Not appearing on the coaching carousel after his Steelers resignation, Mike Tomlin will take the path expected — and a familiar trail for ex-Steelers head coaches. NBC is hiring the 19-year Pittsburgh leader as a studio analyst, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reports.
Tomlin’s move comes 19 years after Bill Cowher departed Pittsburgh for a CBS studio gig — one he has held ever since. Cowher’s successor became linked to a TV opportunity late last season, and he resigned shortly after the Steelers’ wild-card blowout loss to the Texans. FOX showed interest in Tomlin as well, according to Marchand.
Teams expressed interest in Tomlin in January, but it quickly became known the Super Bowl-winning HC was not interested in following John Harbaugh in landing elsewhere this offseason. It is not certain Tomlin will coach again. Cowher does represent the exception here, as many HCs who have stepped away for TV roles — from Dick Vermeil to Bill Parcells to Bruce Arians to Jon Gruden to Sean Payton — have returned to the sideline. Tomlin is 53, giving him some time to reassess his options (Cowher was 49 when he left the Steelers).
The Giants, who ended up hiring Harbaugh after a full-court press on the former Ravens boss, did extensive homework on Tomlin in the event he showed interest in a quick rebound opportunity. If Tomlin were to pursue another gig, the Steelers would be entitled to compensation due to holding his rights. The team held a 2027 contract option on its HC, whose contract ran through 2026. These matters will resurface as relevant if Tomlin makes it clear he will return to coaching.
Cowher-NFL buzz quieted years after his CBS landing. Vermeil, who left the Eagles after the 1982 season, returned to coach the Rams in 1997. Parcells only stayed away from coaching for two years following his health-driven Giants exit, returning to coach the Patriots in 1993. Arians was retired for all of one season, ditching a CBS game role to take the Buccaneers’ job in 2019. While Gruden was at ESPN for nine years, Payton followed the Arians track by returning after one year in TV (at FOX).
Parcells fetched the Jets first-, second-, third- and fourth-round picks across three drafts after his 1997 New England-to-New York trek; Payton commanded the Saints first- and second-rounders in a deal that sent a third back to the Broncos. The lack of noise surrounding Tomlin, whose quotable style may fare quite well in a TV post, may point to a Gruden- or Vermeil-length stay on the media side rather than the Arians/Payton-like quick turnaround.
Makes sense with Dungy gone and they don’t have a coach in the crew now. I don’t think Tomlin will be on the road like Dungy seemed to be each week.
The article failed to mention that Rex Ryan has attempted to step back on the sidelines… but no one wants him 🙂
Because who wants to hire a retread who only had average to below average success? Ryan’s next path to being a HC might be in college
He enjoys being loquacious. This is the perfect vehicle for him
Is that you agent Larkin?
Ha. You took that as endorsement ? Nope
John Casack (as agent Larkin) in Con Air described an inmate as being loquacious. Your post is the second time I’ve seen someone use it.
If you lived in Pittsburgh and had an almost daily helping of Tomlin’s press conferences, well, the word was used quite often in describing his love of speaking. All good
Payton is a bad example, he was doing tv because he was banned for a year
We’ve known for awhile he was gonna get a tv gig, it was just a matter of which one. Congrats Mike you definitely deserve it and I can’t wait to see you on the tv screen
Tomlin is a very well respected person who can bring a fresh/current viewpoint as many of your current studio hosts have been out of the daily grind for a while.
The next time a studio host tells me something useful it will be the first time that has ever happened. They generally babble about the obvious.
A testosterone version of “The View” is what my wife would call it…lol.
Add to that the post game interviews. “How did you feel about that touchdown?” “What does the team need to do to continue to win?”
Jeez. Babble is a good word.
@Washed This! 👆
He will do really well on TV. After the last 10 years of average football in Pittsburgh he will get to showcase his legendary platitudes on national TV.
The standard is the standard.
works for me: I don’t watch the studio segments.
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