and skill position players were championship level.
Lol they gave him a 150 million dollar defense to cover up the fact that he cant actually develop a defense
The most expensive defense in the history of the NFL … and it wasnt even good lol
Gave him? They paid people who were already on the team, and that part of the team is why they don’t have losing seasons. You’re talking like they went out and signed a bunch of in their prime FAs instead of that Tomlin and his staff developed Watt, Highsmith, Hayward, Porter, etc. This was the first time they ever even traded for people, and Ramsey and Slay aren’t exactly Revis in their prime these days. Like I’ve said though, you’re going to learn some hard lessons about your roster in the coming years. Maybe a few 4-13 seasons will snap you out of being delusional.
Patrick Queen, Ramsey/Minkah, pretty much the whole secondary was brought in from free agency year-to-year. Pretty embarrassing for a guy whos a “secondary specialist” who people forget was brought in to “fix the secondary” 20 years ago and actually somehow made it worse
Maybe the worst take of the day.
As a lifelong Steeler fan something that needs to be stated is how poorly Ben Roethlisberger took care of himself as far as conditioning.
If Ben took care of himself, Tomlin would have one more Super Bowl victory, and it would totally change his perception.
Most Steelers fans didn’t care because Ben looked and acted like them.
I wish I had a quarterback that we had a QB more like Tom Brady: genius that took care of his body impeccably.
You should note Roethlisberger’s refusal to help bring along heir apparent Rudolph, as well. Like Rodgers in GB, he seemed to take the drafting as a personal affront rather than realizing that a franchise must prepare for when their star QB begins to age and fade. They haven’t recovered from that point and still have no QB that will lead them anywhere
You’re right about the personal issue regarding health but let’s face it, the guy took a beating in his playing career, much more so than Brady ever did.
Brady had too … he couldnt move around like Ben. His whole game was pocket awareness and quick-release mechanics. I still dont think young QBs study him enough.
I think Roethlisberger had the same problem Allen has now. He wasn’t coming up big in playoff games enough to matter although I think Allen has done more in the postseason in some cases. Both turn the ball over too much when facing assassins like Mahomes and Brady. Roethlisberger just had a great defense that was definitely the difference in 2005 and was a big factor in the 2010 run too. Like those Cleveland Jacksonville losses in particular I remember some bad turnovers from him that put them behind the eightball in those games.
That speaks to Ben, not Josh Allen. Prior to this game, Allen hadnt turned the ball over in six previous playoff games, including losses to the Chiefs where the defense couldnt stop them. He was trying to elevate his teammates up to his level and they couldnt.
Ben and the Steelers defense would start out bad and then settle down closing the scoring gaps against Jax, the Browns and never could stay with the Patriots. The Steelers best chance was 2016, but the younger players couldnt step up.
A lot of his wins and stats come in the wild card round when he plays inferior teams. If he wants to get to the next level, he’s going to have to come up bigger in these games they’ve lost. Last year, he had the ball in his hand last and didn’t get it done. Year before, same thing. Year before that, he played terrible against the Bengals. AFC championship game in 2019, he wasn’t very good. It’s not fair, but it is what it is. These weren’t all time great defenses he wasn’t facing, so if you want to be mentioned with the greats, you need to get it done.
You act like those Chiefs defenses he faced were cupcakes. Some of the play calls were horrible. Hard to beat the Chiefs with wide receiver screen passes. With more defense from his teammates, the running game could have been more effective to help him.
Not only that, but the ONE TIME it could be possibly argued that a Tomlin team underachieved relative to it’s talent was when the 3B’s were at their peak.
Ben. Brown. Bell.
Those are 3 of the 10 dumbest humans to EVER play in the NFL. Ever.
And yes, Ben was fat and his teammates disliked him because he’s a jag and that didn’t help, either.
Yep. Not just holding but achieving greatness with that combination of misfits is noteworthy in itself. Like these people are legit mentally ill or somehting. Ben out at colleges allegedly raping girls. Bell and Brown are just nuts. Don’t forget James Harrison too. He has a full screw loose in the head.
You are right 66 about roethlesberger. He wasn’t liked by the rest of his teammates. Maybe that’s why he never won teammates MVP. And his not helping Rudolph as a rookie is a major factor of the reason the steelers are in this qb predicament. Same thing tomlin did with Pickett. Giving him a schoolyard OC and not developing him.
He literally played until he was 39
The main reason for his drop off was a lingering throwing elbow injury.
Had nothing to do with his fitness
He also helped Tomlin have all of those non-losing seasons.
What would be the point. Despite how the idiots tell the story, he’s done it all. Of all his peers who got jobs around the same time, he’s gone to more Super Bowls and has as many as all of them. Payton might add to his stash, but he’s been stuck on one too. McCarthy has one. John Harbaugh has one. No one else from that coaching era who were first-time coaches won any and are long afterthoughts. Legacy stamped.
He COULD pass Don Shula if he comes back soon.
I’m predicting that Tomlin will get the job at Dairy Queen that was previously held by Le’Veon Bell 🙂
What a silly thing to say. Sounds vaguely racist to be honest, Lemon.
Is there something I fail to apprehend about this comment?
In what way did you pull racist language from that comment? The demand for racism in this country far outweighs the supply.
The racism escapes me but I’m probably guilty of a gender bias since I failed to mention a Dairy King.
Lemon’s comment implies blacks are more suitable for employment at Dairy Queen than to coaching in the NFL.
Tomlin is going straight into broadcasting and could have his pick of three or four other head coaching gigs.
Why would Lemon make such a denigrating remark?
They shared a team. Perhaps he just doesn’t care for Bell or Tomlin. I would say that covers a great deal of here in Pittsburgh including myself.
Has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with actions on and off the field.
The word racist is like ranch dressing here in Pittsburgh….people seems to think it goes on everything.
The other thing that is funny is Steeler “fans” were out of their mind that the Steelers kept Tomlin year after (winning) year.
Now, when their subconscious realizes that the Steelers job is the WORST job opening in the NFL, the ONLY thing they can point to as to why a quality coach would want the PGH job over BUF or BAL or CLE, etc. is the long leash that a Steelers coach gets.
No QB, junk roster, no picks. They will get the last pick of coaches.
After the owner gets back from his vacation.
Good luck.
Yep, all you have to do is look at the player report card. Tomlin was the only thing that got passing grades from the players, and he got an A every year. Ownership, family relations, the facilities, training camp, etc. all failed. Some people about to get shocked into reality.
I have to self correct here.
I forgot the Raiders also have a HC vacancy. PGH will get the second to last pick of coaches.
Still doing better than the Raiders. Here we go.
Going to correct my correction.
I also forgot the Raiders have the top pick.
I also forgot the Cardinals exist.
So, three way tie for worst job opening…Raiders, Cards and “your Pittsburgh Steelers”.
Impressive list of accomplishments? So in the article they list the non-losing season streak. Other than that what has he accomplished since his SB win and SB appearance?
Nothing but mediocrity.
The ONLY 3 coaches since 1969 that were employed by the steelers have something in common. All three quit. Noll retired. Cohwer quit and had been on CBS ever since. Tomlin says he won’t coach in 2026. Noll and Cohwer never had the ambition to coach another team. Tomlin will follow in their footsteps. After 25 years as an assistant and 19 as a head coach, I think he’s done. Call it burn out,or call it hes tired and wants to live comfortably. Hes made his money and has succeeded like his 2 predecessors. Thank you Mike. But it was time for s change in yiur life and the steelers.